#a darker shade of magic series

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Lily Barden- All the Painted Stars by Emma Denny

Alucard Emery- A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

Ambrose Cusk- The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

Alex Fierro- Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy by Rick Riordan

[voidcat]

ness should've been at the club, having his first real bad clubbing experience, swearing off to never go again, find nerdy clubs to join and make lotr closet cosplays to movie marathon nights, find himself a dnd group that will have a real bad fall out with one member who got on everyone's nerves, stream critical lore, get reaaally into the dragon age games, get into fantasy book series and join booktwt briefly to say all his theories he considers canon, wreak havoc online and dip out, then try clubbing again this time with his newly found group of friends and have a blast of his life-- not go through whatever the hell this is

[asexualbookbird]

CURRENTLY READING APRIL 2025

A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

Finally, am I right? I LOVED A Darker Shade of Magic, okay. LOVED it. I love Lila, and Kell, and Holland. Loved Schwab's writing in Vicious, and The Archive, and This Savage Song. I put off reading book two because of who I am as a person, but put off reading this because. Well. I didn't enjoy A Gathering of Shadows all that much. Enough so that I donated my spare copies of the series and only kept these with the fanart inside. I am, admittedly, at the time of writing this, nearly 75% into the book, so I definitely do have Opinions, but I'm hoping the last quarter can surprise me in some way. Show me why the entire series had such an influence on the reading community for so long. Especially since most people don't even MENTION Holland, which is a CRIME.

[secretrobotbird]

re-reading V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic series for like the 5th time and internally sobbing every time there's a scene with calla or lenos or hastra because i know what happens to them later

AAUUGHHH WHY IS VE SCHWAB ALLERGIC TO HAPPINESS IN ALL OF THEIR BOOKS LIKE THE ENDING OF OUR DARK DUET HAD ME SOBBING AND SAME WITH THE END OF VENGEFUL AND JUST AAUAGGRGGGEHR

[fuckvictorvale]

i've read six of ve schwab's books and i cannot believe they're all by the same author sometimes.

they're all so DIFFERENT, the range is insane and i haven't even read everything she's written

[clockworkbee]

I've loved so many books by V. E. Schwab (adsom, tftop, villains, monsters of verity) that sometimes, I have this strong urge to re-read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (because it was my first book by the author and I hated it despite loving the writing, premise, and vibes/aesthetic), thinking I might love it now, but then my brain goes ‘what if you despise it even more?’ and of course, all urges go *poof* 💀

[purplebass]

I'm watching this Turkish crime show called 'family secrets' and the main couple has just Kell and Lila's personalities and ship dynamic. They are a married magistrate who follows the law to the core and a lawyer who wins her cases by lying a bit and is really cunning (the initially get married to help each other and then they fall in love). You can imagine the magistrate gets really mad when the lawyer lies and forces him to lie but he can't help but be attracted by her personality and in him she finds the safety and affection she never got from others. Their best friend, who is a police captain, reminds me of Rhy or Alucard. He calls the mfc 'my queen' lmao (this is something they would both do). Their freenemy reminds me of Holland. He is a lonesome magistrate who has great chem with both leads

[typingwithmyhandstied]

Inej Ghafa, Juliette Cai, and Lila Bard meeting and comparing knife collections. Inej Ghafa, Juliette Cai, and Lila Bard meeting and comparing knife collections. Inej Ghafa, Juliette Cai, and Lila Bard meeting and compar-

[creativexdreamer]

“Love and loss,” he said, “are like a ship and the sea. They rise together. The more we love, the more we have to lose. But the only way to avoid loss is to avoid love. And what a sad world that would be.”

V. E. Schwab (A Conjuring of Light)

[skykid-nadir]

Terrible news, Tumblr! I'm about to finish my book! And I don't know what to read next!

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Characters, book, and author names under the cut

Damianos (“Damen”) of Akielos/Laurent of Vere - Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

Rhy Maresh/Alucard Emery - Shades of Magic by V. E. Schwab

Addam Saint Nicholas/Rune Saint John - The Tarot Sequence by K. D. Edwards

Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard - All For The Game by Nora Sakavic

[mojomito]

The first half of conjuring be like.

