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REVIEW: A Conjuring of Light

Posted on August 6, 2017August 6, 2017 by Windie @ dip into books

Book Review: A Conjuring of Light
	Book title	A Conjuring of Light
	Series/standalone	Shades of Magic #3
	Author	V.E. Schwab
	Pages	624
	Year published	2017
	Category \| Genre	High Fantasy
	Rating

Official Summary

Witness the fate of beloved heroes – and enemies.

THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED…
The precarious equilibrium among four Londons has reached its breaking point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to rise.

WHO WILL CRUMBLE?
Kell – once assumed to be the last surviving Antari – begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. And in the wake of tragedy, can Arnes survive?

WHO WILL RISE?
Lila Bard, once a commonplace – but never common – thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.

WHO WILL TAKE CONTROL?
And an ancient enemy returns to claim a crown while a fallen hero tries to save a world in decay.

Review

In A Nutshell

The finale of the Shades of Magic offers the readers closure despite leaving questions unanswered.

WARNING: This review is for the third book in a series and may contain spoilers for the first two books. If you haven’t read the first two books, beware of spoilers or jump straight to verdict at the bottom of this post.

Highlights

Characters’ growth. Having read many series, I tend to cling to the characters, not wanting to let them go. Strangely enough, I found it easy enough to let go of Kell and Lila and Rhy. Sure, I’ll miss them, but I don’t feel like requesting more books about these characters. Why? I suspect this is related to how Schwab ended the series. She gave us closure, this is it, the story ends, and I could now let go and get back to my life (or.. you know to worry about other characters). The biggest problem with A Darker Shade of Magic was the lack of character growth, something that’s been fixed in A Gathering of Shadows and continue to be evident here. It’s bittersweet watching them grow up, but the satisfaction of seeing how the story ends made it worth.
Friendship, family, and romantic relationships all put to test. Schwab, the queen of slow burn romance, included some really hot sexytimes as a gift to the readers for being so patient (just kidding, maybe). There are both cishet romance and m/m romance as to be expected if you’ve been following the series. On the other hand, Kell and Rhy bromance will always be one of my favorite sibling relationship ever, but even their close bond is put to test in this finale of the Shades of Magic.

Things I Wish Were Different

The villain. It’s a shame that this book has one of the weaker villain compared to other books in the series. One would think that a series’ finale will have the most epic villain – but sadly that’s not true here. The villain is actually really strong in term of magic (since after all this is a series about magic), but there’s nothing underneath that smoke. No complexity, no genius evil planning, just complete evil. Perhaps, it’s intended to be so, but I cannot help but think that this book will fare even better with a good villain.
Way too many secondary and tertiary characters. I read this book months ago (because I’m the queen of procrastinating on backlog) and now when I’m writing this book I cannot tell you the name of a single memorable character that is not part of the main clique. Cannot even tell you the name of the queen, sorry. And perhaps that’s my terrible memory or lack of attention but surely there is a limit on how many characters you can dump into the book before it make the readers dizzy.
Mystery that remains mystery. I am actually not sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Right after I finished reading the book, I wrote in Goodreads that despite some questions remain unanswered, I am strangely okay with that. Well, after months have passed and I have more time to contemplate, I realize that I am after all WANT those answers. We all know that in life, there are mysteries and questions that will never be answered and some that are better left as they are. However, I, as a reader, want to know these things, have been waiting for the answers since Book 1 (check out my A Darker Shade of Magic re-read if you’re curious what the questions are – WARNING: they are filled with SPOILERS), and to know that these questions might never be answered is kind of painful.

Final Score

3.5 stars (out of 5 stars)

Verdict

If you’ve read A Darker Shade of Magic and A Gathering of Shadows and you demand answers, then this finale will leave you somewhat unsatisfied. If you’ve read both books and all you want is more Kell and Rhy and Lila and Alucard and more bromance and romance, then this book more than delivered. The weak villain and the bulk cause by too many secondary characters (and side stories) made this book felt dragging at some points. As it stands, A Gathering of Shadows remained my favorite book of the series, but A Conjuring of Light is a respectable finale.

Now, for those who haven’t started the series, you might have questions too. If you haven’t read the first two books, should you read them? Should you invest your time in this series? Well, after reading all three books, I can honestly say that if you’re a fan of fantasy novels, this series is well worth your time. It offers great character arc, well-written magic system, competent worldbuilding, diverse cast, gay reps, and complex characters and relationships. I will give the whole series a 4-stars rating.

Review: This Savage Song (Victoria Schwab)

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Windie @ dip into books

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Book Review: This Savage Song (Victoria Schwab)
	Book title	This Savage Song
	Series/standalone	Monsters of Verity #1
	Author	Victoria Schwab
	Pages	464
	Year published	2016
	Category \| Genre	Young Adult \| Urban Fantasy, Dystopian
	Rating

Official Summary

There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

Review

Hot on the heels of her adult fantasy book, A Gathering of Shadows, Victoria Schwab (V.E. Schwab) went back to YA with This Savage Song.

