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A review by hihizreads
Modern Divination by Isabel Agajanian
2.5
Initially, I expected to love this book because medievalist academic rivals to lovers, who are also witches, set in Cambridge just ticks all my boxes. Instead, I found that the plot was completely disjointed and mind boggling. I often struggled to keep track of the characters as they seemed to move locations or switch conversation topics without any clear links. It felt completely all over the place and for most of the book, I had no clue what was happening. But somehow, the plot also managed to be completely void of any content. Nothing happened. The antagonist appears out of nowhere. There was no explanation at all about who Leona was or where Gemma had gone. Honestly, it was exhausting to read and felt like a chore.
The characters were probably the only thing I liked about this book, but even they felt like they had no solid personality at times. They both switched back and forth so often. One minute, Rory hated Teddy even when he begged her to make amends, and the next minute, it was Rory begging for Teddy to let her know him and to let bygones be bygones, all while he refused. And this continued to switch back and forth multiple times until they were suddenly in love with each other and bonking back in Cambridge.
The magic system in this book is also crazy confusing. Like Teddy is a reaper (and it never explains what exactly that is) but he can also somehow turn into a bird and actually no, he’s an empath instead of a reaper. And Teddy made a blood oath to share Kenny’s powers but even the decision behind that isn’t explained clearly - we definitely don’t get an explanation of how that somehow led to Kenny’s death.
Overall, this book had a really promising premise and a group of characters with so much potential, but it was all completely wasted, in my opinion.
The characters were probably the only thing I liked about this book, but even they felt like they had no solid personality at times. They both switched back and forth so often. One minute, Rory hated Teddy even when he begged her to make amends, and the next minute, it was Rory begging for Teddy to let her know him and to let bygones be bygones, all while he refused. And this continued to switch back and forth multiple times until they were suddenly in love with each other and bonking back in Cambridge.
The magic system in this book is also crazy confusing. Like Teddy is a reaper (and it never explains what exactly that is) but he can also somehow turn into a bird and actually no, he’s an empath instead of a reaper. And Teddy made a blood oath to share Kenny’s powers but even the decision behind that isn’t explained clearly - we definitely don’t get an explanation of how that somehow led to Kenny’s death.
Overall, this book had a really promising premise and a group of characters with so much potential, but it was all completely wasted, in my opinion.