Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

109 reviews

heini's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

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vagorsol's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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lisslovesbooks's review against another edition

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

5.0


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readabookortwo's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense 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

4.25

"I would rather die on an adventure than live standing still"

A Darker Shade Of Magic is a book that I love. Me and this book have a history honestly but I absolutely love this book so god damn much!!! I think it's the perfect introduction to the series, introduces all of these interesting characters and ideas that are then developed throughout without ending on an Earth shattering cliffhanger. I think it's truly a special and magical book and I really love it!!! 

I think Kell is the perfect main character for this book and series. I mean, don't get me wrong, he absolutely stresses me out to high hell but he's truly such a kind and compassionate person that is trying to do the right thing at least 90% of the time okay!!! I like the way that he recognises he's in royalty and knows he is privileged but he feels like he belongs to the royal family, like hes a possession that doesn't have his own life and will which is very important when it comes to the favourite character I'm going to discuss but I truly love Kell so much!!! I love that much of this book and series as a whole; conflicts come from Kell making mistakes and fixing them, it makes him feel so human and the whole series feel grounded and real. 

"No one suffers as beautifully as you." 

My favourite character is absolutely Holland - and I know I know okay, maybe its because I have read the whole series but I really love Holland. Hes such a well written character that is so wrapped in tragedy. Holland is in a world whwre he is just trying to survive, he is trying to survive the horrors that are inacted upon him and they are horrors. I love the fact that him and Kell are complete opposites of each other; Kell has been bought up with love, Holland with torture. Kell has free will, Holland is bound to someone. Kell smalls of flowers and life, Holland smells of Ash and blood. The two are opposites sides of the same coin and I love the way they and their relationship is written. The one line of this book that makes me cry is when Kell impales Holland and says that basically Holland stopped fighting for a second and let him that all Holland feels when it happens is relief, he's finally on his way out and his only freedom can be in death, like afterwards when Kell and Lila are talking and Lila says how she hopes Kell made him suffer and Kell thinks no because Holland has suffered long enough. Hes such a god damn tragic character who absolutely breaks and continues to break my heart throughout and I adore him so much. 

"The first thing about magic that you have to understand, Lila, is that it is not inanimate. It is alive. Alive in a different way than you or I but still very much alive." 

I like Lila a lot!! I'm not as enamored with her as everyone else especially in this book but I do really like!! She is so strong and cool and clever and I love that her biggest ambition is to see the world, to not feel so trapped in her own situation but god damn it she actually frustrates me so much in some places in this book and I just wish sometimes she would actually listen to other people but overall I really like her and I think she gets better as the books go on. 

The twins are absolutely scary as fuck. They're so evil bad twisted and absolutely perfectly written villains. They're not even in much of the book but it's like you can feel their shadows, how eerie and creepy they are from their first appearance through the 200 pages they're not even in and I think that's what makes them so well written. 

I love Rhy SO MUCH!!! He's my second favourite character of the entire series, hes such a beautiful and sweet soul, I love how happy he is at the start and hate how that all gets stripped away from him. I love how much he loves and respects Kell, even though they're not blood related he has never seen Kell as anyone but a brother you can tell how much he loves him, how much he aspires to be like him. He breaks my heart and also warms my heart the way he never wants Kell to have to bleed for him or cause him any kind of pain, I just love him so god damn much he absolutely is a sunshine and shines super brightly. 

I absolutely love the world building in this series, the way the four Londons are crafted is nothing short of brilliant.
 I love how each London is assigned a colour and it's so interesting to compare the connotations of that colour to each London. When you think of grey, it's such a dreary really nothing colour and that matches grey London so well especially compared to the others; it's the dull London that has no magic and its closest to our, real London. Whereas when you think of white it's the colour of purity, safety which when you think of white London, absolutely doesn't represent that but white is also associated with coldness, emptiness which does then match up with white London and I find that so interesting! Black London is obviously the London we know the least about, the cut off London, the one everyone is scared of, it's like a black hole, it holds those connotations of horror, of darkness. Whereas Red London is what I find most interesting where of course red has connotations of love it is thought of as anger, hatred, aggression and war where red London is meant to be the London that's thriving and it is, its where magic is not something to be scared of, the whole city is happy and thriving and yet red London is the one that has caused all other Londons to suffer it's the one that cut itself off and left mostly white London to suffer at the hands of black London and I think that is such an important piece of information and world building to hold onto. 
I think the plot of this book is interesting, yes there is 100 pages of set up and introduction but I think that's absolutely a good, needed thing it sets up the story and the conflict as well as getting to know these characters!! I also like that despite being book one of a series, it's a book that wraps itself up so nicely so if you didnt want to continue on, you don't have to or can leave it for a little while before coming back. 

Overall, I absolutely adore this book it's the start to one of my favourite series ever and it still fills me with the magic and warmth it did!! I just love it so much and think Schwab is a fantastic author!! 

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jannarae26's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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


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yananhai's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

are you telling me that I read almost 400 pages, most of which had zero plot, only for everything to be solved
by one single magical word for dispelled?! 🙄

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beeontoast's review

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

5.0


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baearles's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0


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moonchild_cos's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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


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cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really liked this book!
The plot was good, the characters were good, and I really like its pace.
Especially in the end, I felt like some of the battles were a bit short and shallow? However, I am aware that this is a trilogy, and will give the end game a chance to be tension I'm looking for.

I would very much recommend this to any fantasy fan who likes a bit of a blood bath and very interesting world-building. There's elemental magic, alternative worlds, humorous dialogue, and a small romance sub-plot that doesn't take up tedious space at all.

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