Schwab herself mentioned that this book is on the higher spectrum of YA (closer to adult than MG) and one could clearly see why from the summary.

Let’s talk about what works and what doesn’t work for me.

Things that worked for me:

The world-building. This Savage Song is technically an urban fantasy, although there was some changes to our modern world. It’s sort of dystopian in a sense that this book was set after terrible thing that caused real monsters to be born to this world. (ETA: I kept my original wording here, but Schwab mentioned on twitter that TSS is not a dystopia novel, it’s a book sets in an alternate world). Schwab painted you a picture of a city splits in two, the South is the part of the city led by Henry Flynn and the North is Callum Harker’s. Where in South, people are aware that they’re in danger from monsters, the North people live under the protection of Harker and they’re kept under the illusion that the city is safe. The three type of monsters, Corsai, Malchai, and Sunai are described as human-eating monster, but it was the song that creeps me the most.
Malchai, Malchai
sharp and sly
smile and bite and drink you dry

Corsai, Corsai
tooth and claw
shadow and bone will eat you raw.

Sunai, Sunai
eyes like coal
sing a song and steal your soul.
The writing. This Savage Song opened with this sentence:

“The Night Kate Harker decided to burn down the school chapter, she wasn’t angry or drunk. She was desperate.”

This was how you begin a book, people!
It gripped me immediately and didn’t let go until I finish. Although I feel the first half of the book is stronger than the second half, but the pace works well to keep me in the story. There was some sort of infodump that happened in the first one-third of the book, but Schwab flawlessly incorporated it into the story that I didn’t notice I was being infodumped until later.

Thing that didn’t work for me

The morally black and white characters. I’m not saying that the characters are not complex. Kate, for once, wanted so bad to please her father she lost herself trying to be worthy successor. Everyone else, however, felt either they’re good or bad, and it has nothing with what species (?) they are. August, for example, was a monster but you could totally say he’s the good guy (monster). I guess all I’m saying is that I came to this book expecting morally ambiguous characters and I just didn’t get that. But I suppose that was on me and my expectation.
Frankly speaking, it just didn’t elicit emotional response from me. Again, this probably showed that the problem was more on my expectation than the book itself. However, this is a book about human who wants to be monster and monster who wants to be human so I expected that it’ll break my heart in some way. And believe me, it’s totally possible to break my heart. Also, let’s talk about the inspiration behind the book. Schwab wrote this book to show that violence has consequences. In This Savage Song, that consequences come in the real form of monsters, but I think the whole thing was not given fair amount of time nor description.
Another problem for me is that I don’t feel anything or anyone I care about is at real stake so I didn’t worry about them.

Verdict

This Savage Song has an interesting premise and is a good start to the Monsters of Verity duology. I expect that the second book will only get better, especially if we get more character development and the stakes are higher.

Final score

3.5 stars (out of 5 stars)

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Review: A Gathering of Shadows

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Windie @ dip into books

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Book Review: A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
	Book title	A Gathering of Shadows
	Series	Shades of Magic #2
	Author	V.E. Schwab
	Pages	512
	Year published	2016
	Category \| Genre	Adult \| High Fantasy, Parallel Universes
	Rating

SPOILER WARNING FOR A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC!

Official Summary

Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift, and into Black London.

In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games—an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries—a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again—meaning that another London must fall.

“A magical kick-ass sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic”

Frequent visitors of this blog would have noticed my slightly unhealthy obsession with A Darker Shade of Magic. It’s no wonder that A Gathering of Shadows was one of my most anticipated 2016 releases. I read it the moment my preorder was delivered to my ebook reader. Was AGOS the sequel I was hoping it to be? Nope, not at all. It completely went the other direction from what I thought I wanted. I had hoped for answers and explanation about what happened, but what AGOS is, it’s all about the future and consequences. And somehow I think I like it better this way.

Review

In A Gathering of Shadows, Red London is preparing to host a magic competition called Essen Tasch, with magicians from its neighboring countries, Faro and Vesk, also taking part. The result is what one would expect: even more magic, (slightly) more politics, and tons of fun(?) interactions.

