A Darker Shade of Magic

I've been hearing about his book for a while and I was a bit disappointed to be honest. I was missing some depth in the book, while the worldbuilding was very interesting, the characters fell flat to me. The concept of Antari was interesting, but the actual magic was not that exciting. I was excited about Kell at first, but then it turned out he's quite the dumbass and not actually as powerful as I expected. I did not particularly care for Lila or their relationship, orphan thief who wants power/to be free is one I've seen often and she did not have a lot of other interesting traits. The relationship that seemed to be blossoming between Kell and Lila felt a bit forced. I did like Rhy, I liked his connection to Kell and struggle with being the crown prince.

Not sure yet if I'll continue with book 2, I've heard it gets better and I'm still somewhat curious, but his book did not draw me in as much as I'd hoped.

Best book of V.E Schwab I've read so far
.
Everything is really unique and the action rhythm is really good and makes you want to know more.

Some plot twist are reaaaaally well done.
Looking forward to discover the rest of this serie and see if the next book fill my expectations.

Best book read since Grishaverse two years ago.

Update -> finished the all serie. This is so so good highly recommend this reading.

4.5 Stars

Initial Thoughts: I really love Victoria's writing. It just pulls you right into the plot and the characters. Also I need the next book like now!

Review:


“Love doesn't keep us from freezing to death, Kell, or starving, or being knifed for the coins in our pocket. Love doesn't buy us anything, so be glad for what you have and who you have because you may want for things but you need for nothing.”

Victoria Schwab is one of those writers that you cannot help but love. She is quirky and eccentric and has an amazing ability to write amazing worlds. I had only read The Archived and Vicious by her but I knew going into this book that I was not going to be disappointed in terms of writing or character development. I do not even know why I put off reading this book. I should have read it as soon as it came out.

Parallel universes are a very interesting topic and recently there has been a increase in these kinds of books. But what I love about this topic is that every book is different. The genre itself is vastly different because the parallel universes each author creates can vary in so many different ways. I loved how this book focuses on four different Londons each with varying levels of magic and power. I also appreciated that it was not just those who could travel from universe to universe that knew about the alternate Londons. It was interesting to see how other people reacted and lived knowing this information.

This book focuses on Kell and Lila who meet during one of Kell's trips “abroad.” Immediately I loved their banter and the connection between them. Both are very independent and capable individuals, but you could see they worked better together.

This really has nothing to do with the quality of the book itself, but Kell's reversible (reversible isn't even right because it appears to have an infinite about of sides) jacket is pure genius. I loved how everywhere he went he would have to switch his jacket around to find the right style for his current project. The jacket just added to the quirkiness and the oddity that is Kell and his ability.

There is so much left to explore in this trilogy especially with all four Londons. This book really only focuses on two of them. I would really love to see more of the other two, which I think we will get. I also have so many questions about Lila and how she was able to help for the whole book and if there is more to her than we are being told (which I highly suspect there to be).

I really had no issues with this book. It was a fascinating tale in other Londons filled with magic, power, and secrecy. I cannot wait for the next book to see where Kell and Lila's story goes next. One last thought, this is considered an adult book, but I would say it is one of those books that is really fine for everyone. It is definitely a good book for people just starting to go from YA Fantasy to Adult Fantasy.

V. E. Schwab, where have you been all my life. Why did nobody tell me that you wrote such good books and that when I started reading one, I wouldn't be able to put it down.

I am not going to write about plot, characterisation or world building etc coz you can read all about that stuff yer Sen, there's loads of that stuff. What you really want to know if you are reading this book is ‘is it any good. Well the answer is in the stars. I don:t usually give that amount as I can usually find some flaws, but this is perfecto.

Originally published on Unravellations.

WOW I'M FINALLY DONE WITH THIS BOOK.

I began this book with very high expectations and it didn't fail me for the first half. But for some reason, my attention and interest started wavering around the middle and I was stuck on it for a really long time - I felt no urge or excitement to pick it up and continue, but I didn't want to abandon it either. I'm trying to cultivate a habit of not abandoning books halfway unless it really called for it, which this book, thankfully, didn't. I finally sat myself down on a gloriously empty Sunday afternoon and finished the second half of the book in one sitting. The thing is, when you're actually reading it, it's not too difficult to get the momentum going.

