A review by 12dejamoo
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Nothing really happened in this book, but not in an 'ooh it's character driven it's just quirky' way, more in a massive build-up for absolutely no payoff. And Lila is one of the most insanely irritating characters I've ever encountered. Kell is constantly telling her that he knows more than her about the magic stuff (which he obviously does) and she just blatantly ignores him. Also she decides to lowkey sexually harass him on their second meeting and it's really glossed over (???????).

This book does win on concept but I think the execution wasn't anything to write home about. Every time a funny/interesting/fun side character was introduced, they were either killed off or disappear from the story, or just end up being such background characters they may as well not be there. Even Kell is kind of just a boring character - where is the book about Rhy's antics because I'd rather read that than this.
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