Characters

Not gonna lie, I’ve grown attached to these characters. Kell and Lila still take the center stage in A Gathering of Shadows, but a myriad of new characters were introduced, most notably is a pirate captain named Alucard Emery. There are others too, mostly magicians came to compete in Essen Tasch and the ship crews captained by Emery. Character development is totally on point, especially when it came to the crown prince, Rhy Maresh. We get to see a lot more Rhy in A Gathering of Shadows, and I’m definitely not complaining. Where in A Darker Shade of Magic, we only saw Rhy’s charming exterior, in this sequel Schwab gave us a glimpse into his head, and that made him even more relatable. His banters with Kell are part of what A Gathering of Shadows so precious. (Yes, I just used the word precious to describe a book).
If there’s a downside of introducing so many characters is that it’s so hard to keep track of them all. I’ll be honest with you, I gave up trying to remember which ship crew did what halfway through the book. But then again, maybe it’s because I didn’t pay enough attention to them earlier?

Worldbuilding

In A Darker Shade of Magic, we learned about the four Londons and the travels were mostly done between worlds. In A Gathering of Shadows, Schwab showed us that her world was not limited to London by introducing Red London’s neighboring countries, Faro and Vesk. Due to the circumstances in the book, however, we didn’t learn much about the actual countries, rather Schwab brought us the people, royals and magicians, into Red London. This, unavoidably, led to party and political interaction between the royals. However, if you wish for more politics and court drama, you’re a little out of luck. There aren’t much court drama in A Gathering of Shadows, saved for a certain princess. Perhaps, we will see more of these Lords and Princes in book three since I cannot imagine Schwab introducing them without any agenda.
Overall, I did wish to learn a bit more about the Faroan and the Veskan magicians and royals, but I appreciate Schwab’s effort to expand her world.

On magical side, there’s also an expansion. Where A Darker Shade of Magic focused on blood magic, A Gathering of Shadows is all about elemental magic. Earth, air, water, fire, each magician could control at least one of them, and some even two or three. They fight by manipulating these elements. And boy wasn’t that fun?!

Plot and narrative

It’s easy to complain that the Essen Tasch felt a little rushed, especially at the end. And maybe that’s true. The way I see it, however, was that Schwab used the competition to advance her story and characters growth. The actual ‘winning the competition’ itself is not essential like in Hunger Games (or Red Rising, if you will). It was not about life and death, and in a way, I found it refreshing that Schwab didn’t succumb to the temptation of giving the magical one-on-one combat a larger proportion than it merits. Sure, I admitted before, it was a lot of fun seeing the magical tricks and scheming done by each magician, but I found the less magical interactions between the characters to be at least as interesting and somehow more essential to the plot. Feel free to disagree with me, though.

The book itself started out well-paced, balancing between friendly banters and actions. In the last third or so, however, it really took off, like REALLY running REALLY fast. If you’re like me, and I don’t wish the feeling I had to anyone, you’ll be flipping the last few pages super fast and then stared at the acknowledgements with disbelief look upon your face.

Do I like that ending? HAHAHAHA.

Verdict

A Gathering of Shadows offers a magical experience and it was highly enjoyable. I got a new book to obsess on for sure.
As for the ending, it is great if you enjoy the sensation of dangling in the air in a chairlift when the ride stops moving and you start to laugh hysterically because what else is there to do?

Final score

4.5 stars (out of 5 stars)

Let me know, have you read A Gathering of Shadows or do you plan to read it? If you have read it, what do you think about the book? Do you like it better than A Darker Shade of Magic? Feel free to agree and disagree with my thoughts about it.

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A Darker Shade of Magic Re-read: Part XIV

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Windie @ dip into books

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Welcome to my re-read of A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. This is the 14th part of my weekly re-read posts. If you have read ADSOM, come re-read and discuss it with me. If you never read it, I highly recommend it especially if you like fantasy books, sarcastic protagonists, kick-ass heroine, and fabulous coat. Even though it’s a re-read, I will do my best to avoid spoiling future chapters in the post itself, which is quite easy because most of the time, I didn’t remember what happened. So even though this is the first time you read ADSOM, you could follow along. However, please note that although the post itself is spoiler-free from future chapters, the comments section are spoiler zone, where you can talk about anything including the plot twist and the book conclusion. Without further ado, let’s sail through A Darker Shade of Magic. All aboard!

This week, we’re going to cover Part XIV The Final Door.

SPOILER WARNING FOR PART I – XII

This is the end, the last part of our re-read. Which also means we’re now closer than ever to the release of A Gathering of Shadows. o/

So let’s start!

In last week’s post, the Part ended with Kell trying to dispel the Vitari, although the Vitari told him that it’s what kept Rhy alive.

This week, Kell finally woke up and immediately searched the seal on his body. Fortunately, it’s still intact. The black stone, on the other hand, is now just a stone having been dispelled of its magic. Just to be safe, however, Kell decided to use Holland’s unconscious body to transport the stone into Dead London. Handy that, having an unconscious antari around.

