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Showing posts from August, 2024

A Review of V. E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic

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                            For Kell, there have always been three Londons. Well… technically four.                Red London. Grey London.  White London... and Black London. For Deliliah Bard, on the other hand, there has only ever been one… Magicless (“Grey”) London; where magic is thought of as something merely of fiction. That is, for her, there was only ever one London… until she met Kell. Or, more precisely, until she stole the last known relic of a forgotten world from his pocket. With dangerous magic nipping at their heels, threatening to take away everything, holding the worlds on the edge of teetering to chaos and inescapable peril, the two must find a way to work together to prevent everything and everyone from collapsing to ash and dust. But to save the worlds, the unlikely duo of royal magician (part-time unofficial smuggler) and common street thief must avoid the terrors that lurk behind every corner, every loose end, protect a prosperous kingdom from falling to ruin, de

Book Review of The Selection

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When this book was recommended to  me by a couple of my friends, I decided to read it with high hopes, and it did not disappoint. In The Selection , the country of Illea is sorted into 7 social classes: One (royalty), Two (celebrities), Three (intellectuals, like teachers, inventors, doctors, etc.), Four (businessmen), Five (performers and artists), Six (servants), and Seven (manual labor). Our protagonist, America Singer—a Five—is one of 35 girls between the ages of 16 and 22 chosen to participate in the Selection. For context, the Selection is a competition to marry the crown prince, Maxon, and become the crown princess. As the 35 Selected gather in the palace to compete, America not only must survive the cut-throat competition, but she must also stay safe when the palace is attacked by rebels. At first America did not want Maxon’s affection. She only attended the Selection to avoid her boyfriend, whom she got into a fight with. However, as she befriends Maxon, something more than