Spoiler-free!
Title: A Darker Shade of Magic
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor Books
My Rating: 4 stars! ⭐️
Description:
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.
My Review:
I was very pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book! Yes, I have been hearing a lot of mixed things about this first book especially, so I went into reading it with somewhat low expectations, and I’m really glad that I did!
A Darker Shade of Magic follows Kell, an Antari who is able to travel to different between “Londons,” an ability that is very rare in this story. This allows him to experience the ways of life in each of these worlds, Red London being prosperous, White London constantly in the midst of violence, Grey London bland and without magic, and Black London which is lost.
We also follow another perspective, Lila Bard (one of my new favorite characters ever!) who is a thief and an aspiring pirate.
This book managed to blow me away with this completely new concept of a world that is so different from the other books I have been reading. It’s so rich and complex, and the author manages to pull it off so well. I love reading a book in which I am so engrossed in the world(s), that I constantly want to keep learning more about it.
The characters in this book were also a favorite of mine, but not so much Kell (which I’ll get into later).
Lila was everything I wanted her to be from reading the synopsis. She grew up with a tough life and she knows that the world she lives in isn’t merciful. She’s a quick thinker and doesn’t make stupid decisions that can frustrate the reader. Even if she is inexperienced on something, she still trusts her instincts and makes the best of the situation.
Rhy is also a character that I loved reading about, although I wish he was in the book more! I had expected him to join along with this journey, but unfortunately he hadn’t. The scenes we did have with him always left a smile on my face, and I really enjoyed the relationship between him and Kell.
Now…onto Kell. From the beginning of this book, I knew I felt something off about him. I found him to be boring. Usually this isn’t a problem for me in books, because typically the protagonist is the most interesting character in the novel, that we get to see grow, but in ADSOM, I couldn’t help but notice the other side characters that I found much more interesting.
Like I wanted to know their backstories and their perspectives on things more than I wanted to know Kell’s. And maybe Kell will end up becoming more interesting to me in the later novels, but in this one he fell flat.
And obviously if the author took the route of following a different perspective, the story would be completely different, (and don’t get me wrong, the story itself was fantastic) it’s just that I wasn’t the biggest fan of Kell as everyone else seems to be.
I would love to learn more about Holland though! 🙈
Overall, this book was super enjoyable for me, and I highly recommend it to those who haven’t read it yet! It’s definitely a solid first book in a series, and I can’t wait to read A Gathering of Shadows soon!
March 16, 2018 at 3:14 pm
Hahaha you are one of a kind I think to find Kell boring! But I love reading your intake on that story 😉
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March 16, 2018 at 4:15 pm
I KNOW I FEEL SO WEIRD ABOUT IT! Everyone loves him, and I just find him a weeee bit boring 😂hopefully my opinion on him changes during the next book 🙏🏻
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March 16, 2018 at 9:24 pm
I find him boring too…
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March 16, 2018 at 3:19 pm
Great review Ashley! I’m really looking forward to reading this one (so far I only have the last book in the trilogy aha).
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March 16, 2018 at 4:16 pm
Thanks Taylor! I do that too sometimes, buying books out of order 😂it’s so weird
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March 16, 2018 at 5:10 pm
Huh, interesting! I’ve heard mention of this series and was wondering if I should give it a try. That’s a little disheartening if you say that the protagonist is boring though. Thanks for this!
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March 17, 2018 at 3:10 pm
I still really recommend you read it though, the book itself is great!
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March 17, 2018 at 8:22 pm
Alrighty then!
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March 16, 2018 at 8:28 pm
I’ve had my eye on this series! Glad to know you enjoyed it 🙂 Lovely review!
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March 16, 2018 at 8:39 pm
Thank you so much! ❤️
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March 16, 2018 at 8:37 pm
I agree with you on the characters. My exact thought on a review last year was that I wished we had more of a backstory/perspectives on the characters, too. I wanted more FEELS. It felt like the story was more interesting than the characters. Hopefully, it improves.
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March 17, 2018 at 3:11 pm
YES! I completely agree! The story was so engaging, but some of the characters fell a bit flat
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March 16, 2018 at 11:29 pm
So far, I like Kell. It’s kind of sad that he’s trying to figure out who he actually is. I feel like he’s a bit lost.
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March 17, 2018 at 3:12 pm
Yeah I can see that as well. Hopefully I start to feel more interested in him in the next books lol
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March 16, 2018 at 11:35 pm
Glad you enjoyed it! I adore V. E. Schwab’s writing and will honestly read anything she writes haha.
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March 17, 2018 at 3:13 pm
Thank you!!
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March 17, 2018 at 5:29 am
I haven’t read this series yet but I’m planning to binge the whole trilogy. I’m glad you loved the first book and I hope you enjoy the rest of the series too. Great Review btw! 🙂
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March 17, 2018 at 3:13 pm
Thanks Raven! I really recommend this book! The story was so good!
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March 17, 2018 at 7:19 am
You’re not alone about Kell. I thought he was bland when I read ADSOM too. It’s just weird for the protagonist to be so flat.
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March 17, 2018 at 3:14 pm
Right?! I was honestly so surprised when I was halfway through the book and I felt there was still no significant moment where I started to find Kell more interesting. Hopefully this will change in the next book!
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March 20, 2018 at 3:07 am
Ooh, that’s great to hear! I myself have been holding off on these books because of the mixed reviews, but I’m glad you really enjoyed certain aspects of it even if other aspects weren’t as strong. That’s good enough for me. 🙂 Great review!
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March 20, 2018 at 4:29 pm
Thank you!! Hope you enjoy it once you get to it!
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March 21, 2018 at 3:45 pm
Thank you! ❤
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March 26, 2018 at 1:07 pm
I very much enjoyed this series but I found Lila to be one of the most irritating characters I have ever read.
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April 13, 2018 at 11:06 am
Gah, this is one of my favourite series ever, and I can’t help but recommend it to everyone ❤
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April 13, 2018 at 3:17 pm
I can’t wait to continue on with the series! I’m planning to do so next month! 😊
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May 10, 2018 at 7:31 am
I just finished reading this book and OMG I loved it too! I completely feel the same about the alternate worlds. It was a different concept and Victoria was able to pull it off effortlessly. And yes, LILA BARD is one of my new favorite characters! And I hope to see more of Rhys as well. He seems fun to read about. I am currently on the second book. Hope you enjoy reading the rest of the series!
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May 10, 2018 at 3:05 pm
Yessss I need more of Rhy! He’s such an entertaining character! I really want to read more about him in book 2! ❤️ hope you are enjoying Gathering of Shadows!
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May 11, 2018 at 8:29 pm
Omg so far the second book is really interesting. It’s a completely different set up from the previous book but that just makes it so intriguing 💕
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