But now we have a problem. There are two people, both need to get to Kell London. Only one of them is antari and there’s no magick stone to help Lila. Question: how do we get them both to Kell London? The answer, according to Delilah Bard, is … by being stubborn enough. Well, I’m sure she’s qualified for that. Kell kissed her for luck (seriously Schwab is the queen of slow-burrnn; it’s the final part and she refused to give us any concrete sign of romance) and they’re back in the red city only to be immediately arrested. Oh well, what you’re gonna do.

The pair were brought to the king and queen to face their judgement. But how can you punish someone who gambled his own life to save your son? Not to mention, he is now the only antari around. They freed him (and Lila) and soon we’re blessed by Rhy’s presence. And his sarcastic remarks. Which I will quote later. Lila went in to see the prince(s) and immediately she and Rhy clicked. I knew it! They would be an awesome couple or BFFs and together they will make Kell frown non-stop.

But we have to leave Rhy now as we follow Kell to say goodbye to Lila. Lila refused to go back to Dull London now that Barron is dead and she has no one she cared about. Kell gave her the element board for practice because Tieren said she has magic in her. Then they said goodbye and went their separate ways.

And that’s the end of A Darker Shade of Magic. It’s wrapped-up pretty nicely for a first book in a series. I’m thankful for the lack of major cliffhanger because the wait itself is already killing me, even without cliffhanger.

Questions to ponder while we await for AGoS:

Will Lila find magic within her (and turns out to be antari)?
Is the stone’s magic really gone? Or has Kell been affected by it permanently?
Does a soul seal work both ways? For example, if Rhy dies will Kell die? (technically Rhy was dead, so I’m not sure how it works)
Will there be a character ‘return’ from the death?
WHO was Kell really?
Was Lila really from Grey London or was she actually born in another London?
What happened to Lila’s other eye? IS she an antari and the eye she replaced with glass was actually black?
Do you think these two will actually get together?
Add your question here

Thank you to everyone who read, commented, and liked these very long 14-parts recap. I will be reading AGoS the day it comes out so hit me up if you want to buddy read or any of the like. For now, I will go back re-reading bits of ADSOM while waiting for my pre-order to be delivered.

Favorite Scene

Reunited with Rhy <3

Favorite Quotes

“I love you, Kell, but I had no interest in matching tattoos.” – Rhy Maresh

“I apologize for shooting you in the leg. I was myself entirely.” – Delilah Bard

INDEX

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February Most Anticipated New Releases

Posted on January 30, 2016 by Windie @ dip into books

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February is a short month, but the number of promising new releases is HUGE. The last book in Red Rising trilogy (Pierce Brown) and Reckoners (Brandon Sanderson) will be out next month. Plus one of my most highly anticipated new release for 2016, A Gathering of Shadows (V.E. Schwab) and more!

Release Date: February 2nd 2016

Stars Above (The Lunar Chronicles Short Stories Collection) by Marissa Meyer | GOODREADS PAGE

Stand-alone or series: Collection of short stories from The Lunar Chronicles

Category | Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fairy Tale

I have only read Cinder and Scarlet out of the four-book series, but I loved them. For those of you who have devoured the series and want more, this collection of stories might just be exactly what you need. It includes 4 short stories already published and 5 never been published stories, plus an excerpt from Meyer’s upcoming book, Heartless.

Release Date: February 9th 2016

Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) by Victoria Aveyard | GOODREADS PAGE

Stand-alone or series: The second book in Red Queen series

Category | Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy

Despite having issues with Red Queen (as mentioned in my review), I am still anticipating the next installment from Aveyard. Hopefully, this book delivers.

Morning Star (Red Rising #3) by Pierce Brown | GOODREADS PAGE

Stand-alone or series: the last book in Red Rising trilogy

Category | Genre: Adult | Fantasy, Dystopia, Science Fiction

Here’s another series I’m not totally in love with. I have only read the first book, though, and my fellow bloggers convinced me that the second book is even better. So, I’ll continue with this series. But never mind me. There are tons of fans of this trilogy that have been counting the days to the book release. I hope it meets your expectation!

Release Date: February 16th 2016

Riders (Riders #1) by Veronica Rossi | GOODREADS PAGE

Stand-alone or series: The first book in Riders series

Category | Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy, Paranormal, Mythology

Rossi, most famous for her series Under the Never Sky, is back with a new series called Riders. It’s about a boy who turned into one of the four horsemen and had to save humanity from an ancient evil but failed. Sounds good?

Calamity (Reckoners #3) by Brandon Sanderson | GOODREADS PAGE

Stand-alone or series: the last book in the Reckoners series.

Category | Genre: Young Adult | Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Alternate Future

And now, for my mandatory Brandon Sanderson mention.
After releasing Bands of Mourning in January, he’s back with another book, this time it’s a YA. Yep, it’s Calamity, the last book in Reckoners series. If you’re not familiar with the name, it’s probably because some of us refer to it as Steelheart series (or maybe I’m the only one who did). I’m not going to read the synopsis because I am not fully caught up with the series, but Firefight is in my immediate TBR (having accidentally purchased it this morning *glares at amazon one-click purchase*) and after that, Calamity!

