THE BOOK NOOK

Our November book is A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab! Grab yourself a copy and come join us!

[carryon-reading]

wow double d ranch is major goals... everything i want out of life..

[carryon-reading]

i do really love the writing style of this book but i think it's making it harder for me to connect to the characters plus not much has actually happened plot wise so I really don't know how to feel about it

[carryon-reading]

i'm really digging the vibe of this book but it's a lot weirder than I thought it was going to be? idk the effects of the miracles are strange i wasn't really expecting it lol

[carryon-reading]

oh fr*ck i LOOOVE that passage about daniel's eyes idek why I just really love it

[carryon-reading]

i'm in LOVE with this book hot damn magical realism is my SHIT and i love Maggie's writing style so so much i love how like practically nothing is happening but i'm still entirely entranced and entertained and i loooove writing like this where if u try to take it literally it sometimes makes no sense at all but if u don't overthink it u somehow just completely understand what it means it's MAGICAL

[carryon-reading]

i’m already completely sold after reading the first page, purely because of the writing style. it just really speaks to me and i’m SO excited for this book.

[carryon-reading]

A Darker Shade Of Magic Review (spoiler free)

By Anna

Rating: 4 out of 5 start!

A Darker Shade of Magic is a wonderful and whimsical story that has a much darker edge to it than I had expected of it. I really enjoyed this book!

I think the world is absolutely fascinating. I love the way the magic works and the way culture varies with each version of London.  V. E. Schwab did a great job at creating the right atmosphere for this world (or should is say worlds). I think it’s key to set up your fantasy world well within the first book of a series, and Schwab did this perfectly. I feel like I understand this world and important parts of its history. I’m very excited to see what this world is going to bring us in the sequels.

Another definite highlight of this book are the characters. I fell in love with each character about as soon as I met them. Every single one of them was in one way or another morally grey or at least had a few big flaws, which I really enjoy (with a few exceptions for characters who were pure and pure evil). I always enjoy the morally grey characters over the pure evil or the pure good ones. The dynamic between the characters was a lot of fun as well and I’m so excited that I’m getting two more books with them. (Hoping they’ll survive the second book of course.)

This book was, in a way, a lot darker than I had expected. It’s strange because Kell and Lila—who we mainly follow in this book—have a very light-hearted dynamic between the two of them, which sets a light-hearted tone, but the actual plot of the book is very dark. There is also the fact that the violence and the injuries in this book got quite brutal and descriptive at times, which added to the dark tone for me. I found it all very intriguing.

I am really excited to continue on with this series, because I feel like this first book gave a very solid foundation for the other books to build on. I would definitely recommend checking this book out. I’m very happy to have read it.

[carryon-reading]

spoiler-free adsom review

(I DID IT i did it i TOTALLY finished and it's only like an hour after the end of november so... if i was one time zone over this would still count!!) ok so i'm feeling very torn but i'm gonna give a darker shade of magic a solid 3.5/5 stars but hear me out here... basically i had a lot of trouble getting into it (i actually tried reading this before and only got halfway through and then got distracted for like half a year) BUT once i finally did (probably like 2/3 of the way through? but i honestly couldn't tell ya where the turning point was) i was like super super into it and couldn't put it down which is my favorite kind of read. i appreciated the writing, which was i think indisputably really beautiful and interesting and inventive, and the world-building, which was like incredibly thorough and vivid, but i think it really just wasn't quite my jam -- i'm generally into more character-driven books and i personally felt like this was really plot-driven -- but that's really just personal preference. but yeah while i did really really really love the characters, at the same time i felt like they were sort of lacking a depth and had the /potential/ to be much more interesting than they were. but maybe that gets explored more in the next book (which i'm definitely gonna read)! ok so in conclusion, i guess i do think that, objectively, it's a legitimately very good book. but very /subjectively/, definitely not my favorite.

