A Darker Shade of Magic

I've been hearing about his book for a while and I was a bit disappointed to be honest. I was missing some depth in the book, while the worldbuilding was very interesting, the characters fell flat to me. The concept of Antari was interesting, but the actual magic was not that exciting. I was excited about Kell at first, but then it turned out he's quite the dumbass and not actually as powerful as I expected. I did not particularly care for Lila or their relationship, orphan thief who wants power/to be free is one I've seen often and she did not have a lot of other interesting traits. The relationship that seemed to be blossoming between Kell and Lila felt a bit forced. I did like Rhy, I liked his connection to Kell and struggle with being the crown prince.

Not sure yet if I'll continue with book 2, I've heard it gets better and I'm still somewhat curious, but his book did not draw me in as much as I'd hoped.

Best book of V.E Schwab I've read so far
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Everything is really unique and the action rhythm is really good and makes you want to know more.

Some plot twist are reaaaaally well done.
Looking forward to discover the rest of this serie and see if the next book fill my expectations.

Best book read since Grishaverse two years ago.

Update -> finished the all serie. This is so so good highly recommend this reading.

Another AWE-INSPIRING book from Schwab, filled with magic and lore and everything you could dream of. Her descriptions are enticing - she pulls you in and keeps you there, but not by force - but luring you into her vivid worlds and complex characters. You travel through an amazing story with believable and layered characters. I truly loved this book (though, TILOAL may be my favorite of hers). What a ride.

Couldn't get into this or take it seriously, the writing style was cringey.

I felt really detached from this book, like I didn't particularly care about the characters or their motivations.

I generally don't enjoy fantasy books. I never really connect with the characters or setting. But I was so into this. I thought about the characters while working.

It was a super fluid story and I really liked it and don't have much else to say.

I'm glad I gave it a chance.

DNF @ 7%

I was starting to like the story, and then I was thrown into a different... perspective? Timeline? Dimension? I dont know. Took me out of the element. looks like this book was a bunch of that so no thanks. Not in the mood.

It's not for me

3.75

Maybe I'm cliche but I love a book with a headstrong and slightly annoying female character. Lila's personality carried the story, I feel like Kell was just kinda There and Conveniently Magic. Not that I'm complaining, I think it worked and I'm sure we'll get more of him later. The worldbuilding was fleshed out well and the story had good pacing to keep me hooked. Looking forward to finishing this series soon.

I have been known to judge books by their covers before. Part of the fun of being a fantasy fan is that it’s one of three genres (the others being romance and science fiction) where the covers and overall aesthetics tend to be taken quite seriously because they are big selling points. As such there are plenty of fantasy books that I have bought due to how they look. I’d had my eyes on A Darker Shade of Magic, the first book in V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic trilogy for a while now simply because of how good the box set for the trilogy looked. Finally I gave into my impulses and bought it.

The result is a pretty good, if imperfect one! This is the second book from Schwab that I’ve read, the first being The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I think Addie LaRue was pretty perfect for what it was trying to be, but Schwab is more ambitious here. It’s the first book in a trilogy and as such she needs to set up multiple threads to keep the reader interested while also making a story that works well on its own. In these two areas I’d say she didn’t really succeed in the first but did succeed in the latter. Had I not known that this was a trilogy I would have thought this was a good stand-alone work. As it stands I’m not sure where Schwab goes with the series in the next two installments and I’m not sure I’m even that interested. That is a problem, although it has nothing to do with this book.

As I just said, I do think this works as a standalone. This is because Schwab’s pacing is overall quite good. A lot happens within 400 pages and that’s not even including the worldbuilding that she does in order to make anything the characters do make sense at all. If there is anything that Schwab does truly amazing in this book it is this. At no point did I feel lost. The worldbuilding is really strong and I feel like everything within the story makes sense within the rules that have been established. This is the #1 rule of fantasy and Schwab nails it.

Along the way we do meet a couple of fun characters. Kell is a pretty typical angsty bad boy of a protagonist but Lila works really well to balance him out and the interactions they have make the story worth following.

All in all this is a good book that I would recommend to any fantasy fan. While I am not necessarily excited to read the sequel, I do have it due to my aforementioned tendency to buy books based on their covers. We’ll see if Schwab proves me wrong.

I almost dnf'd so many times. That was rough. The concept of the different worlds was great, but the main character, good lord. His ineptitude was beyond all reason.

If there is one word that I would use to describe this book it would be "efficient". It's a competently written, self contained story that sets up an interesting world leaves and just enough hints to entice you to check out the rest of the series. And I have to say I will be doing that. Schwab's efficient writing style it is right up my alley. She gives you just enough words to describe the situation and let your imagination do the rest.

She also structures the story brilliantly and doesn't waste your time. If she mentiones something or someone, that person or item will reappear later in the story. No loose threads.

I didn't know anything about this author or this series going in. After finishing it I saw that it's being classified as YA. I can feel the YA vibe that others are picking up but it's not a adjective I would use to describe it. There are some despicable acts being committed (murder, torture, rape attempt).

