v.e. schwab – The Help Desk Book Blog

V.E. Schwab concludes her multi-world, dimension-traveling fantasy trilogy in A Conjuring of Light. And you know what, I liked it the best of the three.

He’d stood, half dead, before the onyx throne, and spoken to the king carved in stone, and traded freedom for a chance to save his London, to see it bloom again.” pg 10, ebook.

I thought this plot flowed more smoothly, without the detours to introduce readers to new characters. We understood the magic, the dangers, the relationships between everyone. This was Schwab’s chance to just write a good story. I feel that she succeeded.

“Lila thought it would be easy or, at least, simple. Something you either survived, or did not. She was wrong.” pg 9, ebook.

He may not be everybody’s choice, but Holland was my favorite character in these books. Talk about born under an unlucky star… his world is dying, most of his life he spends under the compulsion of the Danes, and yet, he hasn’t been driven completely insane by the unfairness of all of it. And, unlike some characters I can mention (cough, Lila), he doesn’t kill without a reason.

I could not believe how many times Lila murdered people. And she was supposed to be one of the “good” characters. More like a loose canon. I never liked her much. Consider this Lila soliloquy:

“Because the shadows can’t touch me, and the fallen won’t. Because I’m good with magic, and better with a blade, and I’ve got more power in my blood than you’ve got in this whole damned palace. Because I’ve no qualms about killing, and on top of it all, I’ve got a knack for keeping your sons — both of them — alive.” pg 175

“No qualms about killing” isn’t a positive attribute in my book.

Kell still comes off as a bit one dimensional because of his god-like magical powers. But his motivations made more sense to me in this book than in previous ones.

“The flame hovered in the air between Kell’s hands, brilliant and white. He made it look so easy, and Rhy felt a flash of anger toward his brother, hot as a spark — but just as brief. It wasn’t Kell’s fault Rhy couldn’t do magic.” pg 21, ebook.

Rhy, on the other hand, makes a few decisions I couldn’t wrap my head around. I suppose you could put it down to rampaging emotions, but, in a crisis, he rarely seems to choose the right path.

Everything in Kell tightened at that. “I was out there trying to protect your people.” “And for every one you shielded, a dozen more were taken by the dark.” pg 82

Recommended for young adults. You may be able to read this book and understand it without slogging through the other two, but I think you’ll get more enjoyment out of it by taking the entire journey with the characters.

Here are my reviews of the other books in the series:

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2) by V.E. Schwab

And thanks for reading!

The characters from A Darker Shade of Magic are back and up to their usual tricks. Rhy worries about Kell, Kell worries about Rhy and Lila, Lila worries about where she’s going to get her next knife. We also get to meet someone new, a dashing privateer named Alucard Emery.

Walking away had been easy. Not looking back was harder. pg 30, ebook.

The second entry in the series is usually when you get to know the characters better. What are their motivations, loves, hates? We get a bit of that in A Gathering of Shadows but, mainly, the author uses this book to introduce what has become the young adult trope of “dangerous contest” to get the characters together. Think Hunger Games or Maze Runner or the Tri-Wizard Cup but without as much excitement.

Kell is suffering after what he went through in the first book. “Once he would have hesitated — once he had hesitated — but not this time. With a flick of his hand, metal spikes slid from the sheath at his wrist and into his palm. They rose into the air and shot forward, burying themselves in the specter’s throat, his heart, his head. But there were still more shadows. Always more.” pg 43, ebook.

Rhy is suffering too: “Who drinks this?” Kell coughed. “People who want to get drunk,” said Rhy, taking a long, pained sip.” pg 58, ebook.

The pace of the story is quite slow. What goes on in Red London isn’t nearly as interesting as what goes on in other places (no spoilers). But there were so few chapters about the other Londons.

“Saints,” cursed Rhy, “do all the Londons get this cold?” “As cold,” said Kell as he followed the prince away from the bright beating heart of the city, and down a series of narrower roads. “And colder still.”

I am still enthralled with the idea of different worlds and only a few characters having the ability to walk between those worlds. I like how magic functions here. I like how Schwab gives everybody a back story. But, as in the first book, I feel like I’m probably not the target audience for this tale.

That’s not going to keep me from reading the last one though. 🙂 Recommended for young adults who adore fantasy reads.

Here’s my review of the first book: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Thanks for reading!

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A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic #3) by V.E. Schwab