The Girl from Everywhere (The Girl from Everywhere #1) by Heidi Heilig | GOODREADS PAGE

Stand-alone or series: The first book in the series

Category | Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Historical, Romance

I love me a good historical fiction and still looking for that perfect time-travel book. Also, this book has overwhelmingly positive early reviews on goodreads.

Release Date: February 23rd 2016

A Gathering of Shadows (A Darker Shade of Magic #2) by V.E. Schwab | GOODREADS PAGE

Stand-alone or series: The second book in A Darker Shade of Magic series

Category | Genre: Adult | Fantasy

You know, I’m going to buy all these books and eat protein bars for lunch.

I mean, A Darker Shade of Magic is an epic awesomeness and now think ADSOM plus pirates plus more Rhy !!! I seriously cannot wait for this book. And those teasers Schwab tweeted to torture us. Plus the six chapters I read. AHHHHH. I’ve pre-ordered a digital copy of this book because I cannot bear the thought of waiting three weeks for BookDepository to deliver it.

Side note: if you haven’t read A Darker Shade of Magic, please get your copy now and join the internet movement #ADSOMreadalong starting on 02/01.

Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky | GOODREADS PAGE

Stand-alone or series: stand-alone

Category | Genre: Young Adult | Contemporary, mystery, humor

The synopsis is quite funny, but the reviews said it’s pretty dark. Also, I am one of those people who grew up listening to and loving boy bands so of course I’m going to read this.

That’s it for this month. Let me know if any of those books is on your most anticipated releases for this month. What other books are in your list?

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A Darker Shade of Magic Re-read: Part XIII

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Windie @ dip into books

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Welcome to my re-read of A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. This is the 13th part of my weekly re-read posts. If you have read ADSOM, come re-read and discuss it with me. If you never read it, I highly recommend it especially if you like fantasy books, sarcastic protagonists, kick-ass heroine, and fabulous coat. Even though it’s a re-read, I will do my best to avoid spoiling future chapters in the post itself, which is quite easy because most of the time, I didn’t remember what happened. So even though this is the first time you read ADSOM, you could follow along. However, please note that although the post itself is spoiler-free from future chapters, the comments section are spoiler zone, where you can talk about anything including the plot twist and the book conclusion. Without further ado, let’s sail through A Darker Shade of Magic. All aboard!

This week, we’re going to cover Part XIII The Waiting King.

SPOILER WARNING FOR PART I – XII

And we’re back in Creepy London!

Athos has been waiting for us, I mean waiting for Kell and Lila, in his throne room. Her sister’s body propped up besides him. Apparently, Astrid was still up and wrecking havoc in Kell London. I wonder if she’s killed the all the royal family members minus Rhy. Athos, however, just wanted to kill Kell. For now.

Kell and Lila went into the castle through different doors. Kell was supposed to handle Athos and Lila the still-out-of-her-body Astrid. Kell vowed to himself not to use the stone’s power because he was so close to be consumed by it. Strangely, Athos—who owned the other half of the black stone—didn’t seem to be affected much by it. Or maybe he already gave in a long long time ago and now the stone has his body? I dunno. Kell’s vow proved to be short-lived when it became clear he wouldn’t win without the stone. He used the stone for protection and tried to trap Athos into doing something stupid. This turned out not to be a difficult feat. Athos, upon being compared to his evil genius sister, became angry and summoned a serpent from the stone. Uh oh, remember when Lila tried to create living thing (Kell’s doppelganger) from the stone? The same thing happened here. Eventually, the king was beaten by his own arrogance and shortsightedness.

What about the queen? I always consider Astrid as the smarter one, but her consciousness was still in Kell London. Will this be an easy kill for Lila? Of course not! As if Schwab will let her protagonist get away that easy. After being forced to kill the boy who was bound to Athos’ will, Lila went into the throne room to find the unconscious Astrid surrounded by a circle of protection (which existence she realized after her bullet richoceted back. Dear Delilah, you should’ve known better.). She broke the protection circle, but Astrid woke up right before Lila stabbed her. Unfortunately, the queen—with her magic was too powerful for our heroine. OHMYGODDONTKILLHERDONTKILLHERDONTKILLHER. Fortunately (or not), Astrid decided to kill Kell before finishing Lila.

