Reviews

The Shades of Magic Series by V.E. Schwab

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livruther's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

4.0

#1: 4/5. it took me a while to get into this but by the end i was invested in the characters!!

#2: 3.75/5. this suffered a little bit from second book syndrome. it was just so slow. i still like the characters, and the last 50% was compelling, but it kind of felt like a really long book where not much happened

#3: 4.25/5. at first, i wasn’t jiving w the multiple povs, but i appreciated it by the end. some parts of this felt too slow, but the writing was really good. i am really attached to these characters. they feel like old friends. i wish the end provided a little more closure about their live

connect4mary's review

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

literaryluxe's review against another edition

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4.0

This is a good series if you love books with magic and sorcerers. It may be a little confusing to some trying to figure out the rules for how all the magic and realities work, but rest assured they all are answered in due time. The final book is a bit of a drag, hence the four stars instead of five, but it is not so much of a drag that it negates the series being added to your reading list. If you'd like a more extensive review (spoiler free) of the final book, please continue reading.

To get right to the point, the last book for some may not be as action/adventure oriented as the first two books. If you’re easily bored, this may be a tough book to get through.

Details: The characters in a Conjuring of Light are well developed, some more than others which is always a plus; Alucard and Lila are really likable characters! However, character development is what most of this book spends its time on and less on events/people to help drive the plot forward. You read about how a character is feeling or what they’re thinking almost every other sentence. And yes, that’s normal for any book, but we usually get the "DO" or "action" in response to how they’re feeling. This is why I began to dislike Rhy despite loving him in the first book. I began to hate reading his point of view for this very reason because he always feels less than, insignificant, or worthless for reasons I will not say to avoid spoiling. And he is entitled to feel those things - it's normal and demonstrates that even people who have everything, can be unhappy. However, on the rare occasions that Rhy does act, it is usually to do something insane and impulsive. That got old after three books. This wasn’t the case with Kell, Alucard, or Lila, and perhaps that is why I liked them so much.

Another reason for the 4 star review, is that a plan to stop the villain was introduced a few chapters before the end of the book. By that time, I was skimming through to get to the end of the book, where as I’d figured, the villain would be defeated in one chapter. And as vast as Schwab's world is, 80% of this lengthy book takes place within the same location; there are mentions of plenty of distant, far off kingdoms, peoples, and things described so intriguingly, I was looking forward to the characters going there. I ended up disappointed when they didn't even though there were opportunities for it. V.E. Schwab is a wonderful writer and as such, I will be reading some of her other work. I just simply think she falls into that category of authors whose trilogy conclusions fall short, despite the other books blowing me away.