[afurtivecake]

what's ur most controversial aftg opinion?

see, that requires me to know what the general consensus opinions are. and i don't think i have a good grasp on them yet.

but, ok, fine, not wimping out. but forgive me if they're only uncommon and not actually controversial:

1) aftg needs more sports. not to be all kevin day about it, but why aren't people playing exy more. i genuinely did not read the description of aftg before i read it and i thought i was going to be reading a sports novel where sports would be the focus. and it does ok at that actually, in comparison to the other sports/romance novels i've read. like there is an actual sports narrative and sports tropes (i really enjoyed andrew's character development from a sports narrative perspective) but part of me wants even more sports. part of me looks at the name "all for the game" and thinks, "nora, you fucking lied. it's not all for the game. neil's character arc was very much about him learning how to make his life NOT all for the game." i just like sports stories, ok? sue me.

2) to me, jean moreau is the type of character that i like to think of as the "manic pixie dream girl of torture victims". these are characters that the writer clearly enjoys torturing and making suffer. holland from A Darker Shade of Magic is a good example of this. (he's also stripped of his free will, literally by magic, and made to hurt himself and others for his owners' amusement and he's hanging on to his humanity by the barest thread. it's diabolical and *chef's kiss*) i don't mean characters who just get tortured a lot. cuz neil gets tortured a lot and he definitely isn't this type of character. i mean characters who are fun to torture. usually they're characters who feel very deeply but put on a facade of neutral uncaring so that they don't give their tormentors the emotions that their tormentors want to see on them. characters who so clearly don't want whatever their tormentors are dishing out but submit to it eventually when broken. characters who break and give in but still have that spark of a fight in them that makes their tormentors forever obsessed with snuffing out. they are characters who suffer so well and so beautifully and you almost can't fault their torturers for torturing them. i know it sounds horrible but there's something so satisfying about seeing jean hurt and suffering.

hey look, i want jean to have a service dog and hot cocoa and hugs as much as the next person, i promise you. (jean and jeremy's flirting is delightful) but i've also got a few sadistic tendencies when it comes to fiction and the charm of jean moreau for me is in part due to the fact that he suffers so well.

[readbyag]

“Kell wore a very peculiar coat.”

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

One of my favorite series of all time ❤️

[clockworkbee]

heyy! can u please reccomend some books about yearning/struggling/fighting for power? thanks <3

im an asoiaf and the folk of air fan and need more books with the *i'm little but i'm coming for the crown* energy)

Hello! (sorry for responding a little late)

‘Yearning, struggling, fighting for power’ books, hmmm 🤔 let's see.

The Bear & The Nightingale | Katherine Arden - a coming of age story (the winternight trilogy) with a badass female protagonist. Some yearning and a hell lot of struggle on the way to fighting for power. [Russian Folklore, Historical Fantasy]

Carry On | Rainbow Rowell - I think it covers all the three things you asked for, even though it's not very plot driven, so like, the fight for power isn't heavy (compared to tfota) and it's aka. Simon Snow trilogy. [Fantasy]

Vicious | V. E. Schwab - book 1 in Villains trilogy with only two books out (book 2 has an open ending; doesn't end on a cliffhanger) I can't say you'll find yearning here (depends on what you think as you read) but there's definitely a fight for power, rivalry and struggle. [thriller, mystery, fantasy]

A Darker Shade of Magic | V. E. Schwab - too freaking much a fight for power by side characters (who do have a pov) with some inner struggle and a little yearning. [Historical Fantasy]

The Song of Achilles | Madeline Miller - a standalone retelling with enough yearning and struggle as well as a fight for power which might end up breaking your heart or maddening you. [Greek mythology retelling]

Lovely War | Julie Berry - a standalone book with loads of struggle and yearning. It's set in world war I so there's that (but not a personal fight for power). [historical fiction, greek mythology]

To Poison a King | S. G. Prince - a fairytale-like setting in which you'll find the protagonist's struggle as well as yearning. There's a fight for power in there too (but again, not as heavy as tfota, and not the fmc’s) [Fantasy]

I'm already responding late to this so here's a few I could think of right away and I'll definitely add more later if I remember any. Thanks for the ask!

—bee 💗

[asplendidhistory]

Some people might ask themselves "what would Jesus do?" and forgive and heal and make peace with it all, but I'm more of a "what would Delilah Bard do?" hold a grudge until they keel over cos I murdered them in cold blood kind of girl 🙂