Book Review: "A Darker Shade Of Magic" by V.E. Schwab

 

Today's book review is on the widely popular "A Darker Shade of Magic" by V.E. Schwab. I just finished this book two nights ago - finally! - and would like to share my thoughts on it.

Info

Title: A Darker Shade of Magic

Author: V.E. Schwab

Genre: Fantasy
Year Published: 2015

Audience: Young Adult
Series: Shades of Magic (3 books)

Pages: 416

Place of Purchase: Barnes and Noble (in store)
Cost: $8.50
Read: September 14, 2020 - June 8, 2021

Description

(Official)

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.

A long time coming.........(my history with this book)

Before I dig into this story, let me first share my own story of how I came across this book.

In 2018, I was a member of the press for NYCC and had the opportunity to interview a list of authors provided. If I remember right, if I was chosen, I would have had about 10 minutes to interview each author that I was approved for. Popular authors who had a higher demand would have interviewers selected at random. (I don't actually think it was "random" though. From what I experienced at NYCC, most projects and creators, or just the convention itself, heavily favored big name, industry press.) At that point, I had been out of the book game for several years and I didn't recognize any of the authors on the list but decided to research both the writers and their work. A Darker Shade of Magic stuck out to me and I was very intrigued, but as the convention came closer, I realized that with my (day job) work schedule I would not have time to read it. I still considered trying to interview V.E. Schwab, since I had read about the author herself and was also intrigued by her as well. Interviewing any of these authors would have meant a solo venture from my Afronauts team, and in the end, I chickened out. I'm not the most confident when it comes to heading projects. Flash forward a year later (2019) and Barnes and Nobles had their Book Haul sale, and there it was on the table for 50% off! I couldn't pass it up for that price and the book had stuck in my mind since first looking into it. My life, as the always busy and spinning sphere that it is, kept me from reading it until last fall.

Recommended

I'll just come out and say it: RECOMMENDED! This book was a page-turner for me! I cannot remember the last time I read a book and didn't want to put it down! I would often read this on my way to work on public transportation and twice I missed my stop completely, had to get off, and head back in the right direction! It did take me a long time to finish it, because of personal issues that arose, but I constantly thought about it and longed to read it when I wasn't!

Wear and tear on A Darker Shade of Magic.

The book and I definitely have been places! You can see there is visible water damage from when a water bottle leaked. A pen broke while the book was in my backpack too, but the water seems to have washed most of it away! I will probably replace it eventually, but there are definitely memories with this copy!

Before I actually read the book, I noticed that both the litterary aspect and the fan art was popular amongst the Anime Community, and now I know why- it reads like a written Anime. The whole time I read the book, I kept picturing it as an Anime playing out and, yet, I would love to see a live-action movie or even a Netflix series out of this with real actors. There is a lot of potential here.

The book is full of adventure and mixes magic and fantasy fluidly, like a smooth cocktail. It draws one in from the start and holds them there until the end! Which is something I feel most books struggle with. The majority of books have a great beginning, middle, or end, but rarely do I read a book with all 3 parts shining.

***I would note that the book is an Adult work. Sex and sensitive issues, like rape, as well as a high level of violence are written in it. Even if society wants to label it as "Young Adult", it's still adult content. The work is not oversaturated with sexual content, but enough that it shocked me. I had not heard any of that content was in the book from the reviews I had read prior.

I am a person who enjoys the fantasy genre, so this book is right up my alley. The context of a lot of situations may be relateable in reality, but the scenarios and details are not. It felt like the Harry Potter Universe had a book-child with the Peter Pan World. As with all fantasy novels, it requires the use of imagination when reading it. A couple of my nonsensical friends found it hard to get through. I will also add, that at times the book does have a more adolescent tone, and especially in the case of Lilla, you feel like you're dealing more with a teenager than an adult. I really found Lilla's lack of parental guidance and inexperience to be the cause of her immaturity and, to me, she was well written; others have told me they find her "annoying".

There is not much more for me to add, other than if you want adventure and magic, this book is a must! There are 2 more books in this series and I've heard not great things about the second book, so I'm not in a rush to read it. However, V.E. Schwab did a great job at closing this book and its plot, so if I never read the rest, there isn't a big mystery or holes left for me to try and fill. There is no ploy by the author to make us read any further if we don't wish to and I really respect her for that!