Long Island Press Long Island Press
Serving the opinion leaders of Long Island
Long Island Press Long Island Press
Long Island Press Long Island Press
  • Home
  • Long Island News
  • Columns
  • Entertainment News
  • Living
  • Special Series
  • CURRENT LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
  • SECTIONS
    • Home
    • Long Island News
    • Columns
    • Entertainment News
    • Living
    • Special Series
    • CURRENT LONGISLANDPRESS.COM

Book Review: A Discovery of Witches By Deborah Harkness

by Jenn Kane on March 10, 2011

A Discovery of Witches

By Deborah Harkness

Diana Bishop, the smart, beautiful, cosmetics-shunning witch at the center of Deborah Harkness’ debut novel, A Discovery of Witches, is one more feisty female heroine in the long tradition of ladies who populate fantasy novels. She loves to exercise and is therefore in great shape. She doesn’t like lipstick, but her lips are naturally flushed, so why would she need it? She is oblivious to her own amazingness, another hallmark of fantasy heroines. And, of course, the men around her are not immune to her many wonders, including (but not limited to) sexy vampire Matthew Clairmont. Both Diana and Matthew are seasoned academics, he a scientist, she a historian with interests in alchemy. They meet when Diana accidentally opens an enchanted book called the Ashmole 782, a legendary text purported to explain the history of all supernatural creatures, including the big three that inhabit Diana’s England: Witches, Vampires and Demons. All three come out of the woodwork, looking for Diana to open the book again, and Harkness doesn’t bring much new to their classic traits: the witches are kind of… witchy and uptight; the vampires are all brooding, intense and cold-blooded (literally and metaphorically); and the demons are sort of crazy, but not in a terrible way—more like those kooky people who seem very smart but have problems staying on topic. Diana resists re-opening the book, having shunned her witch upbringing in favor of the more human route. The otherworldly creatures don’t care much and start chasing her. Matthew tries to protect her, and conveniently (considering they have to spend a lot of time together) they fall in love. The book picks up a bit toward the end, but Diana is painfully boring, self-conscious and incapable of taking care of herself which makes it a little hard to root for them. I found myself hoping the demons would chat her to death.

Your reaction
LOL
0%
Cool
0%
What!?
0%
Meh...
0%
Sad
0%
RAGE!
0%
book reviews, Entertainment News, Living
A Discovery of Witchesbook reviewDeborah Harknesshighlight-entertainment
A Discovery of Witches, book review, Deborah Harkness, highlight-entertainment
About the Author
Jenn Kane
You might also dig
 

Book Review: The Art of Fielding

by Spencer Rumsey on July 22, 2012
The Art of Fielding By Chad Harbach For more than a decade Chad Harbach polished his prose in obscurity. Sometimes he barely had a hundred bucks in his bank account, but he never stopped working on his writing. Like his lead character, Henry Skrimshander, [...]
 

Book Review: The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

by Jenn Kane on October 22, 2011
The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson’s first novel after an excellent and unsettling book of short stories titled Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, centers around the namesake family of the title: Caleb, Camille, Annie and Buster Fang.  Caleb and Camille [...]
 

Book Review: Juliet, Naked, By Nick Hornby

by Jenn Kane on November 19, 2009
Though Nick Hornby has never seemed to recapture the chemistry that produced High Fidelity, he certainly hasn’t stopped trying. That novel lodged him firmly in the pop-culture echelon, and Hornby seems to have figured out that he has a way with writing [...]
Long Island Press is a registered trademark of Schneps Communications. © 2017. All rights reserved.