Hardcover, 400 pages
English language
Published Sept. 10, 2015 by Tor.
STEP INTO A UNIVERSE OF DARING ADVENTURE, THRILLING POWER, AND MULTIPLE LONDONS.
Kell is one of the last travelers--magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes connected by one magic city.
There's Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, and with one mad king--George III. Red London, where life and magic are revered--and where Kell was raised alongside Rhy Maresh, the roguish heir to a flourishing empire. White London--a place where people fight to control magic and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. And once upon a time, there was Black London. But no one speaks of that now.
Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, ambassador of the Maresh Empire, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. …
STEP INTO A UNIVERSE OF DARING ADVENTURE, THRILLING POWER, AND MULTIPLE LONDONS.
Kell is one of the last travelers--magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes connected by one magic city.
There's Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, and with one mad king--George III. Red London, where life and magic are revered--and where Kell was raised alongside Rhy Maresh, the roguish heir to a flourishing empire. White London--a place where people fight to control magic and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. And once upon a time, there was Black London. But no one speaks of that now.
Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, ambassador of the Maresh Empire, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. 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.
Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs into Delilah Bard, a cutpurse 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.
This description comes from the publisher. A Darker Shade of Magic is the first book of the Shades of Magic trilogy.
3 stars: enjoyed this book, you might like it too
Read this a while ago, copying over from goodreads
Great for when you're looking for something that's fun and action-filled.
I didn't care much for this. Kell was an OK if somewhat dull protagonist, but I found Delilah tediously annoying. Neither the magic system nor the various Londons were particularly interesting, and I found the plot a bit thin. It's a fair enough fantasy novel, but I'd rather try a different Schwab novel than continue this particular series.
Though V.E. Schwab has been on my radar for a while I haven't picked up anything by her before. I have now ordered the second two books in this series. This was an interesting, fun adventure, with lots of character.
This is a multiple-worlds story, in which dimensions with different forms or levels of magical power are connected through a shared sense of "London" (though the different Londons and the countries in which they exist are quite distinct from one another).
The primary protagonist, Kell, is a magic user who moves between the worlds. His relationship with his own world is "complicated", and things are made much moreso when he unexpectedly ends up smuggling something he doesn't intend.
There are some lovely ideas here, and the world-building is well-handled. The main characters are compelling and sympathetic, while still having some rough edges. Setting the stage across the different dimensions takes …
Though V.E. Schwab has been on my radar for a while I haven't picked up anything by her before. I have now ordered the second two books in this series. This was an interesting, fun adventure, with lots of character.
This is a multiple-worlds story, in which dimensions with different forms or levels of magical power are connected through a shared sense of "London" (though the different Londons and the countries in which they exist are quite distinct from one another).
The primary protagonist, Kell, is a magic user who moves between the worlds. His relationship with his own world is "complicated", and things are made much moreso when he unexpectedly ends up smuggling something he doesn't intend.
There are some lovely ideas here, and the world-building is well-handled. The main characters are compelling and sympathetic, while still having some rough edges. Setting the stage across the different dimensions takes some time, and so the main plot doesn't kick in until about 100 pages in, but at no point does the book feel slow - there are enough sharp ideas and interesting people to keep things moving. Once things really get going it gets hectic, without much pause for breath for the characters or the reader.
Overall, this is a fun, period fantasy thriller, and a good read. As mentioned above, I have ordered both follow-up books, and did so before finishing this one, I'm looking forward to them.
The story is not without its drawbacks though. Once the world-building phase is done, and the main plot kicks off, that's more or less that for depth. The magic, which had felt like it had some nicely inventive components, gets very general to keep things moving, and there isn't much room for character development at that stage, so the villains are a bit cartoonish, and the differences between dimensions a little...one-dimensional.
I'm still looking forward to the next book, and hoping that the extra story gives Schwab an opportunity to expand and deepen some of the nice ideas here.
Four parallel universes are layered on top of each other. All they have in common is there is a city upon a river called London. Everything else in the world diverged a long time ago when they were separated. Grey London is ours, dull and without magic. Red is resplendent and in balance. White was once all powerful, before Black London fell to the darkest of magics and White was used as a firebreak to stop the spread.
Kell, from Red London, is one of the few remaining magicians capable of traversing worlds. While he transports messages between the rulers of the 3 surviving cities, he also smuggles trinkets for those who would pay a great deal for anything from another world. But when he is tricked into smuggling something far more dangerous than he bargained for he ends up falling in with a thief & aspiring pirate of Grey …
A Darker Shade of Magic is an enthralling tale set in a world of parallel Londons, each with its own unique magic system. Schwab's vivid world-building and well-developed characters keep readers engaged throughout the story making it hard to put the book down. The only downside is that the pacing can be uneven at times, but overall with this being the first book in the series I’m excited for what’s to come.
Fun worldbuilding. Standard "gotta find the macguffin, beat the dark lord, and destroy the macguffin to save all the worlds" kinda fantasy.
A breezy, fun adventure with some nice urban fantasy-ish world building on the side. It didn't ever grab me like other fantasy series can, and I felt the supporting cast didn't get as much development as I'd have liked, but it was an overall good time, the magic was fun and I found myself reading more than I intended as the chapter lengths were short and I could easily read one or two more than I'd originally planned before bed.
I’m very glad to have finished this book because I was very bored. There wasn’t strong characterization, so I didn’t care about the protagonists. The villains were cartoonishly evil. The magic “system” was full of arbitrary rules that were just there to create obstacles for the protagonists. I thought Holland actually had the most potential to be a complex character, but that doesn’t get explored (at least not in this book).
Well that was fun! I dont have a lot else to say about it though. I don't think I've ever used this phrase before but I think Im going to call this a "popcorn book". I had a lot of fun, I liked the characters, and the fantasy elements were really great, but there's not a lot to think about or linger on. So it's the book equivalent of a big blockbuster movie. Lots of spectacle, not much substance. There were a few moments where characters talked about the use of violence that almost added something, but everything gets wrapped up before that gets very far. I hear there are some interesting things in the other books of the series so I do plan to read on, but for now I'm walking away feeling entertained, and not much else.
Intriguing premise where worldbuilding is concerned. The characters are likeable, though kind of trope-y. The book's weakest element is its over-the-top, shallow and unrelatable villains.
I listened to the German audiobook (and read some parts of the original in between). If you're looking for an audiobook that's not too demanding and easy to follow, this one works.
Interesting! Really liked the the setting, but I don't know that the story was compelling enough for me to finish out the trilogy. Maybe eventually!
It ought to be a good book. The premise is great, the plot good and the characters are decent enough. The problem is that the writing is so dry it’s hard to care about any of it
I felt really detached from this book, like I didn't particularly care about the characters or their motivations.
Even I didn't know at first I got hooked with the main characters and the possibilities the world(s) the author created, is an fast and easy read (even though it took me a while). I can easily recommend this to anyone how likes fantasy novels, but I'm gonna wait until I read the entire saga, the next book is already on its way.
I think what made this book work for me were the relationships between characters.
The first thing I remember hearing about this book was the setting, which was nice, but what made those adventures not empty was the way characters treated each other and were in turn treated by others.
The magic is on the soft-ish side in this one, but it doesn't quite feel like anything could happen, it does have some rules.
I really enjoyed it.