The cunning queen took Lila’s shape after rendering her unconscious then went to see Kell. Kell, now the proud owner of two halves of the black stone, used his magic to fused back the stone. Lila-who-was-not-Lila asked Kell to give her the stone, and all he gave her was a knife… in the stomach. Oh the bastard, I thought he was going to fall to her trick. The real Lila wobbled in, and everything was right and good—at least as good as it could be considering the black stone was still there attaching itself to Kell’s hand. The calmness lasted one page, more or less, before the stone dragged Kell into its world and tried to force him to give in. He almost did, but then he realized that if he dies, so will Rhy. That sobered him a bit and gave him the idea to dispel the magic. And so he did.

And so back in Kell London, the bodies fell… And the prince shivered then fell still.

And… that’s the end of Part XIII!

Part XIII ended with a freaking cliffhanger, but I promised not to read more than one part each week. So please join me next week to read the LAST PART of A Darker Shade of Magic!

FYI, Victoria Schwab also announced #ADSOMReadalong on her twitter where the internet will read (or reread) ADSOM before AGOS comes out. It’ll start on 02/01/2016. Join in if you want! I might or might not reread ADSOM for the third time. :p

Favorite Scene

The calm before the storm (aka the strange calm before the stone tried to take Kell).

Favorite Quote

Because she said please.

INDEX

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A Darker Shade of Magic Re-read: Part XII

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Windie @ dip into books

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Welcome to my re-read of A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. This is the 12th part of my weekly re-read posts. If you have read ADSOM, come re-read and discuss it with me. If you never read it, I highly recommend it especially if you like fantasy books, sarcastic protagonists, kick-ass heroine, and fabulous coat. Even though it’s a re-read, I will do my best to avoid spoiling future chapters in the post itself, which is quite easy because most of the time, I didn’t remember what happened. So even though this is the first time you read ADSOM, you could follow along. However, please note that although the post itself is spoiler-free from future chapters, the comments section are spoiler zone, where you can talk about anything including the plot twist and the book conclusion. Without further ado, let’s sail through A Darker Shade of Magic. All aboard!

This week, we’re going to cover Part XII Sanctuary & Sacrifice.

SPOILER WARNING FOR PART I – XI

Last week, we left Kell, Lila, and a very bloody Rhy at the palace. Kell was using his magic to lead them to a safe place. That safe place turned out to be London Sanctuary, a place for scholars and masters to learn and connect with magic. Here, Kell realized that Rhy has became awfully quiet and dying. His magic has failed somewhat. Lila thought that it’s already too late to save the prince. OH NO, YOU DON’T RHY! It seemed that Kell is with me on this one. He wouldn’t let Rhy go, no matter what. He asked Lila for the black stone. BAD IDEA KELL. Don’t do it. Whatever it is you think you’re doing, it’ll end up badly for both of you. 🙁

Kell, however, won’t listen to reasons. He bound his life to Rhy and brought his brother back using a soul seal and magic he deemed ‘impossible’. Well, nothing it’s impossible for the black stone… Okay, here’s a question. How does a soul seal work? Because it seems that the one Kell gave to Rhy is quite different from Athos’ seal on Holland. From what I understand, it’s unbreakable, unlike spells, but technically does it enable the creator to control the receiver (ala Athos and Holland)? Because I don’t think Kell would want to control Rhy.

Right, back to the book.

Rhy, still very much hurt and in pain, was left in the hand of Master Tieren, Kell’s mentor, while Lila finally convinced Kell to take her along to Creepy London. The two made their way to the spot where they could ‘safely’ travel to Creepy London. But when they travel, a force pulled Kell back to Kell London, ripping him from Lila’s hands.

Lila was forced to fend off several thugs all by herself with Kell MIA. Meanwhile, back in Kell London, Kell found out what has pulled him back. It was not a what, but rather who. Holland was there, trying to take the stone –which has now bound itself to Kell’s hand—and Kell because Astrid wanted him as her pet. Holland, obviously, didn’t listen to the second request and try resolutely to kill Kell. Kell, however, has learned his mistake and he didn’t hesitate at all. Using his own power as well as the stone’s magic, he incapacitated Holland (okay, incapacitated is probably not a correct word for ‘stabbing someone using a heavy metal pillar’) and set off to Creepy London using Holland’s token and dragging him along.

Kell arrived in time to save Lila. Actually, scratch that. I fully expected Kell to turn his Hulk mode on and show them who’s boss and warn them to not mess with his lady, but they were surrounded and had to save their energy for the Danes. So… they ran. Yeah, I settled for that. Much more practical. Kell, still carrying Holland, and Lila arrived at the castle to meet the Danes and the other half of the black stone.

Well then, next week should be fun! And by fun, I mean bloody!
Only two parts to go!

Favorite Quote

“… or perhaps I will go with you to the end of the world. After all, you’ve made me curious.”

Favorite Scene

Tieren saying to Lila that she has unawakened, unnurtured power. YAS to that.

