Synposis: Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
So I did at some point read this book. It was a while ago. I remember liking it. I know people thought it was the best thing ever. I don’t remember having such strong feelings, but I did love the TV show.
If you like Vampires, Witches, and other supernatural creatures, but are trying to avoid teen dramas like Twilight, you should definitely check out A Discovery of Witches. It has a much more mature tone (without the over the top explicit content, woohoo!) and solid world building. From the get go, you are pulled in by the fact that this book mysteriously appears in the library for Diana, but not for anyone else.
Soon you discover everyone wants this book. Everyone’s been trying to find this book for CENTURIES. Why was Diana able to get it out of the library when no one else could? And the plot builds from there. What is the extent of Diana’s power? How is she related to the other supernatural creatures? There’s the normal vampire drama:
There’s racial tension between the different supernatural creatures. They’re all vying for power, and it’s hard to tell who would be the better choice (aside from our illustrious heroes, Matthew and Diana, of course). There are cool supernatural fight scenes, lots of magic, and of course, creepy villains that think they should be able to do whatever they want.
I was really happy that this show wasn’t super explicit. While there are some scenes I wouldn’t recommend for anyone under 18, I don’t remember anything being super graphic. Let’s hope it stays that way.
With a stressful cliffhanger that left me shouting “NOOOOOOOOO” at the TV when I realized the season was over, I have been sad to discover that Season 2 won’t be available until next year. UGH. Oh well.