[carryon-reading]

aghh i have less than 50 pages left and i HAVE to know what happens but i'm soo tired ugh SCREW IT i said i would finish and i'm going to finish and so what if i'm filled with regret tomorrow when i try to slog through a day of work ! :))

[carryon-reading]

review of a darker shade of magic

overall rating: 4.5/5 stars

my review is spoiler free!

so i wasn’t expecting to love this book anywhere near as much as i did. sure, it’s pretty hyped but i’ve previously read this savage song by v.e. schwab and it was a bit of a let down for me so i wasn’t too sure how i was gonna feel about this one. however i was pleasantly surprised: i loved the characters, the magic system and world building and setting. at the end of the day i had a really fun time reading. the one criticism i had was that the plot was a tad slow and not the most thrilling, but that’s just my opinion and it was still fun overall.

one of my favourite things about this book was the world building. it is set in three different alternate realities of london with varying degrees of magic. i fucking loved the way the three different londons were described and contrasted. i also had no idea that it was historical until i read about grey london and realised it was our own london in the 1800s, which added a cool twist. i loved the way the worlds were fleshed out, from the distinctive languages and names for places to the way magic is perceived. this magic and the way it’s described was another thing i loved about the book, i truly felt like magic was alive which is the kind of fantasy thing i adore.

lemme talk quickly about the characters because they were what made this book even better. my fave was definitely lila who i may or may not have a huge crush on. she honestly is so great and kicks all expectations out of the water like she’s a sassy, cunning female thief from 1800s london who wants to be a pirate and go on adventures. what’s not to love, plus she’s a character that i think readers easily connect with (i know i did). lila bard is honestly the best i love her. i enjoyed kell too but felt less passionately about him, yet i definitely admired him and especially his loyalty to his bro rhy that was v cute. i’ll put it out there that i have mixed feelings about lila and kell’s relationship, i mean don’t get me wrong i loved seeing them interact etc i think they made an amazing pair i just can’t decide whether i like them only as a brotp or whether i could see anything else happening between them. i think an exploration of their relationship in future books is definitely something i will look forward to!

overall, i really really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it, i honestly can’t wait to read the rest of the series (when i managed to find a bit of time ahhaah)

[carryon-reading]

wow have i mentioned i'm in love with lila bard

[carryon-reading]

Spoiler for like the last couple of chapters

Okay so I've really digging Lila and kell's relationship as brotp and I thought I would hate any idea of them together romantically but I actually thought their kiss was really cute and I'm v hyped to see where their relationship goes in future books it's all v intriguing I love it

[carryon-reading]

i know i’m probably not supposed to love holland, but i find him so intriguing! i really wish to truly get to know him and what’s going on in his mind, especially because he is bound to the those twins and a lot of the things he does aren’t by his own choice. 

[carryon-reading]

OH my god is lila gonna be gay pleaseeeee let her be gay

[carryon-reading]

December Book of the Month!

Hello everyone, it’s time to officially announce the book we will be reading in December!

The book that got the most votes in our poll was All The Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater, meaning that this will be the book we’ll be reading in December.

The hashtag we’ll be using in December to discus this book will be #all the crooked santas You can also join our discord chat to discuss the book with all of us more actively! We really hope people will join us!

[carryon-reading]

look... so i just met lila and i love her and tbh lowkey wish she was the main character but just... if this turns into Another Forced and Unnecessary Hetero Romance....... sigh?

[carryon-reading]

December Book Poll!

It’s that time of the month; it’s time to pick our December book of the month. 

Before we get to it though, I want to quickly mention that our bookclub has a discord chat that you can join. Here you can interact with the other members and discuss the books with all of us in one place. If you want to join this chat you can find the post about it here. 

Now onto the books that we’ve selected for our December poll. 

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

All the Crooked Saints is Maggie Stiefvater’s recently released stand alone novel. Maggie Stievater is well known and loved for her series called The Raven Cycle. All the Crooked Saints has the promise to be as magical and creative as The Raven Cycle. 

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

A few years ago, E. Lockhart got a lot of recognition for the book We Were Liars. With We Were Liars it was best to go into the book knowing as little as possible about the plot. Having read the vague synopsis of Genuine Fraud we’re assuming the same goes for Genuine Fraud. Knowing E. Lockhart however, you can assume the book will have beautiful writing and interesting themes! 

The Power by Naomi Alderman

The Power is a recent sci-fi dystopian release. The world in The Power is almost identical to our own, except something strange has happened; teenage girls now have the immense physical power that can cause agonising pain and even death. This causes a whole shift in society. 

The poll to vote on our December book can be found here. The poll will be closed on November 19th.