Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

77 reviews

laurenleigh's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Death

mimimars's review

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The book is basically a fantasy romance. It wasted a lot of words and pages into what I consider “nothing” resolving into a lot of “nothing”. I think this book is meant to establish the plot for the next ones, but it didn’t do it in a way that pulled me in. In fact, I really just wanted to be done with it. Almost left it on a DNF pile. It had promise, but wasn’t well executed.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Kidnapping and Death of parent

discogecko's review

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Stalking, Blood, and Death of parent

kat1105's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Gore, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: War and Sexual content

ruthee's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Death, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexism

karly_ackley's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Moderate: Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and War

euphemiajo's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

cholliworth's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Love, love, love this book. Haven't been so desperate to finish a book in years, and can't wait to read the second in the trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Kidnapping, Murder, and Death of parent

u2u's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Loved this man, not usually into romances but this is more adventurous than anything. It’s slow at first and takes some time to think about what u have just read but besides that. 9/10

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, and Blood

Minor: Animal death, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Violence

jaynovara's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Confinement

Minor: Kidnapping, Medical content, and Pregnancy