BOOK REVIEW: A Conjuring Of Light – by V.E. Schwab @veschwab

Title: A Conjuring Of Light
(Shades Of Magic #3)
Author: V.E. Schwab
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Magic
First published: February 21st 2017
Publisher: Tor Books
Finished reading: March 22nd 2017
Pages: 624

“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 think I’m going to need more than a little help here to write a somewhat coherent review… It’s been over a week since I finished reading A Conjuring Of Light, and I still have a book hangover. I guess that’s a good sign right? That and the fact that I cannot start talking about this book and series without sounding like a bat crazy fangirl or possibly spoiling something for those who haven’t read this book/series yet. Or most likely both. So this is me trying to explain to you why the Shades Of Magic series is without doubt one of my all time favorite fantasy reads while being completely spoiler-free! Basically, I arrived a bit late at the party and only started reading A Darker Shade Of Magic less than a year ago. I was a goner as soon as I read the first chapter; the prose, the worldbuilding, the plot, THE CHARACTERS!! I had an instant crush on this series and an instant new favorite author as well… I read both books in quick succession and then added myself to the evergrowing group of people impatiently waiting for the third and final book to be published. And trust me, I still don’t understand why it took me almost a whole month to pick up my copy of A Conjuring Of Light. I guess I wasn’t ready yet to say goodbye to some of my all time favorite characters… But I’m SO glad I finally read this third book. Forget the 600+ pages, forget the romance, forget anything else I forgot to mention; the truth is that I savoured every single minute of A Conjuring Of Light and I’m going to miss this fictional world. How much? Let’s say I named my new kitten after Delilah Bard and leave it at that. All I can say is that if you haven’t tried this series and like the genre, you probably should! It’s so brilliant you’ll probably need sunglasses while you read.

WARNING: Possible spoilers! Please don’t read this summary if you haven’t read the first  two books yet. I’ll keep the summary super short but it’s impossible to keep it completely spoiler-free…

The delicate balance between the different Londons seems to have been disturbed in such a way that it has reached its breaking point. Red London is starting to lose its red vibrant feel of magic and darkness casts a shadow of the Maresh Empire… Who is trying to take control over the city and empire? And will our favorite characters be able to stop the change before its too late? Their whole world might be on the line…

I guess my review has turned into a fangirl ramble in the end after all… Oops?! Although I guess it’s really had to talk about the plot and what happens to the characters without giving too much away to those who haven’t read it yet. Let’s just say that while I loved the second book a tiny bit less than the first book, A Conjuring Of Light came back strong again. It’s a bit long, especially if you compare it to the first book, but I personally didn’t mind because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to the characters yet anyway. The ending was also satisfying and I really hope this won’t be the last we’ve heard of this fictional world.

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WWW Wednesdays #130 – March 29th

WWW WEDNESDAYS is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below.

• WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

I’m currently about to finish one of my pending Netgalley ARCs: The Yellow Envelope by Kim Dinan. I was really looking forward to this travel memoir, but it sort of fell flat for me. Rather than a true travel memoir, this story has mostly been a (rather self-centered) description of the author’s failing relationship with her husband and feelings; definitely not what I expected at all and not as enjoyable to read… I’ve also started History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera, which I will continue as soon as I finish the memoir. I’m so excited to be finally reading it!

• WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING?

* YESSSS!!! I’ve finally been able to read A Conjuring Of Light by V.E. Schwab, the final book in one of my all time favorite fantasy series. And it sure didn’t disappoint; I loved every single minute of this third book and I still sort of have a book hangover (the fact that I didn’t really like the next three books I picked up didn’t help either). I’m going to miss this fictional world and its characters; luckily I have my own little Delilah Bard to keep me company now. 😉

Little Delilah Bard, Lila for short.

