I feel like my reactions to and enjoyment of this show is the adult equivalent of how 13 year-old me felt about The Vampire Diaries... and I don't mind.

Half way through and this is fairly underwhelming and rather plodding . . . edit - This series is almost done, and it just seems a bit 'blah' to me - I love vampires but this is a better Twilight and that's a very low bar - perhaps it just hasn't adapted well to the screen? Sky Original Dramas have been fairly underwhelming this year.

A friend told me about a trilogy of books, ALL SOULS by Deborah Harkness, that she has been enjoying which led me to discover that all three books are being made into a TV series, with an impressive cast. A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES is the first in that trilogy and was broadcast in 2018. I am so glad to have found this show. The performances are wonderful, the reshaping of familiar supernatural creatures is refreshing and the story is a clever metaphor for the political realities of the world in which we live (there has been criticism that the racial casting reinforces stereotypes within our culture but I would suggest that this is a deliberate choice to underscore our own social biases and the injustice that they unconsciously support, so that they can be eradicated). To leave the metaphor aside, this is great storytelling, an excellent love story and a compelling struggle for survival. There is whimsy and magic; foes and unlikely friends. As with the first book, the first series leaves us mid-step, and, although the second series in now in production (due for broadcast in 2020), I may have to order up the audible book for the 2nd in the series because the adventure is just that compelling. *UPDATE: I, subsequently, read the whole trilogy and loved all three seasons of the show.* I still rate this series as a 9 (superb) out of 10. [Fantasy Romantic Drama]

I started out liking this show but the more I watched it, the more I grew tired of Matthew and Diana. They turned into one of those annoying couples you see out in public that are far too lovey dovey and full of themselves. In real life, they would have been rightfully called out by their friends. "Yo, you two need to dial it back a notch. Your love is growing tiresome."

This is a solid adaptation of the books and I greatly enjoyed it, but I think that's largely because I'd read the books first and knew a lot of background that they aren't able to cover in the TV format. Highly recommend checking out the books, as they expand quite a bit on what the show was able to fit in. Fair warning - the romance is still pretty cheesy in both formats. :)