Anyhow, A Darker Shade Of Magic is the first of the Shades of Magic trilogy by author V. E. Schwab and introduces a fascinating magical world that caught my attention and interest the moment I read the synopsis. It introduces a universe where there are 4 alternate universes: Grey, Red, White and Black (not official names, just the nicknames given to them by the main magician, Kell). Each London has varying degrees of magic flowing through it, Black being the one that had been so consumed by magic (a powerful force with a mind of its own, but that is delightfully neither good nor bad, and one that had to be wielded and dealt with with caution), White being almost like a troubled, chaotic and parched world, Red being a thriving “goldilocks zone” and Grey (our human world) being the one with the least/no magic at all. As different as those worlds can be, they have certain fixed points within them that change minimally throughout the 4 dimensions - one of them being the city of London.

Kell hails from Red London, but being Antari, a special and rare breed of magicians that are born with magic in their blood (non-genetically inherited), he is able to move between the different Londons, carrying messages and other things. Things go to shit when he is tricked into picking up a dangerous artifact and an equally foolhardy street urchin from Grey London, Delilah Bard. They spend the rest of the book attempting to dispose of said artifact a la Lord of the Rings, Mount Doom, “THROW IT INTO THE FIRE, MASTER FRODO” style.

This book thread a fine line and could've sank into a cliched sort of plot line but it always narrowly misses that, which I appreciate. Despite some criticism about Lila, I didn't find her characterization overly annoying or stupid. Yes, there were times when she needed saving, but so did Kell and every other major character in the book. Whatever sexual tension or romantic interest may have been breeding in the book was kept to a very subtle minimum and didn't feel too much like insta-attraction. I thought some things about Lila could've been improved or explained (was she a kleptomaniac?) but she didn't fall into the usual pitfalls that would've made me give up on or dislike this book immediately.

Kell was suitably mysterious as the main character. I sometimes found him a little over-dramatic about things, and too much in a rush to (attempt to) kill himself for the sake of others. He's proven that he's smart enough, so why doesn't he think of alternative plans to save everyone which don't involve him dying in the process? But oh well, I guess he won't be in a rush to be killing himself any time soon after what happens at the end of the book.

The action was all right, although I guess it got a little draggy in the middle. I'm not sure what it was about it - I simply felt no urge to know what was going to happen at the end. It felt a little - predictable? I knew something had to happen to the stone for it to be gotten rid of by the end of the book, and even though I couldn't tell whether Kell was or was not going to go along with it, I couldn't find it in myself to care. To be fair, by the time I reached the end, it did upheave some of my expectations and things turned out slightly different from what I thought it would be.

Would I recommend this book? If you're a huge fan of period-setting magical worlds and fantasy, yes. It has its flaws but it was a much better-written work than many others out there. But as a point of note, this book doesn't quite hold back when it comes to violent deaths, of which there are many. Would I continue reading the trilogy? Maybe, I don't know. I realise that the next book is going to be set on Lila's adventures, and I'm not sure if I'm interested enough to know more about what's going to go down with her. The short excerpt of the next instalment didn't really excite me either.

And now, for the spoiler section!

One of the foremost things in my mind right now is: WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED WITH HOLLAND? I couldn't believe my eyes when I read that Kell simply put the stone into Holland's hand and basically Portalled him out into Black London. THAT IS SUCH A BITCHTASTIC THING TO DO. I actually thought Holland might have some redeeming factor - I mean, yes, he killed Barron (though I didn't buy into the whole Lila sentimentality thing so I didn't really care) and he tortured Kell and all that, but Schwab spends a lot of Holland's on-page time talking about how he was compelled to do all these nasty things and all that. He was even described as looking "relieved" when Kell finally decided to kill him, which I think breaks his soul seal or something and releases him from the spell that the Dane twins cast on him?? Anyway even if it didn't, Kell had already killed the Dane twins so I assume that would've broken the seal too? So Kell basically sends a barely-alive Holland who had the potential to regain his health and consciousness and MORALITY into the abyss of Black London along with the stone?!?!?!?! I don't know, but Holland could've at least restored some balance to White London????? What was Kell thinking????? WHAT?That bit made me so uncomfortable and bewildered.I also really enjoyed Rhy and Lila's bantering at the end, but being a mainstream junkie like I am, I still kinda hope Lila and Kell would end up together.I was secretly hoping Lila would remain a magic-less Grey Londoner but be able to somehow wield her barren magic state into an interesting puzzle piece within the magicky Red and White Londons. I thought that perhaps that was the reason why she didn't seem infected with the black stone's magic. Like how fire can set many things alight but won't affect stone much? I was even a little disappointed when Tieran told her that she had unnurtured magic within her. I feel like we need some characters who really and truly possess nothing to come into their own with the people who appear to have been born with everything (like Kell), instead of abruptly discovering that they had a well of talent buried in them all along.

