A Darker Shade of Magic - Bitnexus BookWyrm

Hardcover, 400 pages

English language

Published Jan. 30, 2015 by Tor.

ISBN:: 978-0-7653-7645-9

STEP INTO A UNIVERSE OF DARING ADVENTURE, THRILLING POWER, AND MULTIPLE LONDONS.

Kell is one of the last travelers--magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes connected by one magic city.

There's Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, and with one mad king--George III. Red London, where life and magic are revered--and where Kell was raised alongside Rhy Maresh, the roguish heir to a flourishing empire. White London--a place where people fight to control magic and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. And once upon a time, there was Black London. But no one speaks of that now.

Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, ambassador of the Maresh Empire, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world …

STEP INTO A UNIVERSE OF DARING ADVENTURE, THRILLING POWER, AND MULTIPLE LONDONS.

Kell is one of the last travelers--magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes connected by one magic city.

There's Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, and with one mad king--George III. Red London, where life and magic are revered--and where Kell was raised alongside Rhy Maresh, the roguish heir to a flourishing empire. White London--a place where people fight to control magic and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. And once upon a time, there was Black London. But no one speaks of that now.

Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, ambassador of the Maresh Empire, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. 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.

Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs into Delilah Bard, a cutpurse 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 description comes from the publisher. A Darker Shade of Magic is the first book of the Shades of Magic trilogy.

5 editions

PenPaperDice@buecher.pnpde.social reviewed A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab (Shades of Magic, #1)

Good book - didn't get me that much invested

4 stars

So A Darker Shade of Magic has a great idea, characters to like, especially Lila, and feels a bit like an errand job in the beginning without much meaning. It's a way to introduce you to the worlds of London.

Yet, compared to other works I recently read it's a good fantasy book, but I wasn't hooked that much into it. It kind of even felt a bit soulless and I wasn't feeling that much about the story, the characters and such.

I am still going to read the other two books of the series and really liked V. E. Schwab's style and appreciated how the book is structured.

So A Darker Shade of Magic has a great idea, characters to like, especially Lila, and feels a bit like an errand job in the beginning without much meaning. It's a way to introduce you to the worlds of London.

Yet, compared to other works I recently read it's a good fantasy book, but I wasn't hooked that much into it. It kind of even felt a bit soulless and I wasn't feeling that much about the story, the characters and such.

I am still going to read the other two books of the series and really liked V. E. Schwab's style and appreciated how the book is structured.

Candid_Chameleon reviewed A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab (Shades of Magic, #1)

Incredible potential for the series

4 stars

The first of a series, but not the first publication of the author, I was a little disappointed. The third act wraps up so much in so few pages, it feels like there's something missing. I plan to continue the series, but this one felt rushed and a little haphazard at the end.