BOOK REVIEW : A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC (SHADES OF MAGIC #1) BY V. E. SCHWAB

TITLE : A Darker Shade Of Magic ( Shades Of Magic #1)

AUTHOR : V. E. Schwab

GENRE : YA, Fantasy

FR RATING : ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐ 4.5 – 5 Stars

FR REVIEW

I bought the box set for Shades Of Magic series after finishing Vengeful. I am binge reading this series at the moment. I haven’t been able to stop reading the series. As of right now, I am reading the third book in the series and I cannot put it down. So far the journey has been awesome.

A Darker Shade Of Magic is a splendid fantasy that will take you through different Londons nested inside one another. The setting is atmospheric with the most vivid descriptions of the different Londons. I loved how the author managed to make each of these Londons characters themselves with unique characteristics and personality attached to it.

The magic and the world was fascinating and I haven’t read anything like it before. The system was unique and inventive. The immersive prose kept me hooked to the story and I couldn’t put it down. The adventure, magical action, and showdowns were amazing. I was pulled by the magic, the world, and how well the characters were written. It was an immersive reading experience and I loved every second of it.

Let’s talk about the characters. Kell the Antari, Holland the other Antari, Lila, and Rhys were all spectacular. The characters were flawed and their hunger for magic and power brings down the safety net and the balance set between the worlds. I loved all the characters, the good the bad, and ugly. I couldn’t get enough of them, to be honest.

VE Schwab will be easily an auto-buy author for me after the books that I have read of her. I love her writing style and her ease of creating complex worlds and characters. She doesn’t hesitate before putting her characters in high stakes situations. The world is memorable and inventive.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I just wanted to say that this book was amazing and can’t wait to see where the bad decisions take some of our characters in their journey forward. The book was addictive and I am giving it 4.5 – 5 stars. I loved this book and can’t wait to see how the story wraps-up. If you love fantasy and want to read a story with flawed and damaged magicians, exquisite world-building with magical showdowns that get bloodier with every step you need to check this series out. It’s so easy to get hooked and will continue to pull you in and stir your curiosity. I highly recommend binge-reading the series if you haven’t already.

SYNOPSIS

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.

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