Reviews with content warning for Violence - Mroczniejszy odcień magii

This is the opening book in what is currently a fantasy trilogy, though perhaps it will expand to additional books. The second sentence tripped me up(*), but after that I raced through the book. The setting is compelling: adjoining worlds with different versions of London - Red London, rich in magic; Grey London, poor in magic and closest to our own; Black London, sealed off from the others; White London, fallen, as the book describes it, "to chaos and conquering. Blood and ash."

Kell, one of the book's two chief protagonists, has the exceedingly rare ability to travel between the worlds. Lila, the other main protagonist, is a cutpurse whom readers are clearly meant to find likable. I did. I liked both the main characters considerably. I came close to liking the book very much, but stopped short and merely liked it.

Two things put me off. Firstly, the level and amount of brutality exceeded my comfort zone. Secondly, to me, the book felt manipulative. The book's popularity indicates my reaction is atypical, so don't attach much weight to this. I like to care about characters in stories and to react emotionally to fictional events, but, with "A Darker Shade of Magic," I sometimes felt those reactions were scripted by the author. For instance, spoiler warning for details,

sympathetic minor characters are killed rather summarily. We are shown the point-of-view of Barron, a tavern-keeper, for a few pages, just enough to make him likable, before he is killed. His death reinforces the enemy's villainy and gives one of the main characters brief pause, but seems largely gratuitious. Similarly, we follow a royal bodyguard, Parrish, in a couple of scenes -- he's also very likable -- then both he and his partner bodyguard die. Their deaths upset me and, more so, the fact that we don't see Kell or Rhy grieving for them. Likewise, I felt I was being steered to sympathize with Lila from the second scene where a man she knows well tries to rape her.

Three and a half out of five shaded stars.

(*) The second sentence, which describes a coat, is: "It had neither one side, which would be conventional, nor two, which would be unexpected, but *several*, which was, of course, impossible." The sentence wants to establish say that this is no ordinary coat, nor even a reversible coat, but instead a magical coat. I tripped up because I consider ordinary coats as having an inside and an outside, plus a front and a back, plus a left and a right, i.e. multiple ways that an ordinary coat has more than one side. I'd consider this a minor stumble later on in the story, but it was offputting for the second sentence.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

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eabecker05's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

The start (and by that I mean the first 3rd of the book) was a bit slow, but it def got exponentially better once Kell and Lila's paths crossed.

I liked the characters (even though they felt kind of empty at times--maybe because so much of their past was unknown). I thought the plot was interesting enough, but it wasn't anything earth shattering. I did enjoy the book, and will most likely continue with the series, but after finishing the book and thinking "wow, I liked that" the immediate next thought was "wait what even happened?"

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jkneebone's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This book has been recommended to me by multiple friends over the years, and I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading it! A Darker Shade of Magic is set in a fantasy world where multiple worlds, specifically multiple Londons, are layered on top of each other, with only a few people with rare, powerful magic can move between them. There's non-magical Grey London, what we'd recognize as "our" world; Red London, which is lush and richly powerful; White London, where magic is scarce and people will fight desperately to control it; and Black London, which has been cut off from the world for spawning a magic so powerful it almost tore down all four Londons.

We're introduced to these worlds through Kell, who is an Antari from Red London - e.g. he is able to travel between worlds, and works for the crown. Kell is also a smuggler, and he gets into trouble when he's tricked into bringing a dangerous magical artifact from White London back to Red. At the same time, we meet Lila Bard, a girl from Grey London with a taste for adventure, who meets Kell in her world and convinces him to bring her back to Red London with him.

I don't want to say too much more about the plot for feel of spoiling it (even though the book has been out many years at this point), but this is just the kind of fantasy I like best - the magic is a little wild and dangerous; the characters are sharp and a little morally grey; the world is fantastical but secrets lurk under the surface. Although I wasn't hooked in a frantic way (I read it over the course of a couple of weeks) I was very interested in the plot as it progressed. I also appreciated that it could be wrapped up after the first book; honestly I might not even read the rest of the series, because although I have some questions I would like answered

(Kell's past!!)

I am happy with where it ended, and the last V.E. Schwab sequel I read did not live up to my expectations haha.

Highly recommend for fantasy lovers, especially if you like when the characters lean more pirate thief/dashing smuggler than heroic knight or pious princess. Characters are around 18, but definitely appropriate for mature middle school - there's some violence and gore in the context of fights, but nothing egregious.

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meetmeinheaven's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What a masterpiece…V.E Schwab never disappoints and this is one as well.
I will jump straight into the next book, but before i leave to the world of Londons i have to say a bit more.
This story is addictinggg ahhhhh…
I loved the slight banter between our two main characters and i loved the world building. It is such a unique concept of traveling and magic.
I have to say in the beginning i was sometimes not really sure,where i was but with time it got better and more destinctive.
Loooooovveed this book!

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