A Darker Shade of Magic

THERE MAY BE SPOILERS HERE!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION

So, I just finished this book in six days. SIX! I’ve been in a reading slump for so many months and now I just finish this book in less than a week. WHAT IS MY PROBLEM???? WHAT IS SO WRONG WITH THE WELL OF ASCENSION!?! WHY CAN’T I BRING MYSELF TO FINISH IT??*calms down*

Okay so this book has wormed its way up to my favorites pile. It’s so (pardon my language) damn great. Anyone who has read this book can understand.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab is about this Antari (a.k.a. blood magician), Kell, who travels between three different Londons. There is Red London, which is where he lives, White London, where its government is like a dictatorship but with two people on the throne instead of one, and Gray London, where there is no magic. Now, Kell’s job is to travel between these Londons to pass around messages. Because the “doors” between these Londons were sealed off, only Antari are powerful enough to travel between them. And there are only two Antari left in the world.

It’s forbidden to smuggle things from different Londons, but Kell does it anyway. One day, this woman in White London asks Kell to give a letter to someone who was in Red London. She gave him something wrapped in a piece of cloth as her payment. That “thing” turned out to be a very powerful black stone/talisman that came from Black London, a fallen London that was corrupt with magic.

When Kell arrived in Red London to deliver the message and realized that we was set up, he was attacked. After the attack and he laid bloody on the ground in Gray London, he meets this girl dressed up as a boy. Delilah Bard. A girl thieving for freedom. For adventure. Lila “helped” Kell by giving him a handkerchief, and he later realized that he had been robbed. He tracked Lila down and demands for the talisman.

The magic from the talisman started to secretly plague the Londons, and after some dealing and arguments, the duo started their way to Black London to place the talisman where it belongs.

She slid the bolt on the back entrance and hurried into the alley. Kell followed her out, stopping long enough to raise his hand and will the metal lock back into place behind them. He listened to the shhk of metal sliding home, then turned to find Lila waiting, her back purposefully to the tavern, as if her present were already her past. 

(Schwab 201)

I’ve never read any of V.E. Schwab’s books before but hot dang, I am glad I have now.

I listened to the audiobook on Audible, and Steven Crossley’s voice can put any beast to sleep. It’s like being read a really gruesome bedtime story. Not that it get’s gory all the time, but there are many scenes where at least one person is bloody. Just a fair warning if you have a delicate stomach.

And so many people die/come close to death. I was surprised how many people V.E. Schwab decided to kill in the book.

I don’t know what to think of A Darker Shade of Magic. I rated it 5/5 stars but I can’t get my thoughts straight right now. So much happened at the end and I can’t even.

I’m glad that the Dane twins from White London are finally dead, but I have a feelin that something worse is going to come up in the next book.

WHICH IS COMING OUT IN FEBRUARY 2016!!

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I guess I’ll be a bored couch potato until then.