* I also read The First City by Joe Hart, another final book in a trilogy… And I had a really hard time finishing this one. I’ve never liked the main character Zoey, but in this third book she is becoming almost impossible to tolerate. I’ve seriously considered DNFing it at various points… Her self-centered, annoying and whiney dialogues and actions made this read into a true struggle. The other POVs were slightly better, although I’m not too sure about the plot either. The ending is ok enough I guess.
* The last read I finished is Rose Petal Graves by Olivia Wildenstein, which started out interesting enough and I liked the general idea behind this story (faes and fae hunters). That said, this turned out to be yet another YA fantasy series destroyed by a… yes, you can already guess… a freaking LOVE TRIANGLEEE!!! I’ve become seriously allergic to them, and all these forbidden love interests and love triangles just made me enjoy the story a lot less. Also, the main character changes ‘teams’ constantly and it’s not really realistic.

• WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL READ NEXT?

Next up are two more ARCs… The horror story Silence Under Screams by Collin Henderson has been on my list for way too long already, so I’m hoping to finally read it this week. I also need to read Blood Moon by John David Bethel. After so many ARCs, I’m hoping to finally read more of my own books as well, and both Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken and Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult are high on my list.

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Bloglovin’.

WWW Wednesdays #129 – March 22nd

WWW WEDNESDAYS is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below.

• WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

I’m finally reading A Conjuring Of Light by V.E. Schwab, and so far I’m loving every single minute of it even though it’s a lot longer than expected. I’m not ready for this story to be over though! I’m going to miss my favorite characters… I’m also still reading The First City by Joe Hart, the final book of The Dominion Trilogy that I put on hold to start ACOL. To be honest, I’m having a hard time with this book so far and the main problem is one of the main characters: Zoe. I seriously can’t stand her and she’s starting to make me feel the same about the story as well. Not good…

• WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING?

* I’ve been looking forward to another Erika Foster adventure ever since I finished the third book, and I literally requested a copy the minute it appeared on Netgalley and started reading it soon after. Last Breath is without doubt my new favorite Erika Foster novel! Fast-paced, full of twists, well written, interesting plot, disturbing killer and just the right amount of creepy; what more to ask? I’m already looking forward to book five and this one hasn’t even been published yet. xD
* I then read Bull by David Elliott, a mythology retelling of the classic minotaur story. This SO wasn’t what I was expecting!! I’m still not sure what to make of it, although I can’t deny it was an entertaining read… Bull is a retelling fully written in verse and each character has its own style, which was inventive. The writing style made me laugh more than once, although I’m not sure if the tone is actually appropriate for the story. To get an idea: this is how the story started:

“POSEIDON

Whaddup, bitches?

Am I right or am I right?
That bum Minos deserved what he got.”

Not exactly what you would expect when starting a Theseus and the minotaur retelling right?!

• WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL READ NEXT?

Next up are three more ARCs… The horror story Silence Under Screams by Collin Henderson has been on my list for way too long already, so I’m hoping to finally read it this week. But I also have the release date of both The Yellow Envelope by Kim Dinan and Rose Petal Graves by Olivia Wildenstein coming up, so I should probably read those first… And I really REALLY want to read History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera some time soon as well.

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Bloglovin’.

Teaser Tuesdays #132 – March 21st: A Conjuring Of Light

TEASER TUESDAYS is a weekly book meme hosted at The Purple Booker. To participate, just open the book you are currently reading to a random page, and choose two ‘teaser’ sentences from somewhere on that page. (no spoilers!)

YESSSS!! I’m finally reading A Conjuring Of Light by V.E. Schwab… I’ve been wanting to read this third and final book ever since I finished AGOS last year and it was my nr. 1 most anticipated release this year. My ARC mountain prevented me from picking it up straight away, but I decided to let myself give in as a birthday present. And what a wonderful present it was! I’m loving every single minute of this book so far, although I’m kind of fearing it will break my heart more than once and I don’t want it to be over… Shades Of Magic is probably one of my all time favorite series.

My teaser (16%):

“God be with you,” said Bard dryly.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“Nothing,” she muttered. “Just try to stay alive.”

What are you reading right now?

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Bloglovin’.

