Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Dark by V.E. Schwab

30 reviews

uselesspirateraven's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child death and Homophobia

capsandclauses's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

 “Love and loss,” he said, “are like a ship and the sea. They rise together. The more we love, the more we have to lose. But the only way to avoid loss is to avoid love. And what a sad world that would be.”

I truly don't understand why this book has so many bad reviews. A Conjuring of Light is the last book in the Shades of Magic series by Victoria Schwab. A menace has taken over Red London, and it is up to our band of misfits to fix what has been broken and restore peace. Rhy Maresh, our loveable prince, must learn to bear the crown. Kell Maresh, our moody magician, must finally leave the confines he has been bound to. Alucard Emery, the noble pirate, must restore his reputation. Holland Vosijk, the fallen prisoner, must redeem himself. And Lila Bard, our crafty thief, must finally stop running.

I love all of the characters in this series. I love that Victoria Schwab is not afraid to show the blood and gore that this setting necessitates. I love that she is not afraid to let our characters suffer and die. I do think that Lila had quite a bit of plot armour, but others weren't immune. I love the concept of this world and really hope that we eventually get more.

“Scars are not shameful, not unless you let them be. If you do not wear them, they will wear you.” 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Homophobia

glund_01's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, and Self harm

Minor: Suicide

carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

5.0

i would read a hundred books of just slice of life with these characters i love them so much <3333

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

adventurous sad medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Slavery, Vomit, and Pregnancy

imaginaryalchemist's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

The Shades of Magic Trilogy comes to a close in A Conjuring of Light. It was a fun fantasy ride! 

I'll start with the things I did like. First, I love the characters. They had good chemistry and played off each other well. I enjoyed the banter between Kell and Alucard. I know some people didn't like Lila, but I did, I thought she was fun and pretty badass. I saw the romance between her and Kell coming a mile away but I still enjoyed it. I thought they were good together.

Speaking of romance, I loved the subplot with Rhy and Alucard. I feel VE Schwab handled it tastefully. Speaking as a queer person, queer romance often feels like it's pandering to us. 

I really wanted more time with these characters. In my opinion, Schwab's character writing is pretty strong. They felt like they could be real people, even the background characters. Rhy ended up being my favorite.

I nearly started crying when his parents died, I felt so bad for him. I wanted to reach into the book and give him a hug. My boy suffered so much.

Now for some of my criticisms. For the story, I enjoyed it overall but felt it dragged at some points. The ship voyage in particular seemed to go on for a bit too long. 

I also had a lot of unanswered questions at the end.

I was hoping Kell would naturally remember his past - since he was told the memory spell should wear off over time and he burned the note on how to remove it. I wanted to know where he actually came from, and what his birth name was. I also don't recall Lila's missing eye being fully addressed. I had a theory that the black stone that appeared in book one would end up being the eye. I haven't read the sequel trilogy so I don't know if the question is answered there.

So, overall I really liked this trilogy! It was the first thing I'd read from VE Schwab and I'll definitely read more of her work in the future. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing and Alcohol

smkoontz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and War

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, and Murder

whiterabbitslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

Loved this, a great end to the series. But it was long and there was a lot happening. I had to keep going back to check things earlier in the book and even earlier in the series a couple of times. Just a warning that it’s a brain engaged kind of book! In the plus side we get so many delightfully fleshed out characters and some really good development for our main gang who I love deeply with all my heart.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Kidnapping, and Pandemic/Epidemic

msradiosilence's review against another edition

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: War

Minor: Sexual content and Pregnancy

arwen_ds's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Child death