A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1)

by V.E. Schwab

[sa090]

This was the book I read for the Transfiguration prompt of the OWLs Readathon of 2019 and it was a more fitting book for it than I expected.

───────────────────

Victoria Schwab is a huge name in the community, and more often than not for me, fame usually means unmet expectations.... but, not this time. The book started out really confusing for me, I had four locations to think about and I still didn’t really figure out what the colours of said Londons’ indicated until about a quarter of the way through. This is a fantastic thing to go through in a setting like this, I mean with the small trips Kell takes and how spending a little bit of time here and there I got the picture of each London painted little by little until I now am very familiar with them. I also absolutely loved the difference between them, and I’m definitely looking forward to see more later on.

The plot was good, seeing the different sides of Kell only to have one side become too much to handle was interesting. However, meeting Lyla was when the book got extremely fast paced and got my blood pumping. I’m not sure if it’s her writing style or what, but Victoria Schwab started out the book somewhat slower than expected, got me familiarized with her main characters and the different versions of London before it’s like she strapped me into a rollercoaster and pressed start. So many things happened after Kell and Lyla met, and the best part about this is the fact that them meeting didn’t negatively affect the other’s ability to function.

Honestly the best part of this book and I hope series are its characters. I’ve read books recently, that also have had multiple POVs where only one of them was interesting to read about and the other is a freakin chore, but not here. Kell and Lyla are really interesting characters, Kell’s duties and his magical side increased my interest in him because I obviously wanted to see more. But that also doesn’t deny that Kell himself is still interesting as a character with how he feels about magic, his rare breed and the mental conflicts he had to go through with his job vs other job. Lyla is the same, I love badass characters, and she didn’t disappoint! It’s not very common from my readings where an author will go through with the description they gave their female character, but I’m definitely glad that V. E. Schwab did.

I have a few ideas about Lyla, the interesting thing revealed about her, but I’m not sure what to solidify just yet. The other supporting characters weren’t too shabby either, the Dane Twins for instance had the insanity I appreciate in cutthroats and there being two of them was awesome. I really hope to see Black London at some point too, would be interesting if it wasn’t as “dead” as implied. This world is huge and now that I’m familiar with its pillars, I definitely want to dig a lot deeper in its makings.

I also really like it when books in series have a plot line that feels like it got wrapped up then and there with a chance of continuation, so I’m looking forward to see what else she has in store for me.

Final rating: 4/5