Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

44 reviews

abby_can_read's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

📖
I went back and forth on what I wanted to rate this. I have mixed feeling about this book.

Based on the blurb, I was excited. I thought this sounded great. I think this book had a great start and based on the summary, I knew the love story of Diana and Matthew was coming. I liked that Diana was older and she had life experience before meeting Matthew and them getting involved.

I started to lose interested around the time Matthew watched her sleeping, but I stuck with the book. I lost more interest as the relationship between Diana and Matthew developed.

I went into this book hoping it was a more mature and developed version of Twilight -- mainly featuring a better female character and a better romance. I don't think I had unreasonable hopes/expectations. But neither of those panned out for me.

The plot wasn't horrible, though I found to be predictable. The writing style was okay. The characters, mainly Diana, had me going back and forth and I still can't really decide how I feel beyond I think they were flat and some of the character development went backwards. I'm not really sure what I think about the relationships, mainly the one between Matthew and Diana. I can't decide if it's better or worse than Edward and Bella.

Despite my mixed feelings, overall I did enjoy reading this book. I plan to read the sequel. I have low exceptions and I'm curious how this series will compare to Twilight

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k4tr14n3's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was such a refreshing read in the urban fantasy/romance genres! Why? The leading lady and man are aged 30+. This makes for a unique take on the story of self discovery when Diana is already a successful academic and isn’t interested in her magical side.
The more typical trope of an intense love story (literally weeks) is more believable because of Diana’s also.


Unique takes on magical creatures and how they’d interact with our modern world is always a win for me. 

The pacing is a little odd and not all characters have the depth I'd like. 

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gillian_aftanas's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.5


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kimberlina82's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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

5.0

Absolute perfection!  From beginning to end! 

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snivellus's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5


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joey_paige's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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laurenleigh's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

I unknowingly sat behind this author at a Leigh Bardugo book signing! Thank goodness Leigh posted a pic of them together with a tag so I could discover this book. I love me some witches, demons, and vampires, oh my! My favorite aspect is the scholarly slant. Our main characters are professors and researchers, and Harkness has clearly done a ton of research herself. I loved the depth and complexity this gave to the story! I hesitated when I saw it compared to Outlander(ew), but I see they have a similar episodic story structure. I sometimes struggle when a love connection turns so deep so fast, but who am I to argue with some star-crossed lovers? Definitely recommend you give this a chance if you like magical fantasy and adventure!

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discogecko's review

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Couldn't get past the evolution and genetics explanations... They're not accurate. Dislike the protagonist.

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kat1105's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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ruthee's review against another edition

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slow-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? It's complicated

2.0

Unlike others, I didn’t actually mine the pace or world-building…but the abusive relationship (red flag, after red flag, after red flag) framed as ‘that’s just the way vampires are, and my love is enough’ was so bad it just kept taking me out of the story. 

It’s not often (if ever) that I completely prefer a tv or film adaptation to the original material, but in this case, my love of the tv series was what got me through this. 

In audiobook, the narrator was good, except when it came to any accent that wasn’t their own. The English/Scottish/Australian ones ranged between literally lol to offensive…so strange for a professionally produced book. 

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