A Darker Shade of Magic

Not a bad book, and I see why it was popular, but...returnI had about 3 false starts with this since a copy found its way onto my shelves. Sometimes that ends up well, the timing just not being quite right to really dive headlong into a book at first. More often, its just a sign that a book isn't going to grab me at all. Unfortunately the latter was the case here. The world itself is a interesting creation. The four London's how they interact, various subsets of magic. I could have stood for quite a bit more, or more detailed, worldbuilding in fact. Maybe more about how the London's interact historically, more about the broader worlds than just the city, maybe more about the magic itself because I feel like we barely got information on two-ish types of magic, and even that tended to be pretty repetitive and brief. The characters themselves just weren't that interesting to me. Not their interpersonal conflicts, their internal conflicts, or the conflicts with the broader world/the plot. It also felt a surprisingly light and fast read for its length and the type of fantasy setting I assumed I was in for. It almost felt like I was watching a tv show or movie...the pacing, the surface level details of the world, the repetitive nature of a lot of the magic, the not exactly flat but fairly uninteresting characters. And maybe I was? It seems as though a pilot script for pitching at least was written by the author either around the same time as or withing less than a year of the book. Maybe that was the plan all along...make something that can be used to supplement a pitch and tie-in to sales if/when the movie or show gets made. I'm speculating...it could also just be someone who's strength is writing for the screen writing a novel instead? Anyway, I'll skip the rest of the series, and unless they end up free at some point, probably anything else by Schwab. But this could very well be to your, and is in many cases to someone else's, tastes.

My first @veschwab book, but I'd been eyeing A Darker Shade of Magic in the bookstores for a while now. I'm glad I finally pulled the trigger and got it (based mostly on the back cover description and the fact that V is lovely on twitter). I'm keeping this short and sweet (and spoiler free) for now, but I'm really looking forward to reading more of her work.

4 solid stars.

I was keen on liking this book, and I did. Only it didn't throw me off my feet and into a bucket of enthusiasm head first, as I had hoped it would.

What I definitely liked about it was the idea of the four Londons propped on a chain of magicality (yes, this is an English word - not my fault the OED classifies it as "rare") to normality, with Grey London being modelled on the actual city in the time of Mad King George and Prinny, and the whole world-building. I loved the idea that there would be fixed points (like that one tavern) which would appear in all the Londons at the exact same place.
And speaking of world-building, I also was amazed at the perfect match the author was for me: just when I was beginning to feel I'd seen enough of that and might get on with some story now, Schwab set off the plot proper.
On top of that, I did love the fact that a convincing would-be pirate queen teams up with the mage to save the prince, not the princess - though I fear that there is a love story lurking there with Kell and Delilah (who also might turn out to have had an Antari eye like him at one point which would be ever so corny in combination...)

What made me smile and sigh at the same time, and also substract a star, was when I realised that, for all the new and bright ideas for her world, the author had made me read a Lord of the Rings condensed replica, concerning the main story: Kell (Frodo) comes into possession of a powerful magical stone (ring) and after contemplation decides it is best to go and return (destroy) it to(in) Black London (Mordor, Mount Doom). On his journey he is accompanied, not to say dragged along, by his less "chosen" but also less distractable companion Delilah (Samwise) and hindered by dubious character Holland (Gollum - sorry for that one) who wants the stone (ring) for himself. Troublesome journey, near-escapes from death, etc., and in the end not Kell (Frodo) sends back (destroys) the stone (ring) to (in) Black London (the fires of Mount Doom), but Holland (Gollum) does, possibly (definitely) dying in the process.
That was somewhat too close and put me off being after the next part as keenly as I might have been.

Still, it was done so covertly and felt rather like an hommage than plagiarism which reconciled me to the book so that I might read on at some point anyway, I suppose.