"A Darker Shade of Magic" by V. E. Schwab

☆☆☆☆☆ stars

"Kell wore a very peculiar coat. It had neither one side, which would be conventional, nor two, which would be unexpected, but several, which was, of course, impossible."

Twice, I have had the pleasure in reading this masterpiece of a work.

To say that V.E. Schwab is an extraordinary storyteller is a bit of an understatement. I, personally, find her work nothing short of exceptional.

"Lila Bard lived by a simple rule: if a thing was worth having, it was worth taking."

summary:

The story takes place between parallel magical Londons. There is Red London (the London, to which Kell, our MC, belongs to), Grey London (our London, however set hundreds of years in the past), White London (a London brimming with Magic) and Black London (or "dead" London).

The primary MC, Kell, is an adopted prince of the royals of Red London. He is one of a rare breed of magic users that possess the ability to travel between each of the Londons (red, white and gray) like traveling through doors. The door to Black London, however has been closed for years after they went crazy with magic. The story takes a turn though when Kell meets Lila Bard a resident of Grey London (and a Pirate), and the walls that separate the parallel Londons begin to become increasingly thinner.

“'I apologize for anything I might have done. I was not myself.'
'I apologize for shooting you in the leg.' said Lila. 'I was myself entirely.'”

review:

Granted, I really simplified the story. It is far more complex than I made it seem. I think it is the complexity that adds to the intrigue, you never really know where exactly the story is headed. Which makes it so much more compelling and magical. V.E. Schwab is such a masterful world-builder. She makes you believe fantasy to be reality. I find solid world-building to be lacking from the majority of recently published fantasy books.

In terms of writing, voice and character development Ms. Schwab definitely met all of my expectations and then some. "A Darker Shade of Magic" was my first toe-dip into the world of V.E. Schwab and quickly turned me into a massive fan. I am in love with her writing style, it is both direct and descriptive. It's flawless, I aspire to be able to write as well as she does.

Character development wise, I particularly enjoyed Lila and Rhy's characters. If I could fault anything in the book it would be that I didn't find Kell to be particularly strong as a character. BUT I have yet to read books 2 & 3 so I don't have much of a voice on the matter.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to just about everyone, especially those who grew up reading Harry Potter. Granted "A Darker Shade of Magic" is significantly darker in terms of content, it did provide me with a sort of nostalgia of the world of Harry Potter while being completely original. It shares almost nothing in common with the Harry Potter books, but it does make you think that England is a magical place. And for that I love it.

I would not recommend the audiobook to anyone interested, I listened to the audiobook on my first read-through of the book. The audiobook doesn't contribute to the magic of the story and thus, I would suggest reading a hard-copy or an ebook over the audiobook edition.