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

by V.E. Schwab

For the ones who dream of stranger worlds

“But time isn’t the same for the mad and the blind.”

He could smell Grey London (smoke) and White London (blood), but to him, Red London simply smelled like home.

Grey for the magic-less city. Red, for the healthy empire. White, for the starving world.

but men who waded into waters claiming they could swim should not need a raft.

So much of the Grey world was clunky, but now and then its lack of magic led to ingenuity. Take its music boxes. A complex but elegant design. So many parts, so much work, all to create a little tune.

Magic was a living thing—that, everyone knew—but to Kell it felt like more, like a friend, like family.