We Have Officially Entered the Twilight Zone

By Dominique L. (AKA First Person is not a Narrative Mode)

"A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness is a story of witchcraft, vampires, forbidden love (surprise, surprise), daemons, and history. The genre of this story is a toss-up; it could be categorized as young adult fiction or (perhaps more accurately) another Twilight-Saga-adult-fan-fiction. While Harkness strays from the stereotypical vampire-mortal plot line by bringing other magical creatures and historical snippets into her writing, she still does not quite break out of the fan-fiction category. There's only so much a writer can do - in terms of conflict - with a vampire (hint: blood sucking is involved - obviously). 

Narrative-mode-wise, Harkness chose one of the most popular narrative modes: first person. This tends to be favored by young adult fiction writers; ultimately this, paired with the lethargic pace and simple prose, lend to that deja vu feeling you get whenever you read (secretly or otherwise) Twilight fan-fiction. Fortunately, Harkness uses interesting, if repetitive, descriptive techniques and incorporates interesting character traits. However, this cannot make up for the ridiculous wealth, intellect, and physical perfection that seem to (frustratingly) grace each character. Matthew, the main character Diana's love interest, has ice cold skin, is on tenure at a prestigious university, and is flawless; how original. It's these little things that add up and undermine Harkness' story.

"A Discovery of Witches" starts off well; it's intellectual, intriguing, and unique. Harkness' academic background shines through brilliantly, but causes the pace, and thus the reader's interest, to suffer. Then, the book lapses into a, shall we say, Twilight-zone for a bit, but ends on an engaging note. The author's narrative mode was not particularly different or noticeable, but these are all preferable over noticeably bad. It would have been a more enjoyable read, had it stayed true to its characters and not followed the trendy modern vampire/witch route.

"A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness; Viking Penguin 2011; pp 579.