Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I struggled with this one. I think the sheer lack of plot is what drags down the rest of the story, especially the character development. Nothing much of anything happens.
Rather, we’re repeatedly told that there’s a serious threat of danger, and that Diana is strong and brave - but we aren’t shown.
Because the characters are never really put in danger, and because they don’t have the think their way of out problems they encounter, the y feel flat and their relationship doesn’t feel earned.
The romance in particular struggles, I think, to feel meaningful. Diana and Matthew apparently fall in love after he makes sure people don’t harass her in the library. It doesn’t feel like they’ve gone through anything significant together - there’s no traumatic event or adventure they’ve been through that justifies how quickly they fall for one another or why they trust each other so much. They barely know each other.
One part that exemplifies this is in one chapter Matthew calls Diana his ‘wife’ and that they’re bonded together, only to (a few chapters after) go ‘you’re born in August, right?’ That made me lol - you don’t know your wife’s birthday???
It also feels like I’m being gaslit into believing things about characters that the text doesn’t demonstrate. Matthew tells Diana she’s not a damsel in distress, then has to rescue her after a few chapters and she does nothing to help herself. She doesn’t think of a clever way to let them know where she is, doesn’t outwit her kidnapper. She is rescued… like a damsel in distress.
Then, there’s all this discussion about Matthew’s history and how he’s so old and complex. But his only demonstrable personality trait is that he is protective of Diana, and that’s it.
This book is also missing a sense of humour. I feel like none of the characters are funny or witty - all dialogue is dry and explanatory. Sometimes it is strangely set out too, and conversations don’t have natural flow or chemistry and feel clunky.
I wanted to like this - and I did like the beginning when they were in Oxford. But then nothing happens and it drags. I genuinely think this book is a hundred pages too long. There’s too many historical references that feel awkwardly placed, trying to make the characters feel intelligent rather than allowing them to be. I think Babel did a much better job of incorporating historical information in a way that feels part of the story without bogging it down.
I don’t know - I don’t think I’m going to keep reading the series.
Rather, we’re repeatedly told that there’s a serious threat of danger, and that Diana is strong and brave - but we aren’t shown.
Because the characters are never really put in danger, and because they don’t have the think their way of out problems they encounter, the y feel flat and their relationship doesn’t feel earned.
The romance in particular struggles, I think, to feel meaningful. Diana and Matthew apparently fall in love after he makes sure people don’t harass her in the library. It doesn’t feel like they’ve gone through anything significant together - there’s no traumatic event or adventure they’ve been through that justifies how quickly they fall for one another or why they trust each other so much. They barely know each other.
One part that exemplifies this is in one chapter Matthew calls Diana his ‘wife’ and that they’re bonded together, only to (a few chapters after) go ‘you’re born in August, right?’ That made me lol - you don’t know your wife’s birthday???
It also feels like I’m being gaslit into believing things about characters that the text doesn’t demonstrate. Matthew tells Diana she’s not a damsel in distress, then has to rescue her after a few chapters and she does nothing to help herself. She doesn’t think of a clever way to let them know where she is, doesn’t outwit her kidnapper. She is rescued… like a damsel in distress.
Then, there’s all this discussion about Matthew’s history and how he’s so old and complex. But his only demonstrable personality trait is that he is protective of Diana, and that’s it.
This book is also missing a sense of humour. I feel like none of the characters are funny or witty - all dialogue is dry and explanatory. Sometimes it is strangely set out too, and conversations don’t have natural flow or chemistry and feel clunky.
I wanted to like this - and I did like the beginning when they were in Oxford. But then nothing happens and it drags. I genuinely think this book is a hundred pages too long. There’s too many historical references that feel awkwardly placed, trying to make the characters feel intelligent rather than allowing them to be. I think Babel did a much better job of incorporating historical information in a way that feels part of the story without bogging it down.
I don’t know - I don’t think I’m going to keep reading the series.
Outlander meets Twilight, but well done. At times the comparison to each was cloying, but there is a certain amount of necessary overlap in the mythology so can't really fault her for that. Worth the investment as the second book gets much more inventive, going beyond the romance to add new things to the genre.
I don't really know how to describe this book. It was okay, but it seemed to have a lot of unnecessary 'stuff' in it. I understand that this is supposed to be a trilogy, but I'm pretty sure the author could have fit everything into 1 book if she wasn't so wordy. Not sure if I will bother to read the next 2 books or not.
A discovery of witches by Deborah Harkness book 1 in All souls trilogy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Une bonne lecture, je ne sais pas si je continuerai la saga, la représentation du vampire chef de famille, protégeant sa femme, était très classique.
Si j’avais découvert ce livre dans ma jeunesse, il m’aurait plus marqué.
Si j’avais découvert ce livre dans ma jeunesse, il m’aurait plus marqué.