| Title | : | Divination for Skeptics |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 356 |
| Publication | : | Published January 1, 2019 |
Divination for Skeptics Reviews
-
Thought about dnfing it the whole time, but I had already made a bound copy of it and didn’t want all that effort to go to waste… so i skimmed the whole thing instead.
I had a really hard time getting into it. It had a super slow start (especially for the size of the story) and I didn’t love the overall writing. It was a bit too woke/modern for my taste and didn’t feel like it fit with the timeline of the story. It was set in 2002 and yet the author was using phrases and references that weren’t really a thing then.
I also felt like there was a lot of unnecessary filler that I couldn’t care less about and not enough build up where I wanted it most.
And to top it all off… there was a third act miscommunication breakup (which I absolutely loathe) -
This one started out really strong for me. It had a unique writing style that was initially engaging and I liked the concept of the story. Unfortunately, it started wearing a bit thin for me. It felt like I was reading a Gilmore Girls script where everyone was going out of their way to sound pithy. Theo was initially humorous, but eventually it made no sense that he went around acting unhinged all of the time and literally no one thought to ask him what his motivation was. You know that scene in Truman Show where Jim Carrey's character starts to suspect he's living in the world built around him and he just starts behaving erratically to try and elicit a response and everybody pretends like everything's normal and peachy keen? That was Theo in this fic, only that isn't the storyline of the fic. It's just Theo behaving increasingly odd and all of his friends completely ignoring it. It felt like believability was sacrificed for humour, which would be fine in a short crack fic, but in a work this long just kind of started to grate on me. Hermione was also missing all of the emotional intelligence that we know she has from canon and was written more like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory: logical to the point of hyperbole. The romance between Draco and Hermione was not bad though. It was just a story of two people slowly falling in love, which I kind of liked. I liked that it wasn't this grand romantic thing, but rather more of a realistic representation of a growing relationship. Went with 2 stars because "It was ok" is the most apt description of my impression of this.
-
Dnf @ 40%
Wanted to love it, it’s so popular, but it was so completely not my style like everything I don’t want in a dramione -
Olivie Blake is slaying both in their published and unpublished stuff. Queen is simply an icon.
-
It’s a lot of unhinged antics and witty banter- which I personally enjoyed. What surprised me was the moments of depth and tenderness between both friends and then Draco and Hermione. Also, I really enjoyed how the problems in the wizarding world felt realistic and grounded. It’s bonkers but in a very endearing way.
-
Creative idea and cool message - is compatibility between two people an innate clicking of two personalities and such ~or~ a volitional choice that can be tended to across time. The characters were interesting and rather different from cannon, but intriguing in a way the author made them her own. I did rather enjoy the writing style and the ending, leaving the reader with a little room for imagination and choice to make their own decision.
-
It's olivieblake, so you know it's good.
-
Meh.
-
Dnf at 39%
-
I have so many things to say about this I don’t know where to start. First of all, her style of writing is not for everyone and I can understand that. But it is for me, the writing reads like a semi more emotional Leigh bardugo and my GOD is she funny as hell. There were multiple points during this where I was just laughing out loud to myself.
Also I have to seriously admire her dedication to the characters personalities. Although at some points I found myself thinking this is what Hermione would be like if she had a touch of the tism. Honestly this isn’t my favorite version of her.
All that being said Olivie Blake can write so well. Certain excerpts of this will stay with me for a long, long time and the confession speech had me in tears. I love reading an author with a truly unique perspective on common emotions. I will definitely be picking up her published works. -
Will be adding quotes later but this was HILARIOUS and BRILLIANT.
-
I thought the story was very unique and it reminded me of something I’d see on Black mirror. I always love when Theo is included in fics and he really was the star of this one. We love a goofy, fun Theo.
To be honest, I didn’t love how Hermione was portrayed and actually found her quite annoying at times. I wanted her to stfu during certain scenes 😅
I don’t normally care about or notice “writing styles”, but I found this hard to read at times? Some sentences would seriously take up half a page and I felt like I had to go back and reread it to get all the things that the author mentioned. It felt like run-on sentence after run-on sentence. Maybe I have a smol brain.
The author does have an eloquent way of writing, but I did find my self skimming through some parts because I was like get to the point please 😅 I remember feeling a similar way when I read one of her published books.
