A Darker Shade of Magic

Challenge: Read a book written by someone under 30

4.5

Victoria Schwab is my second favourite author so I can't help being biased when it comes to her books.

I read the first pages last year and I fell in love completely with the world she created. I think Victoria's strongest point is her world building. Each of the different Londons was described in such a way that there was no fear of mistaken them.

This is a very much plot driven novel but I still felt her characters were well devoloped. Kell and Rhy were my favourites but I really loved how creepy the twins were, even though I was expecting more of the villains. Holland, on the other hand, was perfect: ruthless, cunning, evil. I loved hating him.

I have to say that I am a bit disappointed with Lila, specially towards the climax of the story. It might have been a bit unrealistic but I was hoping that she was the one to defeat Astrid. She had the advantage of being more magical than Lila but there could have been a weak spot and having Lila discover it and finally defeating Astrid would have been better in my opinion. I just think it would have been better if she took down one of the baddies herself.
But I'm hoping to see her being a badass more than people telling me she's a badass in the next novel.


Another thing I enjoyed a lot was the magic system. I found every aspect interesting to read, from the basic training to the Antari showdown.

Lastly, very much as it happened with the world building, I was blown away by all the descriptions in particular with the wardrobe descriptions. The different coats that were mentioned sounded absolutely marvelous. Kell's magic coat never ceased to impress me and Lila's final outfit was perfect head to toe.

I had to force myself to stop reading because I literally couldn't put it down I almost missed my bus stop twice. Very fast paced and entertaining. Thankfully with no horrible cliffhanger but I still cannot wait to read the next instalment in the series.