Book Review: A Conjuring of Light

Author: V.E. Schwab
Series: Shades of Magic #3
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 624

Book Depository

Synopsis excluded for potential spoilers of previous books.

My Review:

A Conjuring of Light was a gratifying conclusion to the Shades of Magic series. Schwab’s improvement with her writing was hard to miss in this instalment and I can’t wait for more people to read this book.

A Conjuring of Light starts where A Gathering of Shadows ended and I was thrown into the chaos from the very first page. The first half of the book was an instant page-turner, gluing me to my spot for hours. I didn’t want to miss anything and had to find out what happens next.

There are many POVs present in this book. I was skeptical about how well it would work at first, but the more I read, the more I found it added to the flow of the story. I found this helpful when it came to character development as well because I loved watching a character’s transition from one point to another. Character development then led to richer character relationships that made character struggles more impactful. Trust me, some of these will hurt.

I was so certain A Conjuring of Light would be a 5-star read and while I loved it dearly, there were a few things that bothered me. While I liked the multiple POVs, some of the characters’ actions felt more for plot convenience than anything else. There were times when a couple of characters’ actions moved the plot but I didn’t find their resolve very convincing. There were previous moments written for the gradual build up, but since some of these characters’ personalities weren’t really explored in the previous books, it felt short of what it could have been.

Another thing I struggled with was caring about the villain. No matter how I tried he felt very flat to me. He wanted one thing throughout the book and his quest became repetitive, predictable, and in some ways – annoying. I couldn’t even love to hate him, he was just… there.

I still loved the book and would recommend it to readers looking for a fun, YA fantasy series with characters you can’t help but love.

Rating: ★★★★/5