Review | A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC by V.E. Schwab

413 Pages

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.

This is one of those that has seemed to be eternally on my TBR. When I realized that Bookcon was coming up and that I was going to meet Schwab, I felt like I needed to get around to it.

There’s not a ton to say here other than that I’m absolutely addicted to her writing. I love how every time I’ve read one of her books, I never really know what to expect or who to trust.

I understand that this is a trilogy, and I do plan to read the rest of them. However, I do appreciate that the story in book one seems to wrap up pretty tightly by the end, so I can get around to reading some other things before picking up book two.

Amazing characters. Amazing story. These type of books remind me why I love fantasy so much.

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