A Review of V. E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic

         

            For Kell, there have always been three Londons. Well… technically four.

            Red London. Grey London. White London... and Black London.

For Deliliah Bard, on the other hand, there has only ever been one… Magicless (“Grey”) London; where magic is thought of as something merely of fiction. That is, for her, there was only ever one London… until she met Kell. Or, more precisely, until she stole the last known relic of a forgotten world from his pocket.

With dangerous magic nipping at their heels, threatening to take away everything, holding the worlds on the edge of teetering to chaos and inescapable peril, the two must find a way to work together to prevent everything and everyone from collapsing to ash and dust. But to save the worlds, the unlikely duo of royal magician (part-time unofficial smuggler) and common street thief must avoid the terrors that lurk behind every corner, every loose end, protect a prosperous kingdom from falling to ruin, defeat corrupt royalty in a power-starved world, and, most of all, stay alive.

Greetings, I’m Abigail and I recently read the first of  V. E. Schwab’s dark fantasy novel trilogy, A Darker Shade of Magic. This inventive work of writing seamlessly blends urban fantasy with historical elements, serving up rich and complex political settings of warring monarchies and sabotage, enjoyable and interweaving character relations (with little tastes of romance sprinkled here and there), and an immersive magic system connected to deeply fleshed-out and creative world building. Every moment of the story was accompanied by Schwab’s clever writing, her character’s witty banter, and beautifully described moments, terrifying, joyful, and gut-wrenching alike, that had me locked to the edge of my seat until the very end. 

The unique world building and character exploration Schwab provided allowed for a fully immersive experience throughout the novel. Each character had strong morals that drove them through the plot, each of their actions affecting how the story unfolded, they all had their own strengths and flaws and desires that made them all seem real and that allowed you to connect to their cause and root for them. Anyone who’s ever seen my taste in novels could tell you that I just adore well developed and delivered character relationships, world building, and magic systems, and A Darker Shade of Magic has all of those things and more. So, so, so much more. So, if this even slightly piques your interest, please consider reading this book. I promise you will enjoy it, this book did not disappoint.

I think it will suffice to say that I enjoyed the hell out of this novel. 

I still have so much I want to go over about this wonderful read of a book, but I’ll stop here. And, with everything said and done, I cannot think of a reason not to read this book, unless you have a deep rooted hatred for fantasy novels… but, I really could not recommend this book more for any fantasy lover… and for anyone wanting to dive into the fantasy genre, this book might not be a bad place to start. And with that, I think I have rambled long enough, so, without further delay, until next time, and thank you for reading. 

Cover: Fan art of A Darker Shade of Magic's characters: Delilah, Kell, and Holland (Source: drawn by Abigail Makela)