Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

15 reviews

rinku's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

2.0

The Shades of Magic series has honestly been a disappointment to me, and A Conjuring of Light is no exception. The magic and the world had so much potential but were held back by the unlikable characters and slow and uneventful plot. 

Like I’ve said, the plot was progressing so slowly. It contains only one important element: the search for an object to defeat the great villain that was revealed in the last book of the series. In the first 200 pages, our main characters do nothing against him. Only after 300 pages, they start looking for this object. I can’t even tell you anymore what happened in those first pages besides some annoying banter between the main characters. This is so unfortunate since the world with the three Londons had so much potential. Sadly, we barely see any travelling between those worlds in the course of the story and spend most of the time in Red London. 

The second half of the book was a bit better, but still rather uneventful, besides this random twist(?) that

Spoiler

Cora is a traitor and kills the queen and the king together with her brother

. This came so out of the blue and was a bit unbelievable. Additionally, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending because it’s wrapped up a bit too quickly;

Spoiler

they just defeat Osaron and not one of the main characters dies. The random explanation of Alcuard towards the end felt a bit misplaced as well

. 

The characters are still the biggest problem I have with the series because I liked none of the main characters. I felt no connection for them which became clear when

Spoiler

Alucard’s sister died, and I felt no emotions

. The dynamic between them, especially Alucard and Kell, should probably be funny, but I was just annoyed by it. I also found it cringe that the characters drink a lot of alcohol and clean their nails with their knives just to show how cool they are. 

I still can’t stand Lila; her “not like other girls” demeanour is so annoying and she’s just a boring character because she never fails at anything. Many things about her past and her as a person remain unexplained, just like Kell’s past. Besides Lila, there are just no female characters that play an important role which is so unfortunate. I also didn’t like the villain Osaron, he was so cliché and his POV was just cringe with him talking about wanting to be a god. The only character I liked was Hastra but everyone was so unnecessarily mean to him? Furthermore,

Spoiler

it was so predictable that he would die because none of the main characters could die, of course

. 

The A Darker Shade of Magic series had so much potential, and I had high hopes for the series after enjoying Addie so much. It had an interesting concept with different worlds but after the first book, they barely play any important role and are not utilized. Instead, it focusses on its characters that were often too edgy and hence cringe for my taste and just rather unlikable. For the worldbuilding, the plot is just too simple as well which is all very unfortunate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Alcohol, Blood, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, and Sexual content

donatio's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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

This one was long. Like the other two before this was a reread, although I had less memory of how they actually get rid of Osaron. 
Sometimes the book felt a bit too long, especially the first hundred pages or so but that does not take much from Schwab's writing style, it is just easy to forget that the scene cover barely a week and not, say, two. 
On the other hand there are some things I forgot that had me shocked when I remembered. 

Spoiler

I do wish we would have known what happened with Kelly's parents.

Every plotline had a logical and satisfying ending. 
Recommend for being one of my favourite series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Murder, Confinement, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Torture, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content

purplepenning's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Physical abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Grief, Self harm, Slavery, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content

gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

4.5

The rating is very immersive and transports you right to the center of every action scene or dialogue scene. There are gorgeous moments of bonding, bickering, and banter, and bringing together some of the disparate elements of the series. I love all characters for very different reasons, and that doesn’t happen with a lot of books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Mental illness and Confinement

Minor: Self harm

ten_telegrams's review

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Slavery, Confinement, Blood, Death, Self harm, Alcohol, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Cursing, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexual content and Body horror

Minor: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Classism, Suicide, Homophobia, Alcohol, Cursing, Confinement, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Grief, Death, Child death, Torture, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Confinement and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide and Slavery

nabecker13's review

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Blood, Murder, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

jenbosen's review

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.0

It took 2 books plus another 300 pages but eventually this series became a page-turner I couldn't put down. It was interesting from page 1; I just wish it had been able to hold my attention faster.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Murder

ridesthesun's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

I can't express enough how much I love this world, these characters. Brilliant world building, brilliant character work. 

The stakes were high, the sacrifices hurt my chest. The whole thing is simply gorgeous, masterful storytelling. I'm gonna live here forever.

Anoshe ❤️

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Biphobia, Self harm, and Sexual content