A song that reminds me of this song: Labyrinth by Taylor Swift ✨✨✨ -
Wasn't expecting this to turn out to be a story that strongly resembles a hilarious rom-com if it isn't one in it's own right. It combines modern and traditional humour, whilst managing to sound very British. A good light read all in all. I was looking to read something whilst being too tired to read anything too complex, and this also scratched my latest reading mood itch. The blurb is what misled me initially to expect more angst rather than comedy.
However, not one of the top fics I've read. I struggled to connect to Hermione as she often felt emotionally withdrawn and even dead. Her thoughts were pure logic and it almost felt like she was a robot at times. And although it was exceptionally funny, I can't rate it much higher because of how much I struggled with the one of the POVs. -
Re-read for an Olivie Blake tier list to give to my friend who’s moving through the greatest works of Dramione.
——
I love Dramione (as most know), and I love Olivie Blake's writing. But this one was a bit of a miss for me. It had a very great premise, and great for the first 30%, but something got lost along the way. The characters fell flat, and I wish there had been a little more depth. -
the only reason i'm shelving this is because i had to sit through it. this was probably the most inaccurate representation of these characters i've ever seen. i thought about quitting the entire time but i pushed through because i hoped it'd get better!!! spoiler alert it didn't. i don't know i just didn't like it at all. unique writing style but just overall not good at all
-
So much intellectual rambling my brain hurt
-
Just not my cup of tea, I'm sorry.
-
Come for the hilariously unbeatable NottPott antics, stay for the achingly soft love declarations, as seen here:
‘He was not going to let her down. He was going to tell her he loved her until she got tired of hearing it, begging him to please god, Malfoy, shut up. He was going to fight all her battles with her whether she asked him to or not; until she said I can handle it and he said I know you can but I'm here anyway, if you ever need me, even if you don't. Wherever she was going, whatever she was saying, he was going to be there. If it killed him in the end, he would side with her regardless. She had done as much just by choosing him.’ -
A delulu hermione and a begrudgen but hopelessly enamored draco is my preferred brand of idiots in love. This was hilariously pretentious, stretching my absolute favorite characterizations to the brink of chaos. I think I could have easily been put off by it (alas I accept granger as generally mildly daft but she’s certainly not emotionally inept), but lucky for olivieblake I was in the perfect mood to devour the madness.
4.5⭐️ special shout out to theo and his mayhem -
This is the second stories I’ve read by this author and I 100% plan to work my way through the rest! I loved this story so darn much. The story goes in a direction you��re not initially expecting but it’s so darn good! Highly recommend reading!
-
5⭐️ no idea why this is rated so low by so many. Devoured this, it was loud out loud funny and writes probably the best characterisation of Theo ever.
Olivie x Dramione is everything I need and more 🫶🏻✨ -
I adored Alone With You in the Ether, so obviously I had to read the author's Dramione fanfiction as well!
"I may not be the person you had in mind to love you," he told her raggedly, "but I swear, if you let me, I'll be the one who does it best."
-
Interesting concept and really funny. It only took me so long to read it because I was only reading it at work.
-
I owe Olivie Blake and Scarlet my life
-
This is the first time in over ten years that I’ve read fan fiction but wow this was so much fun :’)
-
I see this is a polarizing read for many but I cannot express how much joy it brought me. Harry and Theo? Stop it right now. Perfection. Rom-com but make it magical. So good. Laugh-out-loud funny. Short but oh-so-sweet.
-
Omg these two are so awkward 😭 idk how I feel about the characterization of Hermione, she's so. . . Boring? Monotone? Nerdy (coming from a nerd)? But the story was still kinda fun. Impersonal, that's the word I wanted. She's very detached. I keep liking it less and less the more I read 😅 I just don't feel any chemistry between them sorry
-
3.75
This was silly and fun and exactly what I needed from it! Also enticed me enough to put Olivie Blake’s published works higher up on my tbr -
So funny and adorably quaint. I enjoyed Clean and Marked, but I loved the genre change for this one. Read it incredibly quickly, and really helped me out of a reading slump.
-
Well-written and A+ banter and humor but it was missing that spark. I just didn't fully enjoy it or appreciate this version of Hermoine's character. Draco's rarely a miss tho and I finished for him hahahha It is a quick read and for anyone looking for a DMATTOBIL adjacent type of low stakes + humor, this works!
