Fantasy Book Club Series discussion

Have you finished reading A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab, book 3 in the Shades of Magic series? What did you think of it, and of the series as a whole?

Spoilers OK here!

I thought this was a powerful final book in the trilogy—major storylines wrapped up, plenty of action, and a dash or two of romance. The author elicited pretty much every emotion from me in one scene or another—anger, sadness, frustration, joy, relief, indignation, confusion, satisfaction… you get the idea.

A couple quibbles—I really would have liked to find out Kell’s origins. He had the answers to those questions in his hand and decided he didn’t really need to know. Well, I needed to know! I also wanted to know how Lila lost her original Antari eye.

I’m glad we read this series—I’ve already recommended it to others. I’m interested in hearing what others thought.

Any idea why Maxim had to face Osaron? Why did Rhy do the same thing? With Rhy being impaled in so many places, shouldn't Kell have felt the same pain? How was he able to move around and fight with no issues?

Andrew wrote: "Any idea why Maxim had to face Osaron? Why did Rhy do the same thing? With Rhy being impaled in so many places, shouldn't Kell have felt the same pain? How was he able to move around and fight with..."

This is what I gathered from a quick reread of those sections… I certainly could be mistaken. : )

I don’t think Maxim “had” to face Osaron; he had prepared some kind of magic (which I’m not sure I fully understand) and thought, as King, it was his responsibility to take on the threat himself. I think he hoped that Osaron would take over his body and the spell (which released the 12 sword to strike his body) would kill the body (his own, which Osaron was trying to inhabit) and thus, kill Osaron at the same time.

Rhy felt somewhat the same, since he needed to proved (to himself) his worthiness as King. But because he really couldn’t die, as long as Kell was alive, I guess he hoped to draw Osaron’s attention enough that Kell & Company would figure out how to defeat Osaron.

Kell DID feel the pain from Rhy’s injuries. My guess is that his magic, magnified by his connection with Lila & Holland, allowed him to still function. And both he & Lila, when it came down to it, were basically defeated (even as they wore Osaron down enough to allow Holland to trap him).

Thanks Kathi. That makes sense about Maxim and I understand the logic in trying it.

I know Rhy felt unworthy, but walking out to face him, knowing that it would likely affect Kell, just makes no sense. To me, it showed that he was even less worthy to be king. He had no plan to try to stop him. I do think Kell should have been more affected than the book described, based on previous experiences.

I just finished this one yesterday, and I have to say I absolutely loved it. Part of me thinks that the original graphic novels that center around the king might provide some insight into some of the unanswered questions. I don't know if anyone has read those are not, but there were enough references in this last book to the original books, that it might be fun to read those.
First book:
It is a graphic novel, which would be new to me, so again, might be fun.

I got the feeling that the author was setting everything up for another book. The answers to the letters on the pocket watch weren't answered either from the first book. There was something else with random letters on it too, which is why I thought it might come up again. Maybe one day we'll get the full origin story...