The obvious task of the (first) book is to establish the world(s) and take the main characters on an adventure. But for all their traversing between worlds, the scope of the story seems rather small to me. Because they flip between 3 versions of the same city, it kind of feels like switching color palletes between scenes.

The villains are evil just for the sake of being evil. It's established that in white London you have to be ruthless to stay in power and rulers get overturned frequently. Schwab might've sacrificed developing the villains at the expense of brisk story pacing. Ultimately, they served their purpose in driving the plot forward.

The two main characters, Kell and Lila, have a dynamic chemistry and hilarious exchanges. Their pasts are obscured enough to spark our interest in their origins. And even though their stories have been neatly wrapped up I will want to know what happened next.

I was just a bit bored, but that may entirely be the audiobook's fault.

I enjoyed my time, definitely not in love quite yet though. I understood the first half of the book was about character and world building, and I have no issue with that, particularly because I thought the whole journey with taking the stone to Black London was going to be the whole three books, and so I was a bit taken back with the speed of the second half.

The first half nothing was really happening, I didn’t know what the story was, and then that Holland bloke shows up and the story and proper conflict actually begins, and it was a pretty good time.

But then Kell kills him, which was quite anti-climactic. There was clearly some history between them, and I figured again he was going to be the main protagonist throughout. And to be honest all of the antagonist deaths felt quite anti-climactic, there was some kind of fight where Kell gets his ass kicked, but then he pulls one quick move and insta-kills his enemy.

(I would have liked something on Holland and Kell before this story, even a whole book about Holland and their relationship so when he’s chasing Kell down there’s two types of tension. That would have explained more so why he didn’t just kill Kell, and his death would have made more sense, as Kell said something like he saw the move coming and allowed it.)

I’m not used to my main protagonists being as weak as Kell (physically/power level or whatever) which was different. He’s obviously strong willed which I think is a key ingredient to making any likeable character, so that’s good. But yeah he really got the shit kicked out of him pretty easily.

Also didn’t really understand how the magic actually works? I think I get it now after I’ve read the book but it would have been nicer to understand what Kell could do when he was in a conflict, so I could have weigh up his options and chance of survival. Before he got into a fight I didn’t even know if he could fight with his magic.

People with magic - Can manipulate elements, water, earth, wind. Some can manipulate bone which is hell powerful, Kell does blood stuff, but in battles he was suddenly moving metal around which seemed to come out of nowhere, would have been nice to know he could do that (unless I just wasn’t paying attention I guess).

The guards being controlled against their will was really cool (In Red London), but then again Lila just kills that guard boy with no issue. I felt like that should have gone on for a bit, she’s trying to fight him and subdue him but can’t and has no choice but to end his life. I mean I guess she was in a rush but still. Kid was hardly a defence, just a mild inconvenience with no negative repercussions from killing him (which still could come of course, perhaps some moral struggles with Lila, but it didn’t seem that way at the end of the book).

Also are we supposed to understand how the London’s work? There’s 4 different worlds, and the London’s are where they overlap. So if you want to travel between worlds London is the only place you can? Am I right/on the right path or completely wrong?

The biggest positives were definitely the main characters.

I liked Lila, quite enjoyed the relationship between her and Kell, I like their dynamic, and I do look forward to seeing them cross paths again.

I also liked the relationship between Lila and the bloke who owns the pub (Bard?) that Holland killed.

Overall I like Kell and Lila and even Rhy as main characters, which is probably the most important part.

I’m going to give a break before I start the next one though, just got a whole manga set from a geezer off of marketplace so I’ll go through a couple of those before I get back into it.

A good book. Really enjoyed the writing and story. Would make an incredible movie / show

A quick and easy read. The chapters were split into subchapters, which I thought was pretty cool. The worldbuilding was enough to draw you in but still left a lot unsaid, and I do wish we knew more about everything since the premise is so interesting. Some aspects of the magic and fighting were a bit repetitive, and I wish there was more detail in that regard. It made the story feel a bit too simple at times, like issues were over before they could really be a problem. It also made the characters feel a bit flat, and I'd have liked to feel more emotion rather than the author directly explaining everything. Overall though, I enjoyed this read and will likely reread again in the future. Excited to start the next book!

wow i have never thoroughly enjoyed a book as much as i have this one in a very long time. great writing, great characters, love the world building

1st time reading: 3 stars. It was fun, but not breathtaking.
2nd time: 3.5 I was a little more invested with the story. I feel like the plot has great potential, but it just didnt use it. The first 100 pages were good and the last 50 were also good. 

This was my first V.E. Schwab book. I felt that the end was predictable but that was because the King and Queen of White London seemed to be power-hungry when we first met them. In the end, the book did keep me entertained for a while as you went from London to London to return a relic to a London that no longer stood. It was very imaginative and kind of started me reading a bit more fantasy-type novels.

