Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - A Darker Shade of Magic

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

27 reviews

ekatayama's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

linci's review

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

everything felt like grey London to me. did not connect to characters, didn't care about anyone dying or not. i feel like this would make a great movie, but it was hard to get into the book and the setting because of the writing.

Content Warnings

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

Content Warnings

koistyfishy's review against another edition

Go to review page

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? It's complicated

4.0

I did not know what I was reading when this book started. For me the first 60 pages were a slog… for someone that can read 500 pages a day, it took me 2 days to get to that point as the beginning did not grip me at all! I found myself looking for any and all distraction, going to bed early (the horror) and wasting my time elsewhere cause it wasn’t grabbing me…

But by page ~100 some magic spell was weaved because I wasn’t just hooked on the story, I was enthralled!

At that point enough of the plot starts to make sense that you start seeing how everything fits into place. Some puzzle piece is placed and finally you can start seeing the bigger picture.

This book should be commended on its world building because it truly is a work of art how the magic system and world are connected and how they work. The intricate layers and differences…but connectedness of it all is truly astounding. I love how well it was all put together and how structured and easy to understand the complex concept is.

What shocked me is this book is a little dark. I mean it does have the word dark in the title… but contrary wise to what I normally read and based on reviews saying this is a must “read book for Fantasy readers”, I was surprised by the level of darkness.

It’s not for YA and definitely for New Adult/Adult as it does does quite heavily on more trigger warning and difficult themes of murder, death, blood (this is a major plot devise and a main tool for the magic system - so it’s mentioned a lot), self harm and hinted or attempted sexual assault. I don’t normally talk about the warnings in a book and only list them, but this book should be noted that it’s not going to shy away from brutal descriptions.

I absolutely love Kell and Lila and their characteristics! Lila is feisty and funny but damn near scary with a blade and Kell is totally serious and sarcastic in that “I’m going to annoy you on purpose manner by being a smart ass, but you are going to love it”. They go together so well and compliment each other so well it makes me squeal…

I don’t understand Holland enough but I hope this book is not the end of him and is enigmatic personality.

Overall I great read (albeit slow for me) but once the story started, I couldn’t put the book down!

Content Warnings