A Conjuring of Light - V.E. Schwab (Shades of Magic #3)

Title: A Conjuring of Light
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Titan Books
Date Published: February 21st 2017
Pages: 624
Series: Shades of Magic #3
Source: Publisher ARC

Buy It Here: A Conjuring of Light (A Darker Shade of Magic 3) *

The synopsis has been hidden from this review due to possible spoilers for the previous two books in the series. Click the button to read if you wish!

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.

I have a love-hate relationship with the final book of trilogies. I am usually so excited to conclude a series but I sometimes feel that three books just aren't long enough to wrap everything up nicely. Honestly? I'm sort of upset that this is a trilogy and only has 3 books because I absolutely loved each and every one of these books. This one especially was incredible. I really enjoyed reading it, I have so much to say about it - it's taken me a good few days to even attempt to write this because my head is all over the place thinking about it! Obviously, as with any book, there were a few issues for me but nothing that would ever stop me recommending this entire series to everyone I will ever meet. Too much? Probably. Anyway, without further ado... let me go into detail about a few things!

* I will try my best to hide spoilers, but please forgive me if I accidentally miss something!*

The main thing that I loved about this book were the relationships between all the characters. I especially loved (and I mean loved) Kell and Holland's relationship. I loved their bickering, I loved pretty much every interaction they had and I really can't explain why. I honestly wish that they had gotten together and became bf & bf but alas, that didn't happen. I feel their relationship was like that of a sibling, they loved to hate each other but when it came down to it- I think they really did like/love each other in a weird way. I don't know, that's honestly the kind of vibe I was getting and I loved it.

So this might come as a little surprise to you, but Lila is my least favourite character. I actually really don't like her at all. I think she has no personality, she's boring and she's bland. Plain white rice is more exciting than Lila. That's all I have to say about that, she's just meh.

My truly favourite couple were Rhy and Alucard. Alucard is just bloody hilarious, I loved his one liners.

I'm really good with hard things. Just ask....

I loved the bickering he had with Kell and I absolutely adored him and Rhy together. I could read a whole book about their relationship - the good and the bad. I think they're both perfectly suited together and they made me happy. That is all.

Right, that's all I really have to say about the characters in general. If I've forgotten anyone, then obviously - I didn't like them all that much.. oops! On to the plot.

This book was incredibly fast-paced, there really wasn't even a minute where nothing was happening and I loved that. It felt like it was moving so quickly, there was never a boring moment - which is great. With such a big book like this one, if I get bored then there's no way in hell that I'll ever finish it so luckily, that wasn't the case with ACOL. I had one issue with our antagonist, Osaron (I'm not even sure if that was his name but we'll go with it cos I'm way too lazy to check) seemed a little bit of an odd villain to me. I'm not really sure what his point was, I don't really know what he was after and he just didn't seem that much of a threat to the London's as they were all making out? There was something about him that just didn't sit right with me and I'm not sure I'm completely satisfied with how that whole situation turned out.

One thing that I really did miss a lot was Grey London. I thought it would have a little more of a part in the final book of the series but it got a few short chapters (which I'm not really sure were relevant) that kind of seemed a little rush like Schwab was like "Oh yeah I forgot about Grey London! Let's just chuck some info about it here... and there... okay done." I wanted more, I wanted the magic to bleed through the worlds, I wanted it to prosper and become like Red London.

Oh and how could I forget about that little sexy moment between Kell and Lila. Yeah that was the biggest shock of the book, I was not expecting that. If you know... you know. Let's just leave that there. (I felt I couldn't write this review without throwing it a little mention!)

So... overall. I loved it. I thought it was perfectly written, I loved the short little chapters switching from character to character. I loved all of the characters (sort of... *cough cough* not Lila) and I'm gonna miss it. I'm gonna miss this whole world, I'm gonna miss everything about this trilogy and honestly I haven't felt that way about a book series since Vampire Academy! I rated this book 5* on Goodreads!