Book Review: A Darker Shade of Magic

A Darker Shade of Magic 

Author: V.E. Scwab
Page Number: 398 Pages
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Books
Rating: 3/5 Stars
Book Number of 2018: 35 of 30

Goodreads’ Summary

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.

“There was nothing human about that eye. It was pure magic. The mark of a blood magician. Of an Antari” (23). V.E. Schwab’s world, or should I say worlds, in A Darker Shade of Magic is uniquely crafted and immersed in magic. The story focuses on an Antari, a magician, named Kell. Through the adventure and throughout the different versions of London, Kell finds a piece of a once destroyed London that causes havoc in his own London. The plot and storyline of the novel were very interesting and engaging. Readers are kept on the edge of their seat in order to find out what will happen to Kell and Delilah.

While I enjoyed the overall plot of the novel, I did not thoroughly enjoy the book because of the details added to enhance the story. Details often provide the necessary information readers need to understand what is happening or will happen. While this was the case for A Darker Shade of Magic, some of the details cause readers to become bogged down in the excess information and not be able to enjoy the story for sifting through all of the information. The first 50 – 100 pages were details to help readers understand the different versions of London, what the Antari is, and how the worlds and magic functions. However, the page length of details leads readers to struggle to engage with the book at the start of the novel, which is when books capture someone’s attention or do not.

After the rough start to the novel, the rest of the book picks up pace and keeps readers engaged. While I am probably not going to read the rest of the books, I do believe the storyline would continue to grow in intensity and would keep readers engaged. V.E. Schwab’s novel has well-developed characters, a thorough plot, and descriptive phrases that allow readers to join Kell and Delilah’s worlds and experience what they are experiencing.

“Kell tipped his head so that his copper hair tumbled out of his eyes, revealing not only the crisp blue of the left one but the solid black of the right. A black that ran edge to edge, filling white and iris both. There was nothing human about that eye. It was pure magic. The mark of a blood magician. Of an Antari” (22-23).

“Power in Balance. Balance in Power” (86).

“There has to be more, she’d thought. I have to be more” (139).

“Magic wasn’t something he listed for; it was something he simply had. But now his veins felt starved for it, and starving for it” (254).

“If all magic comes at a price, what had this cost Kell?” (319).