INDEX

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A Darker Shade of Magic Re-read: Part XI

Posted on January 15, 2016 by Windie @ dip into books

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Welcome to my re-read of A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. This is the 11th part of my weekly re-read posts. If you have read ADSOM, come re-read and discuss it with me. If you never read it, I highly recommend it especially if you like fantasy books, sarcastic protagonists, kick-ass heroine, and fabulous coat. Even though it’s a re-read, I will do my best to avoid spoiling future chapters in the post itself, which is quite easy because most of the time, I didn’t remember what happened. So even though this is the first time you read ADSOM, you could follow along. However, please note that although the post itself is spoiler-free from future chapters, the comments section are spoiler zone, where you can talk about anything including the plot twist and the book conclusion. Without further ado, let’s sail through A Darker Shade of Magic. All aboard!

This week, we’re going to cover Part XI Masquerade.

SPOILER WARNING FOR PART I – X

We’re getting even closer to the end!
When we left them last week, Kell was captured by the palace guards and Lila was off to save him. Part XI began with Lila standing near the palace, figuring out how to get in. Soon enough, it became clear to her that the palace was holding a masquerade ball and all she needed to get in was an invitation. Such an easy job for our pickpocket! Lila procured her invitation and set off to find herself a costume. Fortunately, one of the market tenant recognized her as Master Kell’s friend and gave her a mask and a costume for free and told Lila to pay her back someway and to look after Kell. Lila assented and went in as Captain Bard of the Sea King. The guard let her in and as she paid her respect to the royals, she realized that they were under some sort of spell.

Kell, meanwhile, came to in Rhy’s bedroom with his brother besides him. It also took him a while to realize that he was bound using special cuff that can dampen magic. Crap, he was in trouble because he smuggled that stone, was the first thing on my mind. It turned out that Kell wasn’t bound because Rhy was mad at him. He was cuffed because Rhy wasn’t even Rhy. *GASP, that necklace from Holland.* Points for you if you managed to figure out this twist. Basically, Astrid sent a necklace imbibed with antari‘s blood (Holland’s I think) to possess Rhy. The antari‘s blood is the one that enable the spell to work in both worlds. So, Astrid was currently safe and sound in White London while possessing Rhy. This lady was an evil genius! ‘Rhy’ tried to get Kell to tell him the stone’s location and Kell told him that he didn’t know. ‘Rhy’ decided to use violence on Kell, but no dice. You should have listened though, Rhy, or Astrid, or whoever, he really didn’t know.

At that point, Lila, I mean Captain Bard, stepped in (more like flew in, actually) and interfered on their brotherly business. Cornered between the antari and the fearless girl equipped with magic stone, Astrid decided to use her last weapon, Rhy. She told them to give her the stone or she was going to kill Rhy. She took off the pendant from Rhy’s body and threw it, at the same time driving a knife into Rhy’s body. The pendant, apparently, was so powerful that Astrid could possess anyone that touch it. Therefore, losing Rhy wasn’t much of a hindrance now that Kell has found out that another person was wearing his brother’s skin. Rhy, meanwhile, was dying. Kell, desperate to save his brother, was forced to run with Lila to avoid being captured by Astrid and the guards under her possession. Kell took Rhy and Lila to his room and made a door to a place he deemed the only safe place for them to go.

But where did the door lead to? We’ll find out in the next part, next week!

Favorite Quote

You look more ready to storm a city than seduce a man.

Favorite Scene

Lila’s awkward exchange with Calla about being Kell’s friend.

INDEX

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A Darker Shade of Magic Re-read: Part X

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Windie @ dip into books

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Welcome to my re-read of A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. This is the 10th part of my weekly re-read posts. If you have read ADSOM, come re-read and discuss it with me. If you never read it, I highly recommend it especially if you like fantasy books, sarcastic protagonists, kick-ass heroine, and fabulous coat. Even though it’s a re-read, I will do my best to avoid spoiling future chapters in the post itself, which is quite easy because most of the time, I didn’t remember what happened. So even though this is the first time you read ADSOM, you could follow along. However, please note that although the post itself is spoiler-free from future chapters, the comments section are spoiler zone, where you can talk about anything including the plot twist and the book conclusion. Without further ado, let’s sail through A Darker Shade of Magic. All aboard!

This week, we’re going to cover Part X One White Rook.

SPOILER WARNING FOR PART I – IX

Part X is a long, but action-packed one. In this part, Schwab took us back to check on the two vessels of the black stone, one in Grey London left by Lila’s sword and another in Red London left frozen by Kell. The Grey London vessel, having been taken forcefully, has now withered. He was drawn to Stone’s Throw before getting hit by a cart and crumbled into soot. And guess who was there? The enthusiast from earlier. Yep, there’s definitely something with this Edward Tuttle guy. We just don’t know what yet. The second vessel has spread itself like a plague in Red London. A voluntary vessel, it lasted longer than the Grey London’s. It even managed to “kill” Gen and Parrish, Rhy’s personal guards when they were off duty. I am not sure they will stay dead, pretty sure they’ll get possessed and then the black smoke could sneak into the castle and… OH NO, RHYYY.

