A Conjuring of Light ( A YA Book Review)

A Conjuring of Light

VE Schwab

3.8 out of 5 bumped up to 4 stars on GoodReads

Short Review

I will start off by saying that ACOL was definitely the best book of the three in this series. And thank goodness, as it came in at 620 pages. There was lots of action, however the last 100 pages kind of dragged and I found myself just wanting to be done, but that’s the result of me not totally enjoying this series overall.

The Good

Kell, Alucard, and Rhy oh my! Even Holland is an impressively complex character with a great arc throughout the series. I loved the concept of magic and the alternate Londons. I’m a huge fan of light overcoming dark, which was a central theme to ACOL.

The Not-So-Good

This series was long in general, where there were hundreds of pages with introspection and not much action. ACOL remedies this with lots of action, but some of the twists and turns felt forced in order to drive the plot forward. 600 pages is a long story and I didn’t feel this book needed to be this long. There was also something I didn’t like about the Shadow King. I can’t place my finger on it, but I think he felt a little clichéd.

I also lacked major connection with Lila (see my other reviews for more). Basically, I thought she was an immature jerk and she pretty much stayed an immature jerk through three books. I even found myself happy she got her ass handed to her in this book. Too bad it didn’t make her more humble or likable. Also, there was blood. Lots of it. Everywhere. Frequently.

What May Have Made It Better

I think this series could have been more engaging if it had been kept shorter. I would have liked to see a stronger character arc for Lila. It’s difficult to not connect/like a main character. Even antagonists often have some kind of redeeming qualities. Rhy and Holland both had great character development, and I feel like Lila had this potential but it wasn’t given to her. Oddly, I would have liked more backstory on Emira and Maxim, but that could be my age showing.

Overall

This series didn’t live up to the hype I’ve seen everywhere, so I’m not sure if my expectations were too high, or maybe I was expecting something completely different. It just missed the mark for me.