A Conjuring of Light by V.E. SchwabMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong Language, A sex scene
As darkness sweeps the Maresh Empire, the once precarious balance of power among the four Londons has reached its breaking point.
In the wake of tragedy, Kell--once assumed to be the last surviving Antari--begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. 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.
An ancient enemy returns to claim a city while a fallen hero tries to save a kingdom in decay.
The third book in the Shades of Magic trilogy, A Conjuring of Light was a decent, but not spectacular ending to the trilogy. I probably liked it the least of the three books. I felt rather underwhelmed by it. In the beginning I was really dreading the havoc that Osaron was poised to wreak on everyone, but he ended up being a bit disappointing, mainly because there is a good chunk of the book where he is left behind while our main characters go off on a quest to obtain something in hopes of defeating him. Now I did like that journey, some of the things that happened during it were parts I liked the best about the book, like the whole floating black market and Maris. I really wanted to know more about her, but it removed us a little too much from Osaron. If we had gotten more chapters back in London with Osaron during this time it would have been better. I did enjoy reading what Rhy was up to though.
One thing about this series, especially in this book, that felt a bit off kilter to me were the relationships between the characters. The relationship between Lila and Kell somehow never really rang true for me. There wasn't a lot of chemistry and Kell was just a rather anemic character around her. Kell's relationship with his brother Rhy was more convincing. I always enjoy a good brotherly love story line, however at times it felt a little weird because of the way it was written. Kell is supposed to be in love with Lila, but most of the time he is far more concerned about his brother.
While I liked Lila in the beginning of the trilogy, I liked her less and less with each successive book. She seemed to like doing stupid daring things just for the sake of doing them. She never thought through her actions before she did them, and I didn't really think this made her a strong female character. It just made her reckless and flighty, which isn't what I look for in a female character.
As for Kell, I liked him quite a bit in the first two books, but unfortunately he isn't a strong enough protagonist. He is too overshadowed by the other characters. Lila just steps all over him, and Holland outshines him story wise. The one thing I really wanted to know about him was his mysterious background. It really would have helped to flesh his character out a bit and make him more interesting, and there is the opportunity to find this out at one point in the book. Unfortunately Kell doesn't want to know about his past, so we never get to know either. This was one of the most frustrating things about this book. Kell might not have wanted to know, but I did!
Holland really got to shine in this book and I liked reading about his past. I'm not sure I like the way things ended up for him though, and I felt like we needed to visit his London and the others more in this book. They all just faded into the background here.
Overall I liked this series. I loved the concept of the parallel Londons and the portals between them, but I had issues with it that kept it from being a favorite.
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