Reviews with content warning for Torture - Una magia más oscura

4 ⭐ CW: violence, descriptions of blood and gore, torture, self-harm, blood consumption, death/murder, slavery

A Dark Shade of Magic is book one in this trilogy. This is my fourth V.E. Schwab book, and I fall more and more in love with her writing every time! I love the way Schwab writes prose, it feels so rich and whole without feeling unnecessary or long winded.

We follow Kell, a magician from the magical alternate he calls Red London. Here magic is normal, even revered, and Kell has more magic than most since he is what is called an Antari, and is evidenced by his one completely black eye. Antari are the only people who can cross over to the different alternate Londons.

We also follow Lila Bard, a thief from magicless Grey London, and pick pockets Kell while he's drunk and injured. Of course Kell tracks Lila down and ends up having to explain that magic is real and demands the item back that she stole. The magical item is magic itself and takes the strength of the one wielding it. When Lila is attacked by the other Antari from brutal White London, Kell intervenes and the two become unlikely allies as they try to escape Holland and rid themselves of the dark magic.

I love Lila Bard! I get the hype now. I love that she is an aspiring pirate and perfectly capable. I have some predictions for Lila. I love the way Schwab writes villains and morally gray characters. She's just so brilliant at melding heroics with imperfect characters. And her villains are positively monstrous. The monarchs of White London are the stuff of nightmares. Obsessed with power and control, and are utterly sadistic. You want nothing more than for them to meet a violent death. These people have zero redeeming qualities.

Definitely looking forward to the next book and learning more about Lila. I hope we get to see more of Prince Rhy next book as well, because I'm sucker for a soft, charming, extroverted, spoiled prince.

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sabrinaleaf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I can’t believe I waited almost 2 years before reading this!
I loved it so much that I HAD to highlight and annotate. I would start the next ones bust I have other books I need to read before sadly.

Content Warnings

brookieblue's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The story was great! I had a good time following the journey of the characters and the world was interesting and engrossing.

I liked 50% of the main duo, but I also tend to have a harder time liking cynical/grizzled characters. There was enough here that I understood why they were the way they were, but that doesn’t excuse some of the actions and situations they found themselves in.

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zannayo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was written well enough and had a lot of potential. I liked it less as I kept reading it though, most of the characters grated on me quite a bit. I'm a sucker for meaningful bonds between characters and there just wasn't any of that here.

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sami5643's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

I enjoyed this book but felt like something was missing.

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rosenau's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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jessicaludden's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

*3.5*

“Magic bent the world. Pulled it into shape. There were fixed points. Most of the time those points were placed. But sometimes, rarely, they were people.”

This book was super slow in the first half. I’m not sure if it was because there was a lot of world building, because I’m not really sure there was, or if it was because we spent a lot of time following the characters’ every movement. I feel like this book had a lot of potential to be amazing. The magic is very cool and the world is super interesting, but I think the characters fall flat. I wasn’t very invested in their fates and was only slightly intrigued as to what they were doing and their back stories. I also didn’t really see the romantic connection between the two main characters, to me it felt completely platonic. I think this book was very plot focused and didn’t give me a lot of time to get to know the characters. I also feel like it wrapped up pretty nicely. Like, if I didn’t know this was a trilogy I would think that was the end. Overall, I enjoyed reading this and am interested in the story but I hope I feel more connected to the characters as the trilogy continues.

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