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nuttus's review
The plot is dragging and filled with unnecessary descriptions about wine, tea, food, exercise, smells, alchemy and I don’t even remember what else. Descriptions that seemed to be just there only for the sake of being there. They had nothing to do with the plot or anything but making the book longer than necessary. Editor of the book did not do their job for leaving them there.
The characters at the beginning were interesting, but as the book progressed they lost all their personality. Instead of development they had a decline, especially Diana. The autonomous, strong willed and smart professor became a weak damsel in distress acting like a scared child, depending on the vampire to make every single decision for her - what she was and wasn’t allowed to do.
Which brings us to Matthew who is nothing more than an alpha male podcaster who has no other reason to be obeyed than a because I say so. At first our heroine is not cool with that, until she seems to start suffering from Stockholm syndrome and just obeyes. Matthew is also manipulative, secretive and possessive douche who veils all of that to being concerned about Diana’s safety and just shrugs his shoulders saying that’s just me. Zero willingness to learn anything else.
Diana is also so ridiculously overpowered that it’s not believable. First she doesn’t want to use her magic and then she can’t. And then she suddenly learns do it perfectly in five minutes. All this screams an Y/N wattpad fanfic written by a 10-year old.
Oh and I’m having a hard time understanding how this heroine is a respected scholar when she is literally so dumb that it takes her almost the whole book to understand that her mother told her her future in stories. Even if the mom literally tells her the story while she is living it at the moment. How can someone so dumb be a scientist? Before realizing this she of course had to have a melodramatic self pity temper tantrum.
The plot line also is all over the place. There is secret society or two, a magical manuscript, Diana’s superpowers, death of her parents, forbidden love story and a slow extinction of creatures. With all this going on, not much really happens in the book. Like at all. They just drink wine and read crazy old books, smell each other and sleep together while whispering cheesy crap to each other.
The characters at the beginning were interesting, but as the book progressed they lost all their personality. Instead of development they had a decline, especially Diana. The autonomous, strong willed and smart professor became a weak damsel in distress acting like a scared child, depending on the vampire to make every single decision for her - what she was and wasn’t allowed to do.
Which brings us to Matthew who is nothing more than an alpha male podcaster who has no other reason to be obeyed than a because I say so. At first our heroine is not cool with that, until she seems to start suffering from Stockholm syndrome and just obeyes. Matthew is also manipulative, secretive and possessive douche who veils all of that to being concerned about Diana’s safety and just shrugs his shoulders saying that’s just me. Zero willingness to learn anything else.
Diana is also so ridiculously overpowered that it’s not believable. First she doesn’t want to use her magic and then she can’t. And then she suddenly learns do it perfectly in five minutes. All this screams an Y/N wattpad fanfic written by a 10-year old.
Oh and I’m having a hard time understanding how this heroine is a respected scholar when she is literally so dumb that it takes her almost the whole book to understand that her mother told her her future in stories. Even if the mom literally tells her the story while she is living it at the moment. How can someone so dumb be a scientist? Before realizing this she of course had to have a melodramatic self pity temper tantrum.
The plot line also is all over the place. There is secret society or two, a magical manuscript, Diana’s superpowers, death of her parents, forbidden love story and a slow extinction of creatures. With all this going on, not much really happens in the book. Like at all. They just drink wine and read crazy old books, smell each other and sleep together while whispering cheesy crap to each other.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcohol
gillian_aftanas's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Animal death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Stalking, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Murder, and Kidnapping
Minor: Cursing, Child death, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Infertility
kimberlina82's review against another edition
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Murder, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, War, Death of parent, Death, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping
sycamore22's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Medical content
Minor: War, Grief, and Alcohol
-Wine is drunk many times throughout the book, and flavors/smells are discussed. No one ever gets drunk though! -A main character experiences extensive bodily wounds that are described while she is captured by an enemy. The triage for these wounds is also described in detail. -A main character experiences the loss of his wife and child. His grief is not discussed in great detail, but it is expressed. -War is discussed, but these discussions are preceding said war.lportilla's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Torture, and Blood
Moderate: Miscarriage and Medical content
Minor: Alcohol
stavoosh's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
5.0
Wow. I felt like a child reading my favorite series while reading this book. It has every element I love: beautiful prose, logical storyline, high stakes, imaginative world-building, intellectual content, and not to mention the romance of all romances.
The story follows Diana, who studies the history of alchemy. The witch who represses her magic comes across an enchanted book in Oxford and returns it when she is unable to understand its magic. The plot takes off once creatures start pressuring her to recall the book for their own selfish reasons. Matthew, an old and well-respected vampire, originally wants the book for his own noble reason and they proceed to fall in love in their quest to understand the book, why everyone wants it, and why Diana cannot control her magic.
Diana and Matthew's love lifted off the pages and felt sincere in a magical way. I loved the slight enemies to lovers and later, a touch of fate. Harkness takes care to develop these characters with all their faults, personalities, and past creating dynamic characters whose actions made sense.
I loved the historical aspects of the book. I learned so much about European history which made reading such a fun learning experience. I also loved the way vampires, witches, and daemons were very sophisticated creatures that were explained adequately.
As someone who watched the show before reading the book, many of my questions were answered and I was very intrigued the whole way through. I prolonged this read as much as possible because I didn't want it to end.
I definitely recommend this book to people who like historical settings, calls to philosophical and historical texts, a plot of mystery, fantasy that blends into the real world, and romance!
The story follows Diana, who studies the history of alchemy. The witch who represses her magic comes across an enchanted book in Oxford and returns it when she is unable to understand its magic. The plot takes off once creatures start pressuring her to recall the book for their own selfish reasons. Matthew, an old and well-respected vampire, originally wants the book for his own noble reason and they proceed to fall in love in their quest to understand the book, why everyone wants it, and why Diana cannot control her magic.
Diana and Matthew's love lifted off the pages and felt sincere in a magical way. I loved the slight enemies to lovers and later, a touch of fate. Harkness takes care to develop these characters with all their faults, personalities, and past creating dynamic characters whose actions made sense.
I loved the historical aspects of the book. I learned so much about European history which made reading such a fun learning experience. I also loved the way vampires, witches, and daemons were very sophisticated creatures that were explained adequately.
As someone who watched the show before reading the book, many of my questions were answered and I was very intrigued the whole way through. I prolonged this read as much as possible because I didn't want it to end.
I definitely recommend this book to people who like historical settings, calls to philosophical and historical texts, a plot of mystery, fantasy that blends into the real world, and romance!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Animal death
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
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
3.75
I was expecting a fast-paced, plot-focused fantasy novel. What I got was a very cozy paranormal romance. This book was filled with so many scenes of dining together, going for long walks, family bonding, and dark academia (my favourite). I wasn’t a fan of the insta-love & slow burn, which I’m hoping will ramp up more in the next book, which I do plan to read. Overall, a nice read that I’d recommend to anyone who likes cozy fantasy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Death of parent, Alcohol, Confinement, and Blood
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.
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.
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
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
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
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