WWW Wednesdays #128 – March 15th

WWW WEDNESDAYS is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below.

• WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

Words cannot describe how excited I am to be reading the newest Erika Foster novel! Last Breath was literally only posted at Netgalley yesterday and I decided to put my other pending ARCs on hold and read this one first shortly after my request was approved. So far it looks like Robert Bryndza has written another winner! 😀 I’ve also started with Bull by David Elliott, but somehow reading on my phone feels a bit awkward… It does sound like an intriguing read though.

• WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING?

* First up is The Missing Ones by Patricia Gibney, a psychological thriller ARC that is due to be published tomorrow. I had high hopes for this one as I’ve heard a lot of great things about it, and I have now joined the fan-crew. Well written, intriguing and complex plot, interesting characters and some very disturbing details and plot twists! I loved the flashbacks and little Rome bits as well. (Me and the Santa Maria Maggiore have a little history so my heart skipped a beat when it was mentioned!)
* I then read The Last Gods Of Indochine by Samuel Ferrer, a historical fiction ARC that was way overdue. I’m glad I finally had the chance to give it a go, because it was without doubt a very very intriguing story. This novel is set in Cambodia and has two different storylines: one set in the 1920s and one in the 13th century. While it took me a some time to connect to the main character Jacquie, I was instantly charmed by the story of Paaku the Lotus-Born. Well written, great plot and fascinating read in general.
* And just as I thought it couldn’t get better, I decided to pick up Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner. I loved his other novel The Serpent King and this one has been one of my most anticipated releases ever since… And I think I have just found my new favorite Zentner story. Basically, this story took my feelings, put them on the middle of the road and ran them over repeatedly with a bulldozer. It doesn’t happen often that a book managed to make me cry, but Goodbye Days was one of them. Brilliant prose, excellent characters and those feels!! I think Carver just made my heart break a little.

• WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL READ NEXT?

Next up are two ARCs… I’m still hopelessly behind with them, but I’m slowly getting there. First is The First City by Joe Hart, the final book of a trilogy that is hopefully going to keep improving. I also need to read the horror story Silence Under Screams by Collin Henderson. Which might be a nice change of genre and just what I needed. And remember I was saying I was going to read A Conjuring Of Light next? I guess I was wrong. xD I’ve been dying to read it though, so I might just give myself an (early) birthday present and read it first. I also need to read another pending ARC: Rose Petal Graves by Olivia Wildenstein…

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Bloglovin’.

WWW Wednesdays #127 – March 8th

WWW WEDNESDAYS is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words and is all about answering the three questions below.

• WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

I’m currently reading two pending ARCs… March is really turning into an ARC month, but at least my Netgalley ratio is finally above 80% again! 😀 The first one is The Missing Ones by Patricia Gibney, a psychological thriller I’ve heard great things about and I’ll be looking forward to. The second title is an historical fiction read that the author sent to me: The Last Gods Of Indochine by Samuel Ferrer. It took me longer than expected to finally pick that one up, but I’m hoping to finish it before the weekend.

• WHAT DID YOU RECENTLY FINISH READING?

