A review by cozysabie
Modern Divination by Isabel Agajanian

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

"You're so beautiful, she told him.

"Sometimes I think I was made for you,' he said. "To be yours."

GENRE: Dark Academia Romantasy
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
FORMAT: eBook eArc from Pan Macmillan in NetGalley

Would I recommend to others?: YES, a thousand times, YES! That is the only short explanation I can give for this slow paced, slow yearning between the MCs and dark academia Urban Fantasy book

Long Review:
Maybe 2025 is the year I start all my reviews with: "Where do I start?" but like Modern Divination was SO good that I am still thinking about it after having finished it in February. This book is definitely one of my top books and you just go through so much emotions and so much layers of magic and yearning and just everything that is wholesome yet dark in one book.

We begin the book by establishing that there is an academic rivalry between Aurelia Schwartz and Theodore Ingram. Their Rivalry feels as if its the rivalry of the year, starting with so many complex layers and experiences. We get to know more about Aurelia in the beginning as Modern Divination is told from her POV. We learn about her, her past, her magic and her experiences. Every part is important in the development of who she is.

"But it was always time that seemed to be the issue for Aurelia Schwartz. It moved too quickly to catch hold of and enjoy. It spurned her advances like an unrequited love. She was constantly out of it, or with too much of it dispersed between periods of sporadic busyness — in all cases, she was left wholly unsatisfied."

We also delve into the academic world, the way it is a place for people from high background, those with money to afford the luxuries it demands. We see Aurelia struggle with this concept and watch where the rivalry starts with Theodore.

There are many points in the book where we hit a climax. We have the first event, which exposes magic and brings Aurelia and Ingram together. They go into a small town in England, where Ingram introduces Aurelia to his found family. In here, their relationships develop and we see more of the good & the bad side of both of them.

Their relationship is truly slow yearning and slowly moving from rivals to colleagues to friends to lovers. And when they finally become together? AHHH, it is worth every single page of yearning and waiting for them to make it there. I loved the development of their relationship, the use of sarcasm as a humour for both of them and the way they break each other's walls down in order to get to know the other better.

We also have magic, the fact that they are both magic users and I think Agajanian dives into the magic so beautifully: a bit of details and without any added depth that is not needed. I did not find myself wanting to know more of anything then what was written, which is quite rare as I'm usually super curious and want to know everything more about a magical system. This is to say that I do think that the witch system in here fits so well with the academic background as well. This is like if the aesthetic of Cottagecore met with dark academia!

The way this book ended destroyed my heart but was so realistic. There was no part of the ending where you went like okay this is HEA and it was more of like: Okay, this is reality but maybe they stand a chance in the future? This is me manifesting that book two brings them together AND keeps them together. We can only hope ahh

Let me end this review with another quote that I loved so much:

"She wanted to pry apart his ribs and crawl between them. How long could he hold her there in his chest? How long could they carry onward in this delicate state? Not long, she decided. Not long at all."

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the eArc of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.