Speaking of Rhy, his birthday celebration was in full swing. A full-day festival followed by a masquerade ball was taking place. However, his brother was not there and the crown, now fully realized that Kell is indeed missing, has placed a magical notification ad throughout the city with the message to “press here if found.” Fortunately, Kell and Lila were smart enough to cloak themselves going to Fletcher’s pawn shop. Once they got there, Kell and Lila roamed the shop searching for the white rook, the White London’s token, but couldn’t find it. Fletcher, a bone magician, found out that Master Kell was in his shop and stalled them long enough after he notified the royal guards that their wanted person is here. Lila cloaked herself with the stone’s magic so the guards had no idea she was there, and the royal guards took Kell back to the castle. Everything seems well and good, that is until Kell was rendered unconscious and a strange guard possesed by magic came back to get rid of Fletcher. Good riddance! But what about Kell? Was he kidnapped? And what will happen to Lila? Well, if you know her, you will know for sure she is not going to sit around and wait for Kell to come back. Instead, she took the black stone and the white rook that fell from Fletcher’s pocket) and went to rescue Kell.

Next week gonna be fun!

Favorite Quote

Some people steal to stay alive, and some steal to feel alive.

Favorite Scene

Lila telling Kell about her past and Kell telling Lila about what he did to some guys who kidnapped his brother.

INDEX

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A Darker Shade of Magic Re-read: Part IX

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Windie @ dip into books

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Welcome to my re-read of A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. This is the 9th part of my weekly re-read posts. If you have read ADSOM, come re-read and discuss it with me. If you never read it, I highly recommend it especially if you like fantasy books, sarcastic protagonists, kick-ass heroine, and fabulous coat. Even though it’s a re-read, I will do my best to avoid spoiling future chapters in the post itself, which is quite easy because most of the time, I didn’t remember what happened. So even though this is the first time you read ADSOM, you could follow along. However, please note that although the post itself is spoiler-free from future chapters, the comments section are spoiler zone, where you can talk about anything including the plot twist and the book conclusion. Without further ado, let’s sail through A Darker Shade of Magic. All aboard!

This week, we’re going to cover Part IX Festival & Fire.

SPOILER WARNING FOR PART I – VIII

Aaanndd we’re back in Red London. Well, Kell did. But where’s Delilah? Was she trapped in the path between alternate universes? Or worse, inside the wall? *GASP* We sure hope not. We being both me and Kell. Let’s go find her! *traipsing around Red London*

THERE SHE IS. It turned out, Lila made it to Red London after all, but in different place. She looked around and saw the red river, the vessel of Red London. Quick question. If you’re a wannabe pirate, what is the first thing that you see? The SHIPS of course. They were fabulous and she wanted them so bad. But let’s leave the ships for now because there’s a big thing in town. What is it? Why, it’s Prince Rhy’s birthday celebration. The prince with his parents were leading the procession to the castle and Lila saw Kell’s brother for the first time, not that she knew that. It was not the “sparks flying at the first sight” as I predicted, but Rhy DID notice her so that’s something. On the other hand, Lila also heard about the “missing black-eyed prince.” Wait, what?? … Moving on.

Lila walked around the festival and tried to steal a charm from a merchant tent. Unfortunately, it was enchanted. Fortunately, Kell found her before things got even more awry. They made their quick getaway and Lila cornered Kell into admitting that he indeed belonged to royal family. A heated argument ensued between the two. I have to admit, this was one of my favorite scene between them. How Kell felt like a prisoner in a gilded castle and Lila had to fend for herself and never felt safe. They had their differences, but they were both strong and levelheaded enough to carry on with their mission.

And to The Ruby Fields they went. Except Ruby Fields is no more. It – and all the people inside – was burned to ashes by Holland. Speaking of Holland, here he came. Kell, knowing he was in no condition to fight Holland, commanded the stone to conceal he and Lila. The stone obeyed, and not only it made them invisible, it even made them incorporeal. Holland finally gave up on them, for now, but not before he let them know that he killed Barron. 🙁 COLD HEARTLESS VILLAIN, why cannot I hate you?* But I really can’t. Despite everything, I care about Barron.

After Barron left, Kell realized that he only had one option now that he’s lost all of his trinkets. He has to find Fletcher and took his chess piece back.

Favorite Quote

You have a house if not a home. You have people who care for you if not about you. You may not have everything you want, but I’d wager you have everything you could ever need, and you have the audacity to claim it all forfeit because it is not love.