Reviews tagging 'Torture'

A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

72 reviews

thewileyseven's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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asipofcozy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

Going into A Conjuring of Light I didn't have many expectations as I found the 2nd book to be slow and lacking in the plot department, man was I blown away by this book in the first 20 pages.

Schwab has a way of writing tense scenes, mixed with lighthearted banter, mixed with real emotions. You could feel the pain and frustration of the characters when it was needed but you could also feel those moments where they were trying to make a good/funny situation out of a bad one. The bantering was never misplaced.

I felt overall this has to be one of the best books I have read in a while with really great character development. I felt by the end that many of our characters had the closure they needed to move on from there pasts. Yet at the same time there was that pain still lingering, that everything while not great would be okay one day. Kell, Lila, Rhy, Alucard, and Holland have come such a long way since A Darker Shade of Magic. Each have grown into themselves and their power. 

I could definitely see myself picking up more books by V.E. Schwab. If not for her amazing plot and worldbuilding then for her ability to create loveable and rich characters. 

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vaguely_pink's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

5.0


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kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0


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imds's review against another edition

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  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75


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kelanor's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced

4.5


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danajoy's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75


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rhythmofryn's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

I was *so* close to DNF with this book because once I got to the 40% mark, it got REAL slow.
the quest with Alucard, Kell, and Lila heading out by themselves really breaks the tension because the real drama is about Red London crumbling so their whole pirate adventure was lost on me
  I pushed through because I really wanted to know what happened at the end of the series and it did pick up a lot at around the 80% mark.

This is a BLEAK book and that’s not a huge surprise from the other two books but it gets worse in this book. Good characters are cut down
poor Rhy is put through the wringer even more
and it’s rough. I’m not really an enjoyer of bleak books and that definitely dragged down my rating. 

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jessicaludden's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

“Pain reminds us that we’re alive.”

I really enjoyed this book. When I started this series I wasn’t sucked in right from the start, but I’m glad I stuck with it because I really liked this last book. My biggest complaint with the other books in the series was the pacing. I felt like they focused too much on the mundane things that characters did causing it to get really slow before it finally picked up. But I think the pacing was amazing with this book which surprised me considering that it’s 600 pages. Do I think it needed to be that long? No, but there was never a moment when I thought the story was dragging. It was very much a typical high fantasy book where the characters are fighting the big bad and there’s a lot of moving parts. The highlight of this book for me was Rhy. I liked him before, but this book made me love him so much. I loved how his character, along with many others touched on grief and how to live with it. What I loved most about this book was the ending. With so many characters we got to see many different point of views. It was a typical bittersweet goodbye at the end where the characters we love are splitting up but we know they’ll see each other again. Overall, I enjoyed this series and I’m glad I grew to love it.

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annekay's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful fast-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

3.75


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