Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Fragile Threads of Power

This book was indeed like coming home. The beginning was a pretty slow start, constructing the stage, bringing us back to our favorite characters, and introducing the newer ones. V.E. Schwab's writing has always been one of my favorites and this one was no different. The transitions between past and present scenes were so seemless and helped the flower of the narrative for each character and what they had been up to in the past seven years... or how the newer players obtained their role in this story.

I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series, because if it's anything like the previous Shades of Magic trilogy, the story is just going to get better and better!

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lizgriffinwords's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!

Can’t describe how magical it is to be back in this world. New and familiar characters are delightful. It definitely *feels* like the first book in a trilogy, with many threads (pun intended) left open for the next installment to pick up.

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littletiramisu's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Schwab’s writing had really improved since writing the original trilogy. I’m not sure why I was under the impression that previous characters were going to be less of the focus, but that was not the case! For readers of the original series this is great because we all love those characters, but it does mean this cannot be read without having read the original trilogy. Which is fine! Perhaps I just had a wrong impression. There are new and interesting characters introduced, but I’d actually say more of the book takes place from old characters pov.

Having just read the original trilogy earlier this year I felt a lot of the story was spent explaining things that I already knew. Perhaps this was done for people who had read the series long ago, but I found those parts to be rather redundant. My other criticism is that Schwab tends to tell the same plot point from multiple characters’ POVs without really adding much in each case so there were parts that seemed repetitive plot wise. Overall the plot seemed to be setting up for the rest of this new trilogy.

This was clearly a labor of love for a world and characters the author truly loves. There were many squeal-worthy moments between old characters. Fans of the series will find a lot of fun in this book (hence my personal high rating for this book).

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