* The first book I finished since last week is I Found You by Lisa Jewell, which was even better than I thought it would be. Without doubt an excellent psychological thriller that had me on the edge of my seat and guessing about the facts until the very end. And even though the amnesia element isn’t all that original on its own, it works perfectly together with the rest of the plot. Recommended!
* I then read The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman, which I picked up on a whim when I wanted a little break from my ARCs. I totally didn’t realize this was actually a series! There were things I loved about this book, especially the Library/Language elements, but it wasn’t as good as I hoped. Part of the problem is that so many different elements are being squeezed together in the plot that it just all seems a bit chaotic… I mean: magic, science fiction/steampunk, supernatural creatures (vampires, fae, werewolves AND dragons), a superdetective and an evil supervillian in one story? It just seemed a bit too much and mostly distracted from the very interesting idea behind the Library, Language and alternative worlds.
* Next up was The Wanderers by Meg Howrey, a book I was really looking forward to, especially after it was compared to The Martian. Unfortunately, this turned out to be false advertisement, because the two basically have NOTHING in common. The Wanderers mostly focuses on the psychological effects of a Mars mission SIMULATION (Yes, the astronauts don’t even go to Mars), which definitely wasn’t what I had signed up for. Sure, a psychological analysis can be interesting and I liked the diversity of the characters, but overall the pace was quite slow and the sometimes dense prose didn’t really help either. Things improved later on, but I don’t think I would have actually made it to that point if this wouldn’t have been an ARC: In one word: disappointment.
* After two mediocre reads, I had both my fingers and toes crossed when I started reading Renegade Red by Lauren Bird Horowitz. I ran out of time and dived straight into the second book, but it by no means ment I enjoyed it less. I definitely understand the love for this series now, because I had a blast reading this story. A fast pace, interesting characters and plot, well written… It does have a love triangle I’m not sure about, but this is one of the exceptions where I’ve forgiven the story for it.

• WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL READ NEXT?

Guess who is finally going to pick up her copy of A Conjuring Of Light?! I’m a huge V.E. Schwab fan and I’ve been wanting to read this final book ever since I finished AGOS last year, so I guess you can imagine how excited I am to be finally reading it. I was initially going to reread the first two books before, but I really don’t have time right now with all those pending ARCs…. Looks like I will be having a Shades Of Magic reread later this year! 😉 I also need to read the two ARCs Bull by David Elliott and Silence Under Screams by Collin Henderson, and I might read History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera after that just to change genres a bit. (Ok I confess, it’s also because I REALLY want to read it in the first place.)

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Bloglovin’.

BOOK REVIEW: This Savage Song – by V.E. Schwab

Title: This Savage Song
(Monsters Of Verity #1)
Author: Victoria (V.E.) Schwab
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Dystopia
First published: June 7th 2016
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Finished reading: December 5th 2016
Pages: 464

“I mean, most people want to escape. Get out of their heads. Out of their lives. Stories are the easiest way to do that.”

I think I have mentioned my love for Victoria (V.E.) Schwab‘s books once or twice already this year, and I still don’t know what took me so long to finally pick up this copy of her newest novel and first book of a new series This Savage Song. People kept telling me I should just read this one and that I would love it as much as the other books I had already read, and they were totally right. A Darker Shade Of Magic is still my absolute Schwab favorite, but this one came in a close second! Brilliant, just brilliant. The prose is just excellent and I love LOVE the worldbuilding. Like in Shades Of Magic, the worldbuilding isn’t all that complicated, but this simplicity just WORKS. The idea of Verity with its three types of monsters is intriguing, and I LOVED the main characters August and Kate. Both the dynamics between the characters and their development is very well done and I can’t wait to read the sequel next year. It’s going to be a long wait for sure… V.E. Schwab has definitely proven to be worthy to be in my TOP 10 of all time favorite authors!

The world has become a dangerous place and the the violence in the city of Verity has begun to breed actual monsters. Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to this divided city… And they are both in danger. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who has made a deal with the monsters and makes the humans pay for his protection. And all August wants is to be human and play a bigger role in protecting the innocent, but he is actually one of the monsters. The two finally meet as August is giving the task to keep an eye on Kate, who has just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned to the city. Nobody can know about his secret, but it’s a hard one to keep…

I have to admit I’m having a hard time writing something coherent about this book. I feel like a fangirl blabbering all over the place, but This Savage Song is just THAT good. The worldbuilding is quite simply, but excellently done and it makes it really easy to just dive into this story and relate to the main characters. Both Kate and August are well developed and I loved their characters, although August is my absolute favorite. I love the idea of the different monsters and the plot is excellent as well… The story doesn’t end with that big of a cliffhanger either, but I will definitely be waiting impatiently for the second book. It looks like it will be a duology, so I will be rereading this little masterpiece before the sequel next year. And in case you haven’t guessed it yet, I can more than recommend this book!