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A review by lanternheart
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
5.0
Simply put, this book was a delight to read. For a longtime lover of fantasy who thought the world of adult-audience fantasy had little to offer that seemed new (all sword-fights and post-George-R.R.-Martin-dragons-and-diplomats landscapes), I relished this book, and can't wait to get my hands on the second quite soon!
One of the many things I loved about Schwab's writing, and the only one I shall go into detail about, was the development of the dynamic between Kell and Lila. Not only was it slow-paced, given time to grow despite the book's relative quick-paced action, but it was fully allowed to do so. In comparison to much young adult fantasy, or even adult-audience fantasy, that I've read before and become disappointed with, Kell and Lila's friendship was allowed to develop and ally itself before the book ended, before they'd even kissed (twice). Though the book ends with the two having kissed and found something of "feelings" for one another, it does not overly throw the two into this newfound relationship: they aren't professing starry-eyed love for each other and only each other, having sex like it's the end of the world, or already thinking about growing old together. This is a new relationship, a new friendship, and it's allowed to be such through Schwab's writing.
The characters are believably, achingly human (even if they're Antari - shush, allow me a metaphor), partially because despite their fantastical settings, they share our struggles. How much of power, when given to us, is a good thing, is found in the stone. Lila's desire to escape her mundane life in Grey London is a slice of our own desire, as readers, to escape into Schwab's lushly painted and power-tainted landscape, and the author allows us to get carried alongside her and an ever-increasingly richly developed Kell. I'll admit, I thought he would be one-dimensional at the book's beginning, and I was struck at the end by just how wrong that initial assumption had been.
I ate this book up, and I cannot wait to devour the next. I know I'll be eagerly gunning for my library card tomorrow.
One of the many things I loved about Schwab's writing, and the only one I shall go into detail about, was the development of the dynamic between Kell and Lila. Not only was it slow-paced, given time to grow despite the book's relative quick-paced action, but it was fully allowed to do so. In comparison to much young adult fantasy, or even adult-audience fantasy, that I've read before and become disappointed with, Kell and Lila's friendship was allowed to develop and ally itself before the book ended, before they'd even kissed (twice). Though the book ends with the two having kissed and found something of "feelings" for one another, it does not overly throw the two into this newfound relationship: they aren't professing starry-eyed love for each other and only each other, having sex like it's the end of the world, or already thinking about growing old together. This is a new relationship, a new friendship, and it's allowed to be such through Schwab's writing.
The characters are believably, achingly human (even if they're Antari - shush, allow me a metaphor), partially because despite their fantastical settings, they share our struggles. How much of power, when given to us, is a good thing, is found in the stone. Lila's desire to escape her mundane life in Grey London is a slice of our own desire, as readers, to escape into Schwab's lushly painted and power-tainted landscape, and the author allows us to get carried alongside her and an ever-increasingly richly developed Kell. I'll admit, I thought he would be one-dimensional at the book's beginning, and I was struck at the end by just how wrong that initial assumption had been.
I ate this book up, and I cannot wait to devour the next. I know I'll be eagerly gunning for my library card tomorrow.