Book Review: A Darker Shade of Magic

A Darker Shade of Magic (#1) Written by V.E Schwab

Release Date: February 24th, 2015

Publisher: Tor Books

Format of Novel: Paperback

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Summary (From Good reads): Kell is one of the last Antari, a rare magician who can travel between parallel worlds: hopping from Grey London — dirty, boring, lacking magic, and ruled by mad King George — to Red London — where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire — to White London — ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne, where people fight to control magic, and the magic fights back — and back, but never Black London, because traveling to Black London is forbidden and no one speaks of it now.

Officially, Kell is the personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see, and it is this dangerous hobby that sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to take her with him for her proper adventure.

But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save both his London and the others, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive — a feat trickier than they hoped.

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Hey all, I am officially back! It's about damn time huh? Haha. No but seriously, I'm back for good. I will be blogging regularly now every day expect for the weekends so I hope you don't mind it. ;) Now, let's get too it shall we with the first book review of May shall we?

Do you all remember me posting a review about "Vicious" and pretty much fan girled all over the place? Well guess what, I'm doing it again with this book. Holy crap, Victoria Schwab- you are my hero! I really love her as a person and writer. I've never met her, but when you see the stuff she posts on Instagram and twitter, it makes you feel warm yet devious at the same time. She is such a writing goddess in my eyes because she is not only an adventurous writer, she is a visual author. Victoria Schwab is someone that can break your soul in half with memorable characters, visuals, and memorable quotes that hit you right in the feels. It's a dream of mine to actually meet her in person and express how much she inspires me to take the risks in my writing and to not be afraid.

Now to the focus on this book. Considering that this is the first novel of an fantasy trilogy, I cannot really speak much about this book without fan-girling like a idiot. The plot of the novel was very fascinating. I've never really read much about parallel worlds that are basically the same exact thing or world so to speak and it was really cool to experience this first hand when reading about Kell's 'lonely' journey to the different London(s). Another thing I liked about the general plot of this story was the way it had a pirate-y vibe into it. It is mainly because of the characters, but at the same time, no one is really safe. Even the minor characters acted like thieves and everyone had their own goals to follow in order to achieve a personal greatness.

As for the characters, I loved how Kell's character is flawed, which made him so interesting to follow. He is one of the last Antari (a person of magic) and yet he is common thief. He smuggles things from the other London(s) and its ironic because you want him to be a good guy, but he's also a bad guy. Prince Rhy was a character and a half. He's a self-centered prince, but I felt he was something more than that and I wish he wasn't such a minor character since he did care for his 'brother' in some shape or form. And Lila, damn I love her so much.  She was a pirate alright and I was so glad she was a major part of this story. In a way, I felt as so she was a mirrored version of Kell and the other Antari even though she didn't have their magical abilities. I really hope that she will have her own spin off story or something because she is so far my most favorite female character of 2016.

The villains in this story were also pretty bad ass. The twins reminded me of the antagonists from the Game of Thrones series with their twisted ideals and quest for more power regardless of the fact they already had too much power. They were just so fantastic and I silently cheered every time they made their grand appearance in the story.

Overall, this story was a wonderful start to this trilogy and I am dying to get my hands on the sequel very soon. V.E Schwab did a fantastic job in creating such a beautiful concept with fantastic characters and yeah, she's just that awesome and her newest book is being release sometime this year and you better believe I'm going to pick up when I get a single chance.

Happy Howling!!