A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy) by Deborah Harkness

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been reading Deborah Harkness's All Souls Trilogy. Well, I've been reading multiple books at once, which never works for me so I don't know why I do it...but I finally completed this series!

I decided to read A Discovery of Witches back in February because I was looking for a long book (each of these books is over 500 pages) that was about something supernaturalish. Basically, I was craving the days of getting lost in Harry Potter and decided this was the book to start with. I didn't actually know it was part of a series until I got the book from the library. Usually, I try to stay away from series, but this one was only 3 books and I figure if I don't like it then I don't have to finish it.

Well, I finished the series :). It took about 2 months and the last book took the longest for me to finish. I honestly think it's because I didn't want it to end. Sometimes when I read books I'll just skim the pages skipping the details and just getting the main ideas and events out. With this series I found myself reading each word and wanting to know the details.

When I read a series I approach it like binge-watching a show. I read each book in succession so I can get the full effect. So after the first book, I was totally bought in and wanted to know how this entire tale ends. Usually, the next book in any series basically gives you some kind of reminder of what happened in the last and that's how it was with Shadow of Night. Characters we re-established and that's fine. The third book, The Book of Life, dove in like it knew I was binge-reading and I really liked that. That's probably not ideal if you're reading these books far apart, but for me it was great.

In terms of the story itself, it had everything I was looking for: mystery, romance, history, supernatural, puzzles, death, family bonds, etc. Writing that out makes it seem messy, but Harkness wove a beautiful tale and I wasn't left with any unanswered questions. Each character held their own space throughout the books and I never felt like anyone was forgotten. I also found myself reacting to the story as if it were a tv show or movie - tense during the scary parts, anxious during the gory parts, saying "awww" during the sappy parts. All in all, the All Souls Trilogy was a great read and I would recommend it to other fans of the genre!