BOOK REVIEW: A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC BY V.E. SCHWAB

This book was just SO. BLAND. Like I wish I could write a ranty, unapologetically angry review of it, but it was just so violently bland that it made me feel nothing. Alas, I have no rage to fuel a ranty review today. Sorry guys.


(me reading the "funny" scenes in this book)


(me reading the "sad" scenes in this book)


(me reading the "stressful" scenes in this book)

you get the point 

A breakdown of the overwhelming amounts of Bland in this book: 

#1: The characters had approximately—let me do the calculations here...carry the 1...add the 6...multiply the 8—ZERO personality. I'd call them cardboard cutouts, but even cardboard cutouts have some personality. You could replace Kell and Lila with speaking blobs and nothing in the book would change. That's how poorly developed they were.

The character development was so bad, y'all, so bad. Like so bad I can't think of a single—NOT EVEN ONE—adjective to describe Kell. He was just...a dude...with reddish hair ?? As for Lila, let me see...SHE WAS HELLA AGGRAVATING. Also REALLY DAMN STUPID. 99.99% of the decisions she made were so dumb. Anyone with a shred of self-preservation wouldn't make half the decisions she made. Pls don't try to convince me that she's some badass/smart/competent thief when her decisions in the book say COMPLETELY otherwise. And don't get me started on her I'm-not-like-other-girls attitude. Ugh. Get over yourself, Lila.



The only character I was somewhat interested in was Holland, and we barely got to see anything from him, so that was a bummer. Why focus on Kell and Lila, who are about as interesting as a nondescript loaf of bread, when there are others characters like Holland who'd be so much more interesting to read about ????? Beats me.

#2: Complex villains? lol no. The villains were bad. Like laughably bad. 

#3: The plot took so long to get started, and then once it got going it wasn't that good ?? Considering the character development was non-existent, the plot really had to sustain the story, and the fact that it didn't made this book even worse for me. I feel like Schwab focused so much on plot that she lost sight of the characters, which is not good because in the end, even the plot didn't work for me at all.

Speaking of plot, the resolution of the climax was...not good. It reminded me of Jafar in the end of Aladdin, and not in a good way. 


(me reading that weirdass ending)

I think somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I wouldn't like this, but I had to try anyway, if only for the small chance that if I liked it, I'd have a new fantasy series to read. But I didn't like it, so there's that. Safe to say I won't be continuing with this series.