A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) - V.E Schwab [Review]

Title: A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1)        

Author: V.E Schwab

Genre: Fiction, Adult, Fantasy

Publisher: Tor Books

Publishing date: February 24th 2015

Pages: 424

Rating

★★★★☆

Hello! Today I’m reviewing a book I’ve been interested for a while, A Darker Shade of Magic, the first book in the Shades of Magic trilogy.

Kell.

This book tells us the story of Kell, 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.

I’ve been following V.E Schwab on social media for a while, but hadn’t read any of her books. When I knew about the special edition of this book, I decided to get it for Christmas. I read it on May this year, I started it a day I went to a concert and tons of unfortunate things happened to me like my bus being late and being stuck at the bus station until 5:00 am when I arrived at 11:00 pm. I read this book all night and was the only thing that kept me sane.

I loved that A Darker Shade of Magic has a highly imaginative and original concept of parallel worlds, I think it was very interesting how different the Londons were from each other, each with their own culture and heavy differences. The magic system is very interesting and I’m intrigued about the other types of magic of elements that’s mentioned but I never showed it in real action.

Delilah Bard

The strongest point in the book is definitely the characters. Even the secondary characters are likeable and/or fleshed out. I could connect with them, understand their motivations and I felt extremely intrigued by the bad guys.

I know this is the beginning of a trilogy, but this book actually feels like a standalone, it has a concise ending that left way for a sequel, but not necessarily, so I have no idea what to expect of the sequel.

The book keeps the reader engaged all the time. Interesting stuff happens most of the time and always gives a sense of urgency with great risks and beautifully written action sequences.

I gave it 4 stars just because I expect more of the following books.

If you like fantasy books full of action, intriguing villains and interesting characters, this book might be for you.