A Conjuring of Light was the last book in a trilogy that ultimately disappointed me, perhaps because I loved the first book so much. The second, which I read last fall, was largely unnecessary, and this final book was needlessly long, spending too much time on some events, as well as introducing new, pointless side characters. There was no real development for the main female character, Lila, and what is a charmingly bad-ass attitude in the first book becomes increasingly irritating and immature as the series goes on. And there’s still the question of how Lila came to be – what’s her origin story? (Not that I care enough to invest any more time in this world if this turns out to be a longer series.) I can tell when I’m not invested enough that a writer’s style takes me out of the story, and in this case, Schwab’s exorbitant use of italics to emphasize some feeling or action, and her repeated use of short, two or three word sentences were annoying. Also excessive. Just stop. Enough already.