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adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The Shades of Magic Trilogy comes to a close in A Conjuring of Light. It was a fun fantasy ride!
I'll start with the things I did like. First, I love the characters. They had good chemistry and played off each other well. I enjoyed the banter between Kell and Alucard. I know some people didn't like Lila, but I did, I thought she was fun and pretty badass. I saw the romance between her and Kell coming a mile away but I still enjoyed it. I thought they were good together.
Speaking of romance, I loved the subplot with Rhy and Alucard. I feel VE Schwab handled it tastefully. Speaking as a queer person, queer romance often feels like it's pandering to us.
I really wanted more time with these characters. In my opinion, Schwab's character writing is pretty strong. They felt like they could be real people, even the background characters. Rhy ended up being my favorite. I nearly started crying when his parents died, I felt so bad for him. I wanted to reach into the book and give him a hug. My boy suffered so much.
Now for some of my criticisms. For the story, I enjoyed it overall but felt it dragged at some points. The ship voyage in particular seemed to go on for a bit too long.
I also had a lot of unanswered questions at the end. I was hoping Kell would naturally remember his past - since he was told the memory spell should wear off over time and he burned the note on how to remove it. I wanted to know where he actually came from, and what his birth name was. I also don't recall Lila's missing eye being fully addressed. I had a theory that the black stone that appeared in book one would end up being the eye. I haven't read the sequel trilogy so I don't know if the question is answered there.
So, overall I really liked this trilogy! It was the first thing I'd read from VE Schwab and I'll definitely read more of her work in the future.
I'll start with the things I did like. First, I love the characters. They had good chemistry and played off each other well. I enjoyed the banter between Kell and Alucard. I know some people didn't like Lila, but I did, I thought she was fun and pretty badass. I saw the romance between her and Kell coming a mile away but I still enjoyed it. I thought they were good together.
Speaking of romance, I loved the subplot with Rhy and Alucard. I feel VE Schwab handled it tastefully. Speaking as a queer person, queer romance often feels like it's pandering to us.
I really wanted more time with these characters. In my opinion, Schwab's character writing is pretty strong. They felt like they could be real people, even the background characters. Rhy ended up being my favorite.
Now for some of my criticisms. For the story, I enjoyed it overall but felt it dragged at some points. The ship voyage in particular seemed to go on for a bit too long.
I also had a lot of unanswered questions at the end.
So, overall I really liked this trilogy! It was the first thing I'd read from VE Schwab and I'll definitely read more of her work in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Alcohol
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Murder
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This series really does deliver. It’s as good as everyone says it is! The third book here is definitely darker with higher stakes. Nonetheless, there’s still banter and punchy one-liners like the other books. The pacing got a little slow for me in the middle, but the last third or so was so engaging. Schwab is excellent at writing morally grey characters that I truly adore. They really come to life, and I feel like I know them all. I’m so happy there’s a new series in this world so I don’t have to say goodbye to it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood
Moderate: Death, Death of parent
adventurous
dark
emotional
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:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Alcohol
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really struggled to complete this series, especially this last book. It amazes me that a book can be simultaneously captivating and boring. I have a hard time putting into words how I feel about it. The world and characters are full of magic and intrigue, yet the writing tends to extend too far, dragging you past the point of interest and into boredom. I want so badly to love this series and everything that happens in it, but it was a chore to read it through to the end.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
What a fantastic conclusion to a wonderful series. I'm gonna miss this colorful cast of characters I've grown to love so much.
This is normally where I would word vomit out a review about what I liked and disliked about the book, but I'm so overcome with emotion. I cried sometimes, cheered during other times, and experienced the five stages of grief throughout my time with this book (and this series as a whole, tbh). And I think that's as good of a review as I can churn out.
Shoutout to Holland because I didn't expect to care about him so much. Literally crying my eyes out. And Kell, Rhy, Alucard...I love ya'll. Lila too, she grew on me in this book.
This is normally where I would word vomit out a review about what I liked and disliked about the book, but I'm so overcome with emotion. I cried sometimes, cheered during other times, and experienced the five stages of grief throughout my time with this book (and this series as a whole, tbh). And I think that's as good of a review as I can churn out.
Shoutout to Holland because I didn't expect to care about him so much. Literally crying my eyes out. And Kell, Rhy, Alucard...I love ya'll. Lila too, she grew on me in this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content
“Life isn’t made of choices,” said Holland. “It’s made of trades. Some are good, some are bad, but they all have a cost.”
this book is CHONKY and so bittersweet, but i loved it. an epic end for an epic story. holland's chapters omg, my poor baby 😭 he was already so compelling from the moment he appeared, i'm happy he got to become so fleshed out.
kell and lila are everything. girlhusband and malewife for life. rhy and alucard 4ever.
“Love and loss,” he said, “are like a ship and the sea. They rise together. The more we love, the more we have to lose. But the only way to avoid loss is to avoid love. And what a sad world that would be.”
i powered through this series and i'm so sad it's over but i'll definitely be reading threads of power.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail