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A review by ratgrrrl
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
Did not finish book. Stopped at 63%.
CW sexual assault, physical abuse, slavery, and mental domination
DNF 63%
A strong and flavourful start, some rather interesting premises around magic and alternative cities/ realities inextricably linked through magic, and a seemingly interesting wistful wizard and school of hard knocks thief with a heart of gold odd couple sadly weren't enough to keep my interest, so when a series of relatively minor issues I had with the narrative perspective that I could have ignored if I was more engaged started to add up, it was time for me to tap out.
I have discovered this year that I am extremely picky and hard to please. This is not by choice, but my disaster goldilocks brain and the level I need to to keep it engaged at all times to not melt down. For some reason Fantasy seems to be the genre that I am most particular about, with this joining Six of Crows as books I can't really explain why I didn't get on with them the same way as many others. There's nothing actually bad or offensive here, it's just the joys of subjectivity and what my brain can latch on to.
I really didn't think I was going to end up to end up DNFing this one, and I don't do it with any particularly strong negative feelings or malice, but my attention and engagement started to steadily go off the boil from the moment our protagonists became entwined and the Macguffin and complications became clear. I think it seemed a little too by the numbers, which isn't really an issues and it is handled and written with competence, I just need a well trod series of events to really sing to hold interest.
The issues I had with the narrative perspective weren't huge or necessarily actually problematic, but they just didn't work for me. Examples of what I mean by this were how the generally rather cozy and chill Fantasy vibes felt dissonant with the darker elements of sexual assault, physical abuse, slavery, and mental domination, the survivor of attempted sexual assault going on to violate the consent of someone they had tied up with a magical construct equivalent of deepfake/ revenge porn, and just some vibes around the feeling power taking a life can give someone without power, and the conversation around that, and some stuff around family and privilege that hit a bit too close to my own personal trauma. None of these things we massive on their own or anything unique for fantasy.
DNF 63%
A strong and flavourful start, some rather interesting premises around magic and alternative cities/ realities inextricably linked through magic, and a seemingly interesting wistful wizard and school of hard knocks thief with a heart of gold odd couple sadly weren't enough to keep my interest, so when a series of relatively minor issues I had with the narrative perspective that I could have ignored if I was more engaged started to add up, it was time for me to tap out.
I have discovered this year that I am extremely picky and hard to please. This is not by choice, but my disaster goldilocks brain and the level I need to to keep it engaged at all times to not melt down. For some reason Fantasy seems to be the genre that I am most particular about, with this joining Six of Crows as books I can't really explain why I didn't get on with them the same way as many others. There's nothing actually bad or offensive here, it's just the joys of subjectivity and what my brain can latch on to.
I really didn't think I was going to end up to end up DNFing this one, and I don't do it with any particularly strong negative feelings or malice, but my attention and engagement started to steadily go off the boil from the moment our protagonists became entwined and the Macguffin and complications became clear. I think it seemed a little too by the numbers, which isn't really an issues and it is handled and written with competence, I just need a well trod series of events to really sing to hold interest.
The issues I had with the narrative perspective weren't huge or necessarily actually problematic, but they just didn't work for me. Examples of what I mean by this were how the generally rather cozy and chill Fantasy vibes felt dissonant with the darker elements of sexual assault, physical abuse, slavery, and mental domination, the survivor of attempted sexual assault going on to violate the consent of someone they had tied up with a magical construct equivalent of deepfake/ revenge porn, and just some vibes around the feeling power taking a life can give someone without power, and the conversation around that, and some stuff around family and privilege that hit a bit too close to my own personal trauma. None of these things we massive on their own or anything unique for fantasy.