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A review by tej_reads
Modern Divination by Isabel Agajanian
emotional
medium-paced
3.25
Isabel Agajanians writing in Modern Divination is just magical, there's something so wonderful about the prose and how immersive it feels and yet I find myself wanting more - it felt like something was missing.
The first maybe 60-70% nothing happened, it's mainly talking about something happening, like when you have a meeting about having a meeting. The sheer annoyance I felt as I waited for something. Like yes, I do get that it was meant to add more depth to the character as we get a 'slice of life' as the go from a to b etc. but when you're waiting for 100+ pages something has to give.
I enjoyed much time we got to spend with both Aurelia and Teddy, but my issue was the 'academic rivals-to-lovers romance', again I felt like the basis of this rivalry was miscommunication. Aurelia had built her hatred of Teddy on a snide remark from four years ago, while Teddy had spent four years genuinely trying to know her. It felt so stupid, which in turn only added to making the whole will the won't they over 512 pages a drag instead of tension filled fun. And because of that I couldn't stand Aurelia, there were times where she made sense but a lot and I mean a lot of her inner monologue for the first 50% was just her pretending to be amicable with Teddy to find a weakness. She hated him because he had money and didn't suffer like her etc etc. It was whiny and for someone who hadn't bothered to get to know they guy beyond that one comment four years ago (which yeah wasn't great) but it didn't deserve all this. Like move on how are building your entire personality around hating a guy who doesn't even know why?
Overall, the writing is great but I just did not connect with Modern Divination in the way I wanted to.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan | Tor for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
The first maybe 60-70% nothing happened, it's mainly talking about something happening, like when you have a meeting about having a meeting. The sheer annoyance I felt as I waited for something. Like yes, I do get that it was meant to add more depth to the character as we get a 'slice of life' as the go from a to b etc. but when you're waiting for 100+ pages something has to give.
I enjoyed much time we got to spend with both Aurelia and Teddy, but my issue was the 'academic rivals-to-lovers romance', again I felt like the basis of this rivalry was miscommunication. Aurelia had built her hatred of Teddy on a snide remark from four years ago, while Teddy had spent four years genuinely trying to know her. It felt so stupid, which in turn only added to making the whole will the won't they over 512 pages a drag instead of tension filled fun. And because of that I couldn't stand Aurelia, there were times where she made sense but a lot and I mean a lot of her inner monologue for the first 50% was just her pretending to be amicable with Teddy to find a weakness. She hated him because he had money and didn't suffer like her etc etc. It was whiny and for someone who hadn't bothered to get to know they guy beyond that one comment four years ago (which yeah wasn't great) but it didn't deserve all this. Like move on how are building your entire personality around hating a guy who doesn't even know why?
Overall, the writing is great but I just did not connect with Modern Divination in the way I wanted to.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan | Tor for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.