book review: a darker shade of magic // v.e. schwab
Series: Shades of Magic - Book 1
Genre: Fantasy + (New?) Adult
Synopsis:
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.
Rate: 4.8 / 5 ⭐
"Such is the quandary when it comes to magic, that it is not an issue of strength but of balance. For too little power, and we become weak. Too much, and we become something else entirely."
Review:
This was an amazing book. I am a huge fan of fantasies and this one was one of those good ol' different worlds that you can go through by the use of portals. And different people had different types of magic. Basically. But it is also different from other fantasies. I loved the characters in this book, they were all complex and well layered but also very strong and some infuriating.
The world building of this book is bizarre but cool, so very cool. There are four different Londons, now three (Red, Grey and White; the Black being swallowed by their own magic) and only an Antari can move between these worlds. Kell is the Antari from Red London and its his adventures, along with a cross dressing infuriating thief Lila Bard, that we follow. The plot is fast paced and a pretty wild ride. I fell in love with Schwab's writing and since I had the rest of the books at my disposal, dove right in. Await a review on the rest of books, which will soon be up!
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
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