This book is crying out for a movie adaptation. And I'm going to champion for Eddie Redmayne to take the character of Kell, and Tilda Swinton the character of Astrid Dane.

My six-year-old has developed this very polite habit of calling things she doesn't like “not my thing.” This was “not my thing.” It's hard to say quite why: I like fantasy and strong female protagonists and good world building, but. Here's the good: the world building was amazing. I loved the idea of the four Londons, and it felt truly original – each felt real and whole. Schwab really excels at invoking a feeling of a place. But. The protagonists fell flat. There was too much violence – pretty much anyone named and not protected by plot armor died within the chapter, and when that happens it's hard to get attached. The plot felt flimsy.

Also, I know it's itself derivative to accuse a fantasy book of being a Lord of the Rings derivative, but the MacGuffin was an amazingly powerful malevolent artifact that enervated the users, but whose possession and use was addictive. Using the MacGuffin (primarily to be invisible) allowed the enemy to spy on them. The main quest was to return the MacGuffin to the place where it was made in order to destroy it.

Yeah, not my thing.

Unpopular opinion here.

The world building and the magic system are awesome. But it took more than 200 pages to actually get into the plot. I didn't like any of the characters (maybe Rhy, just a tiny bit), so I didn't care about what happened to them. Besides, all ended so well that it‘s like an standalone. I'm not sure if I'll continue reading the series because I see no point in doing so.

TLDR
+ well written, good enough plot and characters
. unique idea of multiple worlds not explored well enough
- rushed, stereotypical ending

Summary

Kell is the most powerful wizard in a 17th century London where magic is commonplace. He is one of the only two people capable of traveling to alternate planes of existence, where other London exists as well.

Each London has a varying degree of magic present, from none to a-world-destroyed-lot. During his day to day affairs as an emissary to the kings of the different London, Kell stumbles upon a dangerous artifact, that grants its wielder great magical powers. But in increasing the level of magic from the world, you risk bringing it to the same fate as the London that was destroyed.

There are people after this artifact as well, and they don't mind the consequences. Kell must at the same time prevent them from getting the artifact and resist the urge to use it himself. He is joined in this task by Delilah, a street-raised thief from a London with no magic.


Analysis

Some of the minor things that bothered me:

- you get a magical sword, somehow you feel it's evil, with the potential to destroy the world. You resist the urge to wield its power and you get rid of it... by throwing it out of the window. 10 for intention, 0 for execution :-)

- The whole world is filled with magic, but that doesn't come come across too much in the story. The idea of alternate ‘realities' is barely developed.

- The main character is a wizard, one of the two most powerful wizards in the ‘worlds'. Yet he basically looses a brawl in an alley, and is ridiculously weaker then the other one.

The major thing I disliked was the last part of the book. It felt like the whole book was slowly building up the story and characters, and then they fight, the hero who is much weaker then the villain, somehow wins.The villain has a fortified castle, elite guards, magical traps. He drops the castle bridge, order the guards to stand down and disable the traps, just because.The

I liked the alternate worlds idea, but it felt too much unexplored. Also, the I freely reinterpreted some parts of the book to better fit what I tough was most logical. The hero wasn't responsible to bring his world to a near destruction, as he kept blaming himself for. For me, he was just bored out of his mind and decided to make things more interesting whenever he could, in order to have some fun and to improve his abilities.

The antagonists got a hold of this fact and exploited it to their advantage. In my mind the hero basically had no blame in the matter, as he wasn't even necessary for the event to happen. He was just chosen as an emissary because the villains wanted to have some fun as well.

I ran a Twitter poll, asking what I should read next with a few options that people had recently recommended to me. ADSOM won, so here I am, writing this after spending about 4 hours of my life reading it. To be honest, I wasn't as awe-struck as I thought I was going to be...

Full review at A Reading Brit

Another AWE-INSPIRING book from Schwab, filled with magic and lore and everything you could dream of. Her descriptions are enticing - she pulls you in and keeps you there, but not by force - but luring you into her vivid worlds and complex characters. You travel through an amazing story with believable and layered characters. I truly loved this book (though, TILOAL may be my favorite of hers). What a ride.

Attention everyone, if you haven't read this book then I don't even know what you are doing with your life.

This right here is one if the greatest books I have ever had the honor of reading.

I'm gonna right an actual review with gifts and stuff sometime this week but I must proceed into my reread of book #2

LOVED this. Delilah Bard is my patronus. I need the sequel yesterday. Full review to come!

