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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

Jul 19, 2019 Rosaline (Rosaline's Rolls & Scrolls) rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, read-in-2019, male-pov, 4-stars, series-to-continue, first-in-series, third-person-narrative, multiple-povs, up-all-night, young-adult

This was good!
Everybody gushing around and urging me to read this were right! Thank you folks, I owe you one.
Even though I was the victim of many passerby collisions and was in great danger of getting hit by cars since I couldn't put this down while walking, I did feel like some crucial element was missing for me to truly make this a favorite. I can't put my finger on it just yet, but even though the story was thoroughly enjoyable, I did not feel that throb in my heart and bones that tells me I ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

Feb 20, 2021 akacya ❦ rated it really liked it

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

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

Sep 21, 2017 Heather rated it it was amazing

I was absolutely addicted to this book from chapter one. The characters were amazing and at first I wasn't a fan of Lila but she grew on me. Every step of the way I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next and then it ended on a cliffhanger. I am so ready to read the next two books in the series. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 30, 2017 Natalie rated it liked it

Shelves: dystopian, first-in-a-series, young-adult, urban-fantasy, magic, pirates, historical-fiction, science-fiction, fantasy, adult

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. To be honest, I'm pretty uncertain about how to rate this novel. I suffered with a pretty big reading slump this month (maybe I overdid it lately?) and have been completely slammed with work which made it really difficult to get into this novel... As a result I'm really not sure as to whether my own issues with this novel were genuine issues or just side effects of the reading slump, and I will definitely have to continue with the series when I'm in a better frame of mind so that I can see if I' To be honest, I'm pretty uncertain about how to rate this novel. I suffered with a pretty big reading slump this month (maybe I overdid it lately?) and have been completely slammed with work which made it really difficult to get into this novel... As a result I'm really not sure as to whether my own issues with this novel were genuine issues or just side effects of the reading slump, and I will definitely have to continue with the series when I'm in a better frame of mind so that I can see if I'm able to connect with the story better then. As such, please take the following comments with a grain of salt because I'm not really sure about anything right now but really wanted to get down some initial thoughts regardless :P

Anyways...

When I initially started this novel I was rather confused with the setting of it and kinda kept a running series of notes throughout to try and keep things straight. There was the introduction of magic users (which is fine) and Antaris which seemed to be a kind of... what, more magical magic user? They could essentially tap into I think what was the source of magic and as a result travel between different connected worlds (of which there were four, three being accessible) and acted as messengers between the royalty of each such world. The main character, Kell, was one such Antari and the "adopted child" (still iffy on his relationship with his "parents") of the royalty in his "home" London.

As I got further into the story I definitely got a greater hang of things and got to know the characters a bit more, but throughout I really struggled with actually connecting to these characters. I mean, sure the plot was interesting (view spoiler) but I didn't really find myself drawn into the novel and found it a bit of a chore to read at times.

It was definitely well written, and I thought Lila and Rhy (what little we saw of him...) were interesting characters. I loved that Lila was neither a hero or villain, and seemed to be a bit of the typical background character you'd find in some novels, just thrust into the spotlight - so to speak. It was also interesting to see that Kell (view spoiler).

Anyways, I'd be curious to see how the series plays out as a whole and whether I am able to connect with the characters as a later date. When I can't connect to the characters and the story I find t super hard to get into the novel (or series) as a whole so hopefully that improves if I try again later (once this damn reading slump is over). Just have to see how things go! ...more

1 like · 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

Mar 13, 2018 Helena rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book was amazing. it grabbed me like no book has grabbed me for a long time. I flew through it. the entire thing. There were literally no dull or slow parts.
The character's are Amazing. Kell, I loved from the start. he's is very humble, and interesting. Hiw inner dialogue is veri intriguing since he has all hese clear thoughts of what he should do, and yet he sometimes does the opposite - entirely conscious of his choice.
And the journey I took with Lila. At first I had nothing over for This book was amazing. it grabbed me like no book has grabbed me for a long time. I flew through it. the entire thing. There were literally no dull or slow parts.
The character's are Amazing. Kell, I loved from the start. he's is very humble, and interesting. Hiw inner dialogue is veri intriguing since he has all hese clear thoughts of what he should do, and yet he sometimes does the opposite - entirely conscious of his choice.
And the journey I took with Lila. At first I had nothing over for her. I thought she was arrogant and self-righteous. And now, after finishing the book, I love her. And I love their relationship. How it didn't actually end up with them being a romantic couple, but that they both find respect for each other and they lean on the other.
And Rhys. Oh, what a character. So many times my heart hurt when I thought he would die. And I was so disapointed that we wouldn't get to know him better. Or see him together with the other two characters. But now, hopefully, the Three of them will make an amazing trio. It's going to be so fun to see them all figure out how they're going to fit together. Lila is not going to fall for any of Rhy's expert flirting, and I love that. All the respect she has for Kell, it will be the opposite for Rhys. x'D
Also, is she Antari? We've got to learn more about her missing eye in the coming books. and doesn't it sound fitting? She doesn't remember where she comes from, or what happened to that eye...
I'm also glad that we've done away with the Dane Twins in this book. I feel like Astrid would have gotten on my last nerve if we had to have her as the main villain in the coming books.
Is the stone really gone, though? And Holland? I'm not sure what to think.
And what will become of the King and Queen's relationship with Kell? He clearly reacted to them not seeing him as a son, in the last chapters. Will that become clearer and clearer, and will he eventually confront them about making him feel like a possession?
I hope we get to see more of Tieren. I like those types of completely good characters. A master, who isn't in any way wanting to be feared, but just treats his students with respect.

I look forward to reading more by V. E. Schwab :) And the following books in this series is already on the way. :) ...more

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May 24, 2018 Georgia Lamb rated it it was amazing

oh my god

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Jan 10, 2016 Megan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, science-fiction, fantasy, adult, fiction, z-towerteams, supernatural, magic, a-2016-reads, 3-star

So for 20% of this book I was like 'OK, this is interesting, I'm enjoying this' and then as I was reading I just got bored.

It was the same thing again and again. strange magic, bad guy tries to kill, strange magic, bad guy tries to kill. It was only the last 50 pages where things got better and things happened. ...more

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