Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

11 reviews

larkspurlane's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Torture

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Panic attacks/disorders

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

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-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? No

5.0

Always a favorite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

hazelgirl21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Body horror

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

bookbelle5_17's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Review of A Discovery of Witches

By: Deborah Harkness

            Diana Bishop is a powerful witch from a strong family linage, but she refuses to use it, because of the danger it presents.  While at Oxford she comes across a manuscript, Ashmole 782, which contains secrets that could affects all species of this world: Witches, Vampires, Daemons.  Soon she finds herself being targeted by members of each species and her only protection is handsome vampire Matthew Claremont, a biology professor at the school.  The pair find themselves falling in love, but it is forbidden for different species to have a relationship.

            This has been compared to the Twilight series and it does have the same type of romance, but I find this a more interesting story.  Both Diana and Matthew had more personality, but he does exhibit the same controlling and protectiveness of Edward Cullen. Diana fights back when he tries to tell her what to do. Both are academically minded, making them more relatable to me, and I enjoyed all the research scenes.  It was cool to hear all about the all the people Matthew encountered and that’s one of my favorite part of vampires is knowing they’ve experienced so much history.  I liked learning about the different species, and even though Harkness was writing a story about characters we have seen so many times before, she does her own spin on these creatures. Though, I do wonder if vampire fans might have issue with her take on vampires, because they come off as a little less menacing, though Matthew still comes off as dangerous to me.  He is still immortal and strong and fast.  Meeting both their families and exploring their homes. The romance is sweet and exciting to read about.  The writing is nothing great, but an easy and fast read.  It is slow in a beginning, especially the scenes when she is in being stalked for the manuscript.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Body horror

brookeew's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked this book, and I enjoyed the dark/forbidden romance, but I did not find the story compelling enough to buy the next book in the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Body horror, and Torture

elizlizabeth's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

This book's pacing is all over the place and it's long. I would recommend it if you're a fan of romance, but definitely not for anyone else, as the plot doesn't even resolve by the end of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Torture, Confinement, Body horror, and Panic attacks/disorders

atxshopgirl's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Reading this was like all my favorite YA, fantasy, and sci-fi fandoms got mixed up in a big cauldron, with a healthy dash of ABO elements, without explicitly calling out ABO (sorta). (Seriously — if you liked the vibes from that childhood wizard series or the sparkly vampire story, read fanfic, and have watched that show about a time lord at any point, you’ll probably enjoy this story.) 

The main character wasn’t super relatable at first and felt kinda like a Mary Sue, but as the plot really picked up, a lot of the exposition and first-person voice that I found somewhat annoying at the beginning fell away and I really began to enjoy the way the plot unraveled and the way all the characters were interacting with and growing with one another. 

The book was a bit slow to start, but once many of the other characters were introduced the pace picked up quite a bit and I found myself wishing there had been MORE content established with those characters, and more depth, despite how long it already is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Stalking, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Emotional abuse

abbyjme's review

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Body horror, Mental illness, Violence, and Blood

katielaine_w's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Violence