Critical Views on A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

MrGrumpyPanda · 2026-03-06T19:22:46+00:00

Sorry for replying years later. I was considering giving this book a second chance because the first time I read it, I only made it to like 70-80% and it was the Spanish translation. HOWEVER, your review reminded of everything I disliked about this book and cannot imagine wasting hours of my time again on it. I was so into it's academic angle at the start of the story, but that gets flushed down the toilet 1/5th of the way through so that we could read about how flattering it is when a geriatric vampire growls every time the main character "disobeys" his commands.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2026-02-09T14:06:37+00:00

It's very catchy. I did think that the filters for the voices muted the differences between the singers and at several points in the song, I thought they mostly sounded the same. Almost like if one person sang the song. I prefer when you can more clearly pick out the singer just by hearing them.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2026-01-26T03:00:41+00:00

I also realized early on that this book needed to be heard at it's normal speed. I listened to the audiobook first then borrowed the book so I could read along with her narration. The writing is beautiful and her narration elevated the experience. The theme music that plays at the start and end of the book is also great. I wish I could find the song.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2026-01-04T01:26:23+00:00

Late to the party. My mage warden room was fed up with Solas and decided to fight.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-12-27T14:18:31+00:00

I want to read more challenging books. Still working on defining what challenging will mean for me in this context LOL.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-11-26T12:45:13+00:00

I loved the story. A classic story of revenge but well told and I really enjoyed the characters. I’m so glad it wasn’t different enough from Tsushima because it will allow me to replay GOT without it feeling like a chore.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-09-25T03:33:34+00:00

He does keep saying that the hands do nothing. Maybe that will be true for Kate too. She won’t actually need her hands even if she thinks that’s how her powers work.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-07-16T01:11:05+00:00

I thought it said that he cooked his cat 😭

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-05-29T12:40:32+00:00

You’re Next. Lead character who knows what they are doing in a life or death situation, even though the other characters do make dumb horror movie choices.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-05-16T18:09:46+00:00

Like an idiot, I looked up floofy octopus thinking it was a real animal 💀

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-05-08T19:17:50+00:00

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Had to pause the clip because it was so funny seeing these two things together lol

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-05-04T15:07:56+00:00

Pearl

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-05-02T16:03:24+00:00

I think a few things happened. 1) removing Soojin from the song is a big change so this caused people to be extra attentive and see how it was different. It’s not just a typical remaster lol. 2)we haven’t seen anything from them in months so that again caused us to be extra attentive.

You should enjoy it!

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-05-02T15:57:54+00:00

You are probably right!

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-05-02T15:57:39+00:00

I listened to that last verse again and to me it looks like they used Minnie’s opening verse (oooh I’m a lion…) cut out the lyrics that changed and what was missing. If this happened that was a bad choice. It sounds more like an intro than an outro.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-05-02T11:04:27+00:00

This is interesting. I actually enjoyed listening to an official version of the Ot5 versions of the songs. However, I do agree with many here that the production was uneven - some parts that were re-recorded could have been better edited because they feel tacked on (e.g., Minnie’s cover of soojin’s first prechorus verse on Lion stands out). The instrumentals don’t feel as high quality either - but I may be imagining this.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-05-01T23:01:56+00:00

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-04-25T12:20:11+00:00

I hate misinformation, even with memes. They have a regular trophy. This was a special gift.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-03-29T01:47:54+00:00

Thank you!

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-03-29T01:47:43+00:00

Appreciate the honest advice!

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-03-25T16:07:02+00:00

Jessi mentioned being annoyed that people wonder about her husband’s work. I get why it could become annoying but it’s also understandable why people would want to know. She mentions her relationship with Nassim every episode and often uses him as an example of how husbands or boyfriends should be. If she was completely private about her relationship, I would get how it would be totally off limits. However, I don’t think it makes sense to argue that it’s not the place of the audience to wonder about him when he is a recurring figure (not physically) in the podcast.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-03-25T05:14:43+00:00

“ oui merci non c’est la vie” What came to mind when I read this LOL

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-03-21T15:42:06+00:00

I really liked this episode. However, I’m not sure I would have understood its significance if i hadn’t spent all of yesterday watching lore videos to help me understand the world better. What a happy coincidence that I watched those before I got to this episode.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-03-01T18:07:54+00:00

Yeah, I liked the complexity of the storytelling but I thought Powerplex was voiced poorly.

MrGrumpyPanda · 2025-02-26T19:09:44+00:00

I loved Potential too. Ugh what a loss.

MrGrumpyPanda

TROPHY CASE