V E Schwab

All I can tell you without spoiling you is: read this trilogy. The world is built so well. The magic system is awesome. The characters and their dynamics are everything I could have asked for and more! This is a must read for fantasy fans for sure!

Before we get into this review, you might wanna grab a drink and a snack! If this goes anything the way my previous review went, this is going to be a long one! I hope you don’t mind! 

PLOT

A Conjuring Of Light picks up shortly after A Gathering Of Shadows as we follow Lila into White London as she races to rescue and save both Kell and Rhy. Meanwhile, Osaron escaped into Red London and unfolds his plan to overtake the city and rule it as its new king. As Osaron’s power and reign spreads, our characters set off on a race to find something that is believed to be impossible – all to save Red London and its citizens.

The plot was definitely a lot more balanced in A Conjuring Of Light than it was in the first two books – things are constantly happening and the story steadily develops which I enjoyed a lot!

Overall, the plot kept me engaged and turning page after page! I also cried multiple times while reading this book – the first time about 50 pages into the story. The most heartbreaking cry was towards the end and I found myself shaking and sobbing loudly at about 4 AM.

Remember how I talked about how the stakes in the previous book weren’t high? Well, that definitely changed in this one! You could actually feel the dangers of the different situations and upcoming missions and I loved it!

WRITING

Victoria Schwab’s writing continues to be really awesome and it definitely makes for a great reading experience! She also writes in a way that makes you really experience the characters emotions – be it pain or joy!

After finishing this trilogy I am also 100% convinced that I need to read all of Victoria’s books currently released and yet to be released! 

CHARACTERS

Before I get into more detailed notes about our main characters I just want to mention something that really bothered me while reading this book but that I also noticed in the previous books.

I’ve talked about the lack of female characters in this world in my previous review and then while reading A Conjuring Of Light it really bothered me how so many of the female characters we knew by name were killed off? It was usually done in a rather brutal manner too. A couple of men die too but it’s never described in as much detail as it was with the female characters. I really want to know why that is a thing happening in this trilogy. Has Victoria ever talked about this before?

Now that that’s put to paper, let’s talk about our main characters!

Lila continues to be a freaking badass woman who kicks some serious ass throughout this entire book! She is also not afraid to voice her opinion and to talk back when she needs to – king Maxim got some of that for sure and I was reading and cheering Lila for it! Because boy, did king Maxim deserve it!

We also continue to explore Lila’s magic and we see her use it more and test its limits of both her own magic but also the Antari magic itself! Lila also quite grew as a person in this book and I loved seeing her grow into the woman she became by the end of this trilogy. Remember how I said I wanted to be a pirate on Lila’s ship? Yeah, that is definitely still something I would love to do!

We have seen Rhy slowly grow into his role as future king in A Gathering Of Shadows and even more so in this book and I honestly fell so much more in love with him through it all! Rhy’s transformation and growth was so fascinating to see and I could have spent so much more time with him and see him in his role! 

Rhy was probably one of the characters who had me feel with them the most! I was cheering for him so much and then I was right there with him during the hard moments when he really showed the kind person he had become but also the kind of person he wanted to be. Rhy Maresh is a gift.

On top of all that, we also get to explore the way Rhy feels about magic and his lack of it. We get to join him as he finds ways to show his strength despite not having any magic of his own and that was truly inspiring!

I came to love Alucard quite quickly in A Gathering Of Shadows and my love just continued to grow in A Conjuring Of Light! Alucard had some really heartbreaking scenes throughout this entire book and my heart couldn’t handle it! I also really enjoyed learning more about his past and how his and Rhy’s relationship came to the point we picked up at in A Gathering Of Shadows!

King Maxim also finally played more of a role in this book, after basically being a background character for the past two books – the same goes for Queen Emira. It was interesting seeing his limited interactions with both his sons and how their relationships changed and grew.

And finally, we can’t forget about Kell! Kell who went through quite the arc during the course of this trilogy! The man he became by the end of this book is quite different to the man we first met in A Darker Shade Of Magic and it’s understandable that he’s different and changed and finally willing to be more selfish with his own needs and wants.

I also want to say something else: Victoria Schwab has such a talent for writing great character dynamics! I really and truly enjoyed reading about all of these different dynamics between the characters – no matter if in pairs of two (Kell and Alucard were hilarious to watch and Rhy and Kell are the best sibling dynamic I have come across in a while!) or as a group! Because let me tell you, scenes between Rhy, Kell, Alucard and Lila were always so much fun to read and I couldn’t get enough of them!

PACING

I feel like the pacing of A Conjuring Of Light was done so much better than in the previous two books which resulted in the story flowing really nicely! The pacing in this one was everything I wanted the first two books to be. I felt like they needed much longer for things to actually start happening and for the story to develop.

Obviously, this book was much longer than especially the first one and while you could sometimes feel the length of the book, it never felt like it was too long!

ENJOYMENT

I really and truly loved this book and this entire trilogy so much! I felt with these characters so much. I felt their joy, their losses and their love for each other and I loved every second of it! I rooted so much for them and their world – even Holland.

