BOOK: A Conjuring of Light (2017)

by benmweilertNo Comments
A Conjuring of LightYear: 2017Author: V.E. SchwabLength: 1,143 minutes / 19.05 hours While it took me some time to get to book 2 of the Shades of Magic series, that cliffhanger required me to jump into A Conjuring of Light soon after just to keep everything fresh. At the very least, once I finished this book, I'd be done with the series and could move on to something else. You'd think I'd learn from the first two books, but I didn't particularly care for this author's style, and this book kept those flaws. For a book that picked up at the exciting conclusion of A Gathering of Shadows, it certainly took its time getting started. The stakes never felt significant enough to propel the story, which was why there were so many chapters dedicated to the characters (both major and minor) just existing. And when the main characters are boring enough that there needs to be minor character filler, that's not a...
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BOOK: A Gathering of Shadows (2016)

by benmweilert1 Comment
A Gathering of ShadowsYear: 2016Author: V.E. SchwabLength: 969 minutes / 16.15 hours It’s been five years since I read the first book in this series and the only thing I remembered was that I thought that book was just kind of average. Nevertheless, I finally got around to reading A Gathering of Shadows, hoping that something would improve the series going forward. Fortunately, I found the last half of this book to be entertaining. That I had to sit through the boring first part wasn’t great and seems to be a continuing issue with this series. There’s something to be said about starting a story in the right spot. As was the case again, the main character just doesn’t resonate with me that much. Luckily, there were enough other characters who stole the spotlight and brought up the entertainment value for me. Even with my last exposure to this series being five years ago, my memory of these characters came back easily....
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