Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy
Length: 416 pages
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: February 24th, 2015
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab, return to the beginning of the phenomenal Shades of Magic series with A Darker Shade of Magic, now in a brand new trade paperback edition

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.

WHAT A GEM.

This is a reread review.

I haven’t picked this up since 2017 and thought, why the heck not with book four on the horizon. And I actually remembered a lot?? Which is amazing and shows how much this book holds up. I think it’s an incredible series starter and that the magic system and world building is flat out COOL. I love the whole concept and set-up.

Not to mention, the CHARACTERS. Kell, Lila and Rhy are well built and I am immediately drawn in and connected to their story. I love a complicated villain like Holland and the way interactions between everyone is just spot on.

Plot wise things drag a little here and there, but I already know where the set-up is going so it was fun to revisit the beginning.

Overall audience notes:

• Fantasy
• Language: some strong
• Romance: flirting
• Violence: high
• Trigger/Content Warnings: slavery, attempted rape, self harm for magic, blood/gore depiction, torture, weapons violence

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