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A review by kirnet
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
medium-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? It's complicated
1.75
I have been looking forward to this book for years of it being on my TBR, of hearing booktubers and readers and fantasy enthusiasts rave about this book. It seems like everyone has read this book, so I went into this assuming it would be an easy 4 stars if not 5.
What a disappointment.
I’ll start with the positives, because there are a few. The cover is phenomenal, props to the illustrators (because many of these versions are stunning) for convincing me to pick this piece of shit up. I loved the idea of the world, of all of the different Londons and magic systems. Splitting them up by colors, gray London being our fugly foggy London, white London being desaturated etc were all really cool, and they did feel like distinct locations with their own cultures and histories. I liked the opening with the king and Kel, and I think it did a lot of good character and setting introduction work. I like the ideas of the characters and plot, but not the execution. The prose itself is mediocre but inoffensive, not bad. I have definitely read worse. Yeah… That’s about it.
My issues:
- The Characters: They ranged from boring to unbearable. I wanted to love Delilah so bad. A cutthroat cutpurse with dreams of piracy is on paper, right up my alley. But she, on paper, made me want to drive my head into a wall. You could tell with every word that Schwab thought that she was sooooo cool and sooo edgy and just the coolest, while in reality every fucking sentence made me hate her more. I like complex unlikable flawed female characters, but I can not stand annoying stupid characters whose decisions are framed as genius because the author loves them too much. I did love her motivations and drive for adventure, and some of her lines and actions were cool, but she was just too violent and edgy to be taken seriously. She really read like a 13 year old’s original do not steal self insert oc. Someone who realistically is used to survival will know when to pick fights and when to let things lie, when something is a trap, how to outmaneuver stronger opponents. She doesn’t, yet we are told that she is sooooo cool isn’t she the coolest. Kel was wet toast, he wasn’t awful but he certainly wasn’t interesting. I liked his relationship with Rhy, I liked his complex feelings around his “parents,” and I really liked the fact that he smuggled trinkets and felt a sense of connection to them! Unfortunately he was just really boring when it came to magic? Which is exactly the opposite of what it should be?? I did not feel any chemistry between the two of them. Rhy was fine, he’s a character archetype I really like bisexual royal whore), but I didn’t care for him enough to get invested in the stakes of his character.
-The Villains: I can’t even remember the twin’s names. They were one dimensional mustache twirling nothing. Which is fine, I guess, honestly it would probably be worse if there was more of them. Holland was easily my favorite character in the book. He’s ruthless and efficient but not comically evil. He has motive, backstory, some tragedy, an actual threatening presence. I don’t like him enough to continue the series though.
- The Pacing: Bad. Awful. The plot does not start until over 100 pages in to a 400 page book. I praised the opening scene because I do think it’s well done, and then new opening scenes just kept going. And going. While I understand that this is a world and magic system that requires some explanation, Schwab manages to explain the same fucking concepts over and over. I understand that Kel has one black eye. I understand that the different Londons have different magic. I understand magic has a verbal component. Trust me to follow along. It is such a slog to get to the actual plot, and by then I was so soured that I couldn’t stand the rest of it. The story is not innovative, not exciting, not meaningful, not precious enough to justify such a slow buildup. There were many scenes that could have been edited together to be more economical, but this is a book where you can tell that Schwab is too obsessed with her own creation to kill her darlings. The actual plot is then dragged down by Lila and Kel having to attempt to use any combined brain cells. With their backgrounds, a smuggler and a pickpocket, I was expecting some cool thieving, some rogueish cunning schemes, four dimensional plots and magic and a looming sense of danger! It was mostly them just getting jumped in various locations. Honestly, I can’t even complain about the McGuffin because I don’t remember enough about it even though I just finished the book. I have heard similar criticism of the pacing in A Secret Life so I think this might be an issue with her. Schwab’s writing and sentence structure also doesn’t have that Oomf needed for fights and high stress scenes. Honestly, it reads very politely British.
- The ending (and the stakes): Speaking of killing your darlings!Side characters that we don’t really care about die in this book, but again, I don’t know these people and I don’t want to. The pacing and the characters removed any stakes that I felt in the story, however, there was a moment in the ending that I thought was gonna turn it all around. I sincerely thought that Schwab had planned this all along, that I had fallen into her trap and that I would leave this book being a fan. I really thought she was gonna kill Rhy! I really thought she was going to leave Lila in White London and Kel and black, and then we would have has a brutal dual POV fight in the next book for them to survive and reunite. Not that I trust her to do that well, but it would have got me to pick up the next book just to see what would happen. I would have respected the move to actually hurt her characters. But, no. Rhy lives. Kel and Lila remain in Red London. I’m not sure what the fuck the climax was but the power of friendship I guess? Or the power of cool rock? The power of the spoken word? I could not tell you. It had a nice happy ending with the characters all laughing and chatting and it pissed me off!! Maybe this changes going on in the rest of the series, but as I see it now Schwab is not dedicated enough to her story or her characters to actually take the hard routes.
- Cowboy Bebop : I love Cowboy Bebop. I instantly could tell that Schwab did, too. That, and ATLA. For ATLA, many of the magic fight scenes with the elements read like she was imagining the show, that she wanted it to have this really cool mental image, but all it succeeded in doing me was reminding me that ATLA is a better story. Same with Bebop. Lila has two eyes, one glass and one fake, and they are two subtly different shades of brown. Hmm. Spike Spiegel has two eyes, one cybernetic and one real, both two subtly different shades of brown. This is an obvious set up that Lila is antari, OMG! Isn’t she so special! But it is also an incredibly recognizable and frankly distracting reference to Bebop. Spike’s eye serves a symbolic and narrative purpose, he sees the past in one and the present in the other. Never the future. It perfectly sums up his history and his character flaws, that he’s too obsessed with a past that he can’t let go and revenge to actually work towards a life. It kills him in the end! Lila lacks that depth, that significance, that honestly iconic status. It’s just a reference, which would be fine if it a) had the same amount of narrative AND symbolic weight and b) if Schwab wasn’t already so seemingly obsessed with hearing herself talk. Wear your inspirations on your sleeve, take ideas and make them your own, but your story needs to be able to stand on it’s own legs. I know that this is just mad raving, and that it truly is not that serious, but it wilted any last good grace I had for this book or series. Maybe she should try being original, because when she is it actually works! To sum up, watch the Hbomberguy video about RWBY, as it literally has this exact issue.
Was this book actually awful? No, I have read worse and worse has been written. There are redeeming qualities, but the disappointment I felt, that sinking feeling with every further page, made me hate it more than an awful but ultimately thoughtless read. Perhaps if I had read it when I was younger I would