A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (2015)

Kell is one of two people in the world who can jump through the Londons. There’s Gray London, Red London, White London, and the untouchable Black London. Spread across the Londons are various degrees of magic leaving his home world of Red London with a pulse of magic in the air. Because of his power, he works for the kingdom of Red London, giving and receiving messages between the other kingdoms on their behalf. On his own time, he illegally transports items across worlds for individuals desperate for different tastes of magic. When a trade goes wrong, Kell ends up with a piece of powerful magic that could potentially change the balance 0f magic between the worlds forever. Even worse, in a robbery gone wrong, Lila, resident of Gray London, ends up with this very special piece of magic. Lila is hungry for an adventure and hopes that this magic can give it to her. Unwilling to let go of the magic, Kell must work with Lila to get the magic back where it came from before it lands in the wrong hands.

As evident in my reviews, I am not the hugest fan of V.E. Schwab (Victoria Schwab). She is a well loved author within the YA world and I have read two of her books only to be disappointed by both. The latest book I read by her, This Savage Song, left me quite underwhelmed. However, I’ve heard so many people say that her Young Adult books are no match for her adult books. After reading A Darker Shade of Magic (one of her adult books) I can finally say that I enjoyed one of her books.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t find problems with this book and there was a pretty big one to start off with. Right away, I was beyond confused with the magic system in this book, specifically Kell’s magic. From the description of the book, I knew that Kell could jump in between worlds. So, at the beginning when he starts jumping I thought that he was in a new world each time. Later, I realized that he could jump within worlds and that he was in one world the whole time. I was lost in the plot that I debated putting the book down at the 20 page mark.

I’m glad that I stuck it through the 20 pages because this ended up being a really interesting book to read. Not only does it takes place between three different Londons, it takes place in historical London. Lila’s world was the most like ours and White London represented, in my opinion, the most realistic result of what would happen if a world had magic. Woven into the story were some moral ideas about how to distribute goods, if anyone deserves more than the other person, and how different economic populations work together in society.

Concerning the characters, I have some mixed feelings. First of all, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Kell or Lilah. Neither were inherently unique or had any characteristics that separated them apart from any other character. I also found them to have a lot of similarities to Kate and August, the characters in This Savage Song. Nonetheless, I enjoyed that there were limits to the powers of the two. What I mean is that they weren’t invincible characters and did have failures, which was refreshing because it seems that a lot of characters, specifically in fantasy, have this magical ability to only make the right decisions and can always win in a fight. A character that I really enjoyed was Rhy, Kell’s best friend and adopted brother. He brought an amount of lightheartedness and fun to a story that was otherwise extremely dark.

While I did have some problems with A Darker Shade of Magic I liked it enough that I have a pull to read the sequel. For all the V.E. Schwab skeptics (like me) I suggest you give this one a try!

4 Stars