Title: A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1)
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publication Date: Feb. 24, 2015
Find: Amazon | Goodreads
Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.
Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.
Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.
After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.
Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.
Victoria is the product of a British mother, a Beverly Hills father, and a southern upbringing. Because of this, she has been known to say “tom-ah-toes,” “like,” and “y’all.”
She also tells stories.
She loves fairy tales, and folklore, and stories that make her wonder if the world is really as it seems.
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Picking up a book by an author that I’ve never read before can be a little daunting sometimes. However, there is enough love over this one that I went into it with really high hopes. And now I wish I had A Gathering of Shadows in my hands, right this second.
I don’t think this book is what I really thought it’d be, though. Maybe I thought it’d be your typical YA romance/fantasy/sci-fi extravaganza. It really wasn’t though.
This story is original and clever. The characters (at least the three that I have attached myself to, so far) are all so endearing in completely unique ways. And I feel like even though there was character growth, there’s just so much more to parse out for these heroes.
Magic, is actually its own character in this story. And I have a feeling that we haven’t seen the last of it. The only reason I didn’t give this one a “5” is because I did struggle to connect to the story in the first few chapters. Other than that, this is a solid story by Schwab.
My TBR list is long. But, I’ll be breezing through, hoping to get to Gathering much sooner.
