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A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1)

V.E. Schwab,

Victoria Schwab

Start date: August 1, 2023

Finish date: August 31, 2023

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What Members Thought

Aug 07, 2021 Annette rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book.

Kell and Lila are facinating characters with flaws and issues. I like that there isn't any romance in this book. Maybe there will be some in the future (they did have a very nice chemestry), but this story really focuses on Kell and Lila getting to know each other and working together. Which made their relationship seem more realistic and I enjoyed their back and forth bantering quite a lot.

The world with the different Londons are compelling and there is a lot of trave ...more

18 likes · Like · see review

Feb 20, 2021 akacya ❦ rated it really liked it

Shelves: audience-young-adult, format-ebook, buddy-reads, own, genre-fantasy

buddy read with a whole bunch of cool people!!

this book was pretty slow-paced, but still amazing! ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

Sep 21, 2021 Ashley Lewis rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this world so very much! Such a cool concept!!!

This is a great beginning to a trilogy. The world building came together nicely enough for me to want to continue, but left enough open for their to be more to the history. The characters have personality and have vague enough backstories for more info to be divulged later on. This novel was fast paced and action packed, which I appreciated. However the amount of action left me feeling slightly underwhelmed with the battles at the end.

Als ...more

13 likes · Like · see review

Apr 05, 2019 Ari ☾ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cover-love, fantasy, owned, 2019-reads

3.5-4 Stars

“A life worth having is a life worth taking.”

I honestly dunno how to review this book. It was very hyped.

The whole concept of A Darker Shade of Magic was very interesting to me. I loved the characters. Kell and Lila and Holland were all unique and interesting. I wish I could've read more about Rhy, but he will clearly be more in the next book? Hopefully?

The Danes were interesting but kind of felt like cookie cutter I want more power and to control the world sorta bad guy ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 03, 2018 Ashleigh rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series-books, buddy-read

A Darker Shade of Magic follows Kell, one of two remaining Antaris (blood magician) who can travel between the four different worlds. One thing the four worlds all have in common, is for some strange reason, they all have a city called London in the exact same place. But the four Londons couldn't be different.

We have Red London, where Kell resides, where magic still resides, Grey London (the closest to the real world London) where magic has faded out, White London which is hungry for magic, A Darker Shade of Magic follows Kell, one of two remaining Antaris (blood magician) who can travel between the four different worlds. One thing the four worlds all have in common, is for some strange reason, they all have a city called London in the exact same place. But the four Londons couldn't be different.

We have Red London, where Kell resides, where magic still resides, Grey London (the closest to the real world London) where magic has faded out, White London which is hungry for magic, and Black London which allowed magic to overtake the people. Around 300 years prior to the book's events, Grey Red and White all decided to turn their backs on Black London and its world, and the doors between the worlds were closed. Only two living Antaris (Kell, and an unpleasant fellow named Holland) can move between the three worlds, and they act as messengers as such.

Secretly, Kell is a smuggler, for the right price. Not only is smuggling highly dangerous, it's also kind of illegal. But when he takes pity on a woman from White London and agrees to smuggle a letter to her brother in a different London, Kell finds himself embroiled in a dangerous situation. After escaping to Grey London from guards trying to kill him for the mysterious stone he's carrying, Kell runs into Lila, a young pickpocket who takes advantage of the fact that the dishevelled magician appears to be drunk and mugs him of the stone. He manages to track her down and get the stone back, but it would appear the two haven't seen the last of each other as he saves her from Holland, and she insists she joins him on his quest to get to the bottom of the stone, and return it to its rightful world.

If I'm honest, I found this book a little hard to get into. There's a lot of information dumped on us in the beginning surrounding Kell, and the different worlds and the magic system etc, and I really struggled through the first couple of chapters to keep track of what's going on. However, there was a shift (I'm not sure where it happened), but when I was in, I was in! I loved this book for the most part. Kell and Lila were just amazing characters, and I love them very dearly.

The villains of this book were great too. I really hated them and wanted to see them suffer for what they'd done, and I think that makes a great villain. When you thoroughly hate them because they're evil and do shitty things, and not because they're poorly written. I was kinda hoping (view spoiler). That being said, I loved the (view spoiler).

Now, the ending. The main problem I had was (view spoiler). This is the first book in a trilogy, and I just don't know where the story will go from this first book because of that. Also, (view spoiler)

Overall, despite my niggles, this was a great first book. Can't wait to read the second book! ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jan 25, 2018 Ruthie rated it really liked it

I read this book because it was on a list of ideas to read if you like magic type books. And as I’m a huge Harry Potter fan I want to try other magic type books. I like that this series is more adult and I like the world and premise. For me this book seemed pretty action packed which was great and kept me hooked. I did listen to the audio book which I’ve seen multiple people say they didn’t like the audiobook for the intense accents. I didn’t mind it too much and really I need to listen to audio ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 24, 2023 Ashlyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I always love the worlds that VE Schwab creates. This one is magical and set in London. I liked the characters, the world building, and the plot. As always, this author has a unique writing style that just leaves you so satisfied. I love that this author writes morally gray characters because I just love to hate them or hate to love them. Something about it just makes reading more fun. Lila and Kell are some great characters and I’m excited to see their journey continue. Overall, this was a grea ...more

1 like · Like · see review