A Darker Shade Of Magic (Shades Of Magic #1)
By V.E. Schwab
Genre: Fantasy
Recommended For: Ages 17+ and loves of alternate fantasy worlds

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.

The Gist:

A Darker Shade of Magic is a richly woven, immersive, and clever story that takes place in 4 different worlds.  In her story, there are 4 realms each connect through one city: London. Grey London is the boring one we live in, Red London is the cool one with magic and peace, White London is the mean one with magic and greed, and Black London is the dead one. Don’t go to Black London. Kell is one of the two people who can travel between worlds and his life gets turn around when he meets thief and pirate-in-the-making Lila.

Despite a slow start and meandering pace to get to the main plot, Schwab has created an incredibly compelling story set in unique and imaginative worlds. Though it is technically an adult novel (hence the higher importance on world building), it still reads like a YA, especially in the second half when the plot kicks into high gear. It may be a grittier world that you’re used to with YA fantasy, but I still think Schwab has created a world to get lost in. The details weighed it down at times for me, but I still found myself intrigued by the story and all its elements.

What I Liked:

My favorite aspect of this story was the four different Londons. The idea of these parallel universes layered on top of each other was so intriguing to me. And Schwab did a superb job of building each London to be vivid and different from each other. She didn’t just build one world, she built three. And by the end of the story I felt like I’d visited White and Red London. We really get a sense of the differences in appearance, royalty, culture, and society between the different Londons.

The characters, the characters, the characters.  Kell is a layered individual with respect and a desire to help others. He has almost everything he could want, yet still seeks to have something he can call his own. And that Lila Bard sure is a spit-fire! And gosh do I love it. Her character is so well written. She walks the line of dynamic and confident while not being annoying and over the top. She’s written to be complex and has so much depth. She truly was fascinating to read about and fun to root for.

The way Schwab writes is magical on its own. Clear and concise prose intermixed with imaginative descriptions creates a really immersive quality to her books. You feel like you know the characters, like you’ve been to the places she describes, and like you are in the middle of the action yourself feeling all the same things.

What I Didn’t Like:

The beginning felt really slow and dragged on for me. I think it fell victim to information dumps and overloads as we learned about the magic and different worlds in the story. It seemed like this got in the way of getting to the main plotline of the story. I was halfway through and still unsure what the characters were working towards. But I’m used to reading YA, which has a faster pace and less world building. I still appreciated Schwab’s attention to detail in creating a vibrant set of worlds for the reader to visit.

Throughout the book, I thought Schwab did a great job of setting up the feeling of imminent threat, but it didn’t feel like she followed through on it. After a while, I wasn’t entire convinced that dark cloud would ever spout rain. I was left at the end wondering “okay, so what was the big deal?”

LunasLuckyRating: 3.5/5 Lunas