Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab

19 reviews

msradiosilence's review

5.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: War

Minor: Pregnancy and Sexual content

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. 

---

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.

---

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

---

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

iamkiaraayleen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, Self harm, and Torture

Minor: War and Abandonment

chronicacademia's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful lighthearted sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Blood, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, and Physical abuse

loxeletters's review against another edition

adventurous

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Blood

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

---

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

marine2907's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Murder, Physical abuse, War, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

mpbookreviews's review

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Gore, Death, Murder, and Violence