A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This book took me a long time to get through because I was doing a lot of traveling with family over this vacation, and this book had prominent immoral themes that kept me from listening to it on our road trip where my family would have to listen as well. For that it earns 1 star from me despite all of its awesome features.

Awesome features:
-Starting with the ending: I really appreciated that the author took the time to wrap up each of the story lines at the end, with one exception. (So Black London was really beyond help? Even with the foe vanquished?)
-Characters. The set of characters in this book was awesome. They were different, rich, and full of backstory, yet I never felt like we were stuck in an overly long backstory. We learned about them as we went.
-Creative solutions. The solution to the conflict involved some interesting features. I will avoid spoilers here, but I liked the final battle, again with one exception. The initial plan essentially worked. That never happens. While I am still satisfied at that outcome, I wonder if there weren't other opportunities there.

So, to wrap this up, this was a great book (and series) ruined by themes and situations I consider to be immoral. Yes, this is subjective, but that is the wonderful thing about opinions. I'm entitled to mine. I wish that that part of the book had been different (and it could have been), and I would have been trying to decide between a 4 or 5 star rating.

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So I was pretty hard on the author last time, and I might back off some of those criticisms on the sequel. It wasn't that the author still isn't sloppy at times (in a non-religious society characters are taking the Lords name in vain, using "saints" as an exclamation, and they still don't eat.) Rather, the first book lacked foreshadowing that should have set up the story as a multi book conflict. I felt that the conflict was wrapped up in the first book, but in an unsatisfactory way. I learned here that the conflict was not wrapped up, but continues on in this book. Maybe I missed the foreshadowing, or some other signal, but if I had seen that coming I think I would have been more forgiving in my last review.

Finally, this book takes on some adult themes that I didn't think were necessary. I would have preferred to hint at those plot lines and been able to keep it family friendly, rather than deal with a few scenes that now keep me from recommending this book to my kids. I'm admittedly conservative in these situations, but if I don't exercise my right to speak my mind I'll end up losing that right, so there you go. That's my opinion.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't perfect. Let me skip straight to pros and cons.

Pros: Lila was a great character. Practical in her choices, but with a cutthroat edge. Both of those attributes were complemented by a comical sense of self that caused her to wear coats and boots, and to speak her mind in any situation. Also, I love a good magic system, as you know, and this one is intriguing. Although I want to know more about where it came from, it is different, powerful, and limited at the same time.

Cons: The big con for me was the ending. (Spoiler alert: stop now if you care. ) The neutralization of the stone happened too quickly. Couldn't he just have tried to do that at the beginning as soon as he realized it was dangerous? Especially when the only option was apparent suicide? It seems like a rational person would have explored a few options, but Kell went straight to suicidal mission. Weird. My other con is a bit of light criticism of the author. The book felt a little clumsy at times. For instance, I don't think think the main characters ever ate. They should have both been dying of hunger. Details. Good fantasy is about the details. Another example is in the graphic nature of some scenes. To maximize story potential you have to make the bad guys REALLY bad, I get that. But a good writer can make the bad guy as horrible as they need to be with a minimal amount of graphic violence. It is an extension of the concept of leaving room for the readers to fill in the gaps with their minds. Astrid (or was it Athos?) Dane torturing a child? That scene could have been replaced with two sentences that suggested what had happened, and she/he is still just as bad of a person. Some people read for the gore, and if that was Schweab's intention, then she nailed it, but most main stream readers just don't need that, and so to me it looks sloppy.

So those are my thoughts on this one. I still give it 3 stars for its speed of story and overall concept, criticisms included.