REVIEW:

So first of all, I don't read a whole lot of Adult Fantasy—but wowwww this was so so so good and I'm glad I stepped out of my usual reading because I loved it. The pacing at the beginning was a little slower than I tend to like (but expected, given that it's an Adult Fantasy), but I was still totally interested while reading because of the characters and world building. The layered Londons makes for such an interesting (and complicated!) setting, and I loved seeing the differences between them, from the access of magic, to the physical setting, to the people and the languages they spoke.

The magic system itself was really interesting to read, and I very quickly connected with Kell, Lila, and Rhy. Kell and Lila made for especially interesting point of view characters, and learning about their motivations and desires and what makes them tick was totally fascinating.

And! I was so drawn to Lila, like whoa. From her snark, to her gritty (and stubborn) determination, to her masculine style, Lila's character really resonated with me—probably more than I've experienced from an AFAB (assigned female at birth) character ever. I can't wait to read more about her (and Kell and Rhy, of course!) in A Gathering of Shadows, which I don't have on hand yet, but absolutely will because THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD.

I also want to make a note about the antagonists because I loved (and loved to hate two of them) so much. I won't name them, since at least one is kinda spoilery, but I will say my favorite characters extended being the main three. I kind of loved every character for a different reason, which is super rare for me with books.

A+ character development, A+ world building, A+ need more right now—this book was an easy five star rating and I honestly cannot recommend it more to fantasy lovers. If you haven't read it already, you need it like yesterday.

Diversity note: Major character Rhy is openly bisexual, and Lila is pansexual and genderfluid.

This is by far, hands down, the best book about magic that I've read. The magic exists but it's not overpowering. We have people who can do elemental magic, blood magic, people trying to bind what little magic they have left, and then there's people who've lost the ability to do magic.

A world where magic thrives, another where magic is dying, a third where magic is dead and a fourth where the magic consumed the world. Then we have two rare people- Antari, who can travel between said worlds but are bound by the rulers of their worlds and forbidden to travel without permission as they're considered precious and dangerous.

This book was more than just fancy spells and charming magicians. The characters were so complicated. Each struggling with their own demons, inside and out.

The book described Lila more than Kell. Her want to run away and find an adventure, to not be attached, to feel alive and to be free of places and people that bind you was something I felt myself relate to.

Holland's whole backstory was tragic. Made me feel bad for him and compare him to Kell who is at least surrounded by good people. How circumstances can make or break you. A person who can exercise his free will but is not allowed to and feels like a prisoner. While on the other hand the second person is an actual prisoner, spell bound and soul bound, and both trying to be free in their own ways.

The idea of all 4 Londons existing side by side in a straight line was novel, instead of randomly jumping between them. You had to traverse in a line. That's why it makes sense that Red London survived and flourished, while Grey lost it's magic and White had to struggle all on its own.

And it didn't end on a cliffhanger. Read it like a standalone book. This book will now be the baseline for all magical books. Also, love Kell's coat. I want it! It seems like the coat has a mind of its own as new sides keep appearing and old unused ones disappear. And how Kell keeps losing things in the pockets of his coat. 😆

I'm mad at myself for seeing Schwab's books everywhere and it taking me this long to finally get to one of her books. Fantastic world building. Seriously top notch. I didn't fully connect with the characters but I didn't hate them so I won't take off any points for that. I'm simply not in love and / or fangirling over any of them..yet. Hopefully with the next one? LoL. Please don't take that as the characters were bland or not worth the time to get into.

World building, story line,magic, villians, all on point. I know it's just the one book I've read but color me a Schwab fan.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this, even though the story was a little simplistic and the characters somewhat cookie-cutter. For me, it's between three and four stars. It's very plot-driven, and so it makes for a quick read. I was hooked in the beginning, but it did lose a little steam by the end.

I liked the concept of the story, but something that is very important to me is world-building. And that definitely lacked here. Of course, the magic and the worlds were well thought out, but the fact that these Londons were even communicating makes no sense to me. Schwab has problems with motives for things and you can tell that it lacks that regard. It made me not care much about what happened because the characters, especially the “evil” ones were one dimensional. 

The ending slightly rescued it for me. Astrid and her brother, who I cared little for as characters and were really only interesting because they were twins, have fucked off. Rhy and Delila had a cute flirty moment and they seem perfect for each other so I hope that develops more. And of course, Lila's ending is great. I didn't really want to read the next book until the last 30 pages but now I think I will.