In a world with four parallel Londons, magicians who have the ability to travel between them are extremely rare. One of those is Kell who is from Red London, and besides being a messenger between the King of Red London and the monarchs of Grey and White London, he also tends to smuggle artifacts between them, which is extremely illegal.  It's all well until it isn't, and events have him setting for Black London, which has been ravaged by magic and blocked from the rest, with an unlikely companion.
I enjoyed this book a lot! This is my first V. E. Schwab book, and I loved her writing style. I regret going for the audiobook because it made it take much longer than I would have preferred, so moving forward, I will finish the series with e-books - luckily they are all currently on Kindle Unlimited. I loved the characters in this book. Kell is struggling to feel like a part of his “family”, Lila is quite a badass that I want to see more of, Rhy's love for Kell was very apparent, the Dane twins made my skin crawl, and as much as I disliked Holland during the book, he did not deserve the ending he got.

tl;dr
Dreary and depressing. Dreary characters, depressing world building and setting/story.



This book was something I tried to read a couple years ago and - within a hundred pages - dropped it. I can tell you exactly why I did: Because the previous book I read was such a foul miasma of cruel and disturbing happenings (the book in question, for those curious, is The Diviners by Libba Bray, the single book that I truly regret reading as the more distance I get from it, the more I realize it was absolutely atrocious and has no redeeming qualities at all as far as I am concerned) that I was fresh out of author trust. And, as this book started mentioning things I find morally repugnant (mind control, possession, ect) I realized that I had no confidence that this author wouldn't go down the same disgusting road as the previous book I read did and I literally couldn't stomach another book like that one.

...

And also, Lila. I am so sick of girls like her.

So, this book kept being recommended to me, though. And it started lurking in my mind as an option of something I should maybe try again with. So, I did.

I don't regret it - but this is also four hundred pages when I could have been reading something better than this. (Honestly, this book reminds me so much of Mistborn that it's not even funny.)

The world building is about the only thing that even halfway interesting, with the four London's and a decent magic system. (I think? I mean, we don't really know how people that don't use blood magic does perform magic, but it seems okay. After all, usually when a book is this heavy in the ‘look at all the world building I did' the world building itself isn't the problem.)

The problem for me is the characters are people I really don't care much about.

I don't like Lila. First impression of her was terrible and it never improved. (I actively dislike girls like her in books.) The only time she was okay - vaguely tolerable - was when she was with Barron. Which was very, very little.

I feel nothing for Kell. He's as dry as a desert and about as likable. When he's around Rhy he's ... almost likable. This is not often enough. (Really, Rhy is the only character I even halfway like, as he is the only one that is not dreary and depressing.)

Kell and Lila together is the most unlikable, boring duo I think I've read about in a very, very long time. Because that's the thing, they are both so boring and standard. (Honestly, the characters in here are a paint-by-numbers: none of them are unique, instead interchangeable with so many other fantasy casts.)

The entire book is dreary. There is nothing to liven up the story and make me want to read it, to make me feel drawn to continue reading it, to dread putting it down. Instead, reading it feels almost like a chore, something I'm doing simply to be done with.

(Side note: While we do have at least one character under the quiltbag umbrella, the one that has been confirmed... Look, I'm sick of the only non-straight character being written as a total slut. Not everyone that is attracted to more than one gender is that way and I am feed up with it. Also, it's even more glaring in that we never get a section from their POV and we know they are attracted to more than one gender - when as much time as we spend in Lila and Kell's heads, we know absolutely nothing about who they might or might not be attracted to - which leads me to believe they are straight because this books seems to be written with the ‘straight is the default' mindset.)

Now, all that being said, I honestly might (probably will) continue this series. My library has the other two books and I am just curious enough about Black London to subject myself to two more books just like this one. Besides, even if the book wasn't very good, it was a quick enough read.



Original DNF Review


DNF - PG 93

Why?

...Because I do not like the world building of White London and if actually forcing my way through The Diviners taught me anything it was that when a book starts making you that kind of uncomfortable, quit reading. It's not going to get better.

Also, because everything that isn't Kell interacting with Rhy bores me.

Also, because we already had to have the main female character (yes, praise me, I did that much research) first put down other ‘ladies' because they're pretty and use their feminine wiles (but she's not like other girls) and then nearly get raped.

Also, I think Schwab's writing just isn't for me, because I didn't like Vicious, either.

Also, it took me ten days to read less than one hundred pages. And I wasn't reading anything else for most of that time. (The reading slump is partially this book's fault but, if I'm being fair, mostly the fault of The Diviners.)

Say ONE bad thing about my boy Kell and I'll stab you in the eye

P.s. I'd also murder for that jacket

Tirándole más a un 7.8

No puedo creer que al fin leí a Victoria Schwab después de años de querer empezar sus libros. Me pongo sentimental cuando pienso que la pude conocer este año en la FIL Guadalajara 2023.

4.25 stars rounded down.

A gripping, chilling fantasy full of all kinds of magic. Kell and Lila are both great characters with different motivations that makes the story captivating. I wish the magic system was fleshed out a little more or at least explained better. The action sequences were great! I cannot wait to read the rest of this trilogy and dive more into the magical Londons.