Reviews with content warning for Torture - A Conjuring of Light

Loved this, a great end to the series. But it was long and there was a lot happening. I had to keep going back to check things earlier in the book and even earlier in the series a couple of times. Just a warning that it’s a brain engaged kind of book! In the plus side we get so many delightfully fleshed out characters and some really good development for our main gang who I love deeply with all my heart.

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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

5 ⭐ CW: Violence, blood, torture, self-harm, enslavement, death

A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab is the third and final book in the Shades of Magic trilogy. This book was such a chonker, but it was worth every page. This was the perfect wrap up to this story. Schwab has such a beautiful way of marrying character moments with plot. Nothing feels wasted, only enriches. Warning for potential spoilers for the previous books ahead.

We pick up from that doozy of a cliffhanger last book, just in time for Lila to finally get to Kell and remove the collar, ultimately also saving Rhy. Osaron is running amuk in poor Holland's body until he leaves his body to become more "godlike." Red London is consumed by his curse.

This whole book was made up of a bunch of character moments. It was all about that character development for Rhy, Alucard, Lila, Kell, and Holland. We finally get to see more of Alucard's backstory and a fleshing out of his relationship with Rhy. Holland's arc is the most harrowing and interesting, in my opinion. That man has never not been a victim or been enslaved. All Holland wants is peace, and everyone just wants to kill him or use him. It's made very clear that Holland may have started out as the antagonist, but he is certainly not a villain in the same way Osaron is. It's also fascinating that Holland is the strongest of the three Antari, because the difference between strength and power is control.

There was so much packed in these pages! I have loved the world building in these books and the magic system. I will definitely be reading The Fragile Threads of Power in the future.

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barda's review

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.0

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kathrynok's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

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msradiosilence's review

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5.0

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rinku's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The Shades of Magic series has honestly been a disappointment to me, and A Conjuring of Light is no exception. The magic and the world had so much potential but were held back by the unlikable characters and slow and uneventful plot.

Like I’ve said, the plot was progressing so slowly. It contains only one important element: the search for an object to defeat the great villain that was revealed in the last book of the series. In the first 200 pages, our main characters do nothing against him. Only after 300 pages, they start looking for this object. I can’t even tell you anymore what happened in those first pages besides some annoying banter between the main characters. This is so unfortunate since the world with the three Londons had so much potential. Sadly, we barely see any travelling between those worlds in the course of the story and spend most of the time in Red London.

The second half of the book was a bit better, but still rather uneventful, besides this random twist(?) that

Cora is a traitor and kills the queen and the king together with her brother

. This came so out of the blue and was a bit unbelievable. Additionally, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending because it’s wrapped up a bit too quickly;

they just defeat Osaron and not one of the main characters dies. The random explanation of Alcuard towards the end felt a bit misplaced as well

The characters are still the biggest problem I have with the series because I liked none of the main characters. I felt no connection for them which became clear when

Alucard’s sister died, and I felt no emotions

. The dynamic between them, especially Alucard and Kell, should probably be funny, but I was just annoyed by it. I also found it cringe that the characters drink a lot of alcohol and clean their nails with their knives just to show how cool they are.

I still can’t stand Lila; her “not like other girls” demeanour is so annoying and she’s just a boring character because she never fails at anything. Many things about her past and her as a person remain unexplained, just like Kell’s past. Besides Lila, there are just no female characters that play an important role which is so unfortunate. I also didn’t like the villain Osaron, he was so cliché and his POV was just cringe with him talking about wanting to be a god. The only character I liked was Hastra but everyone was so unnecessarily mean to him? Furthermore,

it was so predictable that he would die because none of the main characters could die, of course

The A Darker Shade of Magic series had so much potential, and I had high hopes for the series after enjoying Addie so much. It had an interesting concept with different worlds but after the first book, they barely play any important role and are not utilized. Instead, it focusses on its characters that were often too edgy and hence cringe for my taste and just rather unlikable. For the worldbuilding, the plot is just too simple as well which is all very unfortunate.

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takarakei'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? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The best of the series for sure! A strong conclusion to the trio. The characters are still the best part so this book being a convergence of a lot of the characters plot wise made it so fun to read. The world has and always will be fascinating to read about. The villain was good, but a bit repetitive. Audio narrators for book 2 and 3 are good.

Schwab is so fucking smart, leaving the story with Anoshe :')

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donatio's review

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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

5.0

This one was long. Like the other two before this was a reread, although I had less memory of how they actually get rid of Osaron.
Sometimes the book felt a bit too long, especially the first hundred pages or so but that does not take much from Schwab's writing style, it is just easy to forget that the scene cover barely a week and not, say, two.
On the other hand there are some things I forgot that had me shocked when I remembered.

I do wish we would have known what happened with Kelly's parents.

Every plotline had a logical and satisfying ending.
Recommend for being one of my favourite series.

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