I am really sad that this story has come to an end and that I don’t get to spend any more time with this lot! But I am also hopeful that we might still get more stories set in this world as quite a few things were still left open with the possibility for much more! And I definitely hope Victoria explore this world more in the future!

This book was hands down and without a doubt a 5-star read for me! I loved it so much and I was really satisfied with how this story wrapped up!

Meine Meinung

Ich habe es ein bisschen vor mir hergeschoben, eine Rezension zu diesem dritten Band zu schreiben, weil ich es wirklich schwer finde, meine Gefühle beim Lesen in Worte zu fassen. Ich habe die ganze Trilogie innerhalb weniger Tage durchgelesen und kämpfe immer noch mit einem ziemlichen „book hangover“. Gelindert wird er nur dadurch, dass ich die schönsten Lieblingsszenen jetzt unendlich oft noch einmal lesen kann. Und die gibt es im Überfluss: Von romantischen Szenen und atemloser Action bis hin zu witzigen Dialogen und ergreifenden Rhy-und-Kell-Brudermomenten bietet dieses Finale alles, was mir an den beiden Vorgängern so gefallen hat. Darüber hinaus gibt es viele viele tragische, herzzerreißende Szenen, die werde beim wieder-lesen vorerst umschiffen – einmal heulen reicht ja.

Kommen wir erstmal zum Plot: London wird in diesem finalen Band von einer Macht bedroht, im Vergleich zu der alles vorher Dagewesene harmlos erscheint. V.E. Schwab folgt in diesem Roman erbarmungslos dem berühmten „Murphy’s Law“: Alles, was schiefgehen kann, geht auch schief. Trotz der über 600 Seiten habe ich das Finale in Rekordzeit verschlungen, weil ich einfach nicht aufhören konnte, zu lesen. Über einen so langen Zeitraum hinweg die Spannung hoch zu halten ist wirklich keine einfache Aufgabe, aber die Autorin meistert sie mit Bravour. Besonders gut gefallen hat mir, dass es diesmal auch wieder einen Abschnitt gibt, in dem die Figuren mit einem Schiff unterwegs sind. Der ganz große Showdown ist dann angemessen dramatisch und führt wunderbar die losen Fäden zusammen. Ich fand das Ende insgesamt sehr gelungen, vor allem weil deutlich wird, dass es kein perfektes Friede-Freude-Eierkuchen Happyend ist, sondern die Figuren von dem gezeichnet sind, was vorher passiert ist.

Die „Kirsche auf der Torte“ sind auch in diesem Band die beiden Liebesgeschichten. Ich fand es wieder absolut toll gemacht, wie die romantischen Szenen rar gestreut sind, dann aber so wunderschön und berührend, dass sie mitten ins Herz treffen. Dass Alucard und Kell in einer Tour streiten (in HERRLICHEN Dialogen) macht irgendwie sowohl die Romanze zwischen Alucard und Rhy als auch Kells und Rhys Bruder-Beziehung noch rührender. Macht das Sinn??? Wenn V.E. Schwab es schreibt, absolut.

Wie in der ganzen Reihe waren es auch diesmal wieder die vielen Kleinigkeiten, die dieses wunderbare Lesevergnügen ausgemacht haben. Kells Mantel, der im Prinzip schon als Nebenfigur durchgeht. Schlagfertigkeit im Angesicht der Katastrophe. Ein schwimmender Markt, in dem man mit Lebensjahren zahlt. Eine verzauberte Karte, die widerspiegelt, was draußen passiert. Der Blick in Hollands Vergangenheit, dank dem man ihn noch besser versteht. Ich könnte die Liste noch endlos fortführen, aber ich brauche schließlich noch ein bisschen Lebenszeit, um sämtliche weitere Werke der Autorin zu lesen. Der Schreibstil war selbstverständlich auch in „A Conjuring of Light“ MAKELLOS, was die tragischen Ereignisse noch schmerzhafter gemacht hat.

Dass sympathische, vielschichtige Charaktere eine ihrer großen Stärken sind, hat V.E. Schwab bereits in den vorherigen Teilen bewiesen. In diesem Band fand ich es besonders toll zu sehen, wie sehr sich die Figuren seit Beginn der Reihe weiterentwickelt haben. Sie verändern sich, werden stärker und reifer, bleiben sich aber im Herzen trotzdem selbst treu. Lila ist weiterhin die toughe, furchtlose, Messer liebende Kick Ass-Heldin, die ich seit dem ersten Band liebgewonnen habe. Allerdings hat sie gelernt, ihr Herz für andere zu öffnen und nicht aus Angst vor Verlusten vor ihren eigenen Gefühlen davonzulaufen. Kell fühlt sich weiterhin für das Königreich und für Rhy verantwortlich, erkennt aber, dass er auch an sein eigenes Glück denken muss. Rhy hat vielleicht die größte Wandlung von allen durchgemacht: Von einem sorglosen Jugendlichen zu einem ernsthaften, selbstlosen jungen Mann, dem sein Volk am Herzen liegt.

Fazit

So, Lobrede vorbei. Jetzt geht und LEST DAS BUCH!