REVIEW: A Darker Shade of Magic (#1) - V. E. Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic (#1) - V.E. Schwab
Series: Shades of Magic
Publisher: Titan Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 384 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Blurb

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel London's; 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 London's, 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.

Thoughts

The book focuses on Kell, the last of the Antari, that can move between London's of which there is 4 (1 is not spoken of).

You have Grey London, Red London (Kell's home), White London, and Black London. They are all the same London but they are all different.

I found this story to be very riveting and loved the idea of the four different London's, and found Kell to be a great main character who really moved the story along.

The characters were well written and the twist at the end was unpredictable I didn't see it fully coming but I knew there was something iffy with White London and it's rulers.

I loved the character pairing of Kell and Lila, they were such an odd couple, but they worked so well, and Lila had some great lines during the story's progression.

I found the mystery surrounding Lila to be a good one, but I think I may have already figured out what may have happened with that (and I won't find out until I read the next books in the series).

Overall I found this to be a really good book, all the characters were well rounded and had flaws like the rest of us, which made them more believable as characters.

Will I read the sequel? Yes I will.