Reviews with content warning for Torture - A Discovery of Witches

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

75 reviews

kattila's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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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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karen_lo's review

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adventurous challenging mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

3.5 stars
I enjoyed the vibes and rich descriptions of this book. It's very cozy to immerse yourself in the characters' routines and hobbies.
It's a sloooow burn (very slow) but beautifully written.
There were some aspects of the characters' personalities that I didn't like much, hence my punctuation. Overall, it's a great book for getting lost in Dark Academia vibes, fantasy, and lots of history! 📚

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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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gwenergy's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book has a very rocky start. If it had not been a recommendation from a friend, it would have been put down after chapter 2 or 3. The writing in the beginning is painfully detailed on things that do not matter, and that takes away from the details that will matter 200 pages later in the story. Once the story picks up a bit, the characters and intrigue do become more interesting, and aided a bit in my determination to get through the whole book. The whole book took me at least 3 weeks, but the last 50% of the book was read in about 3 or 4 days. I may be interested to continue the story with the next book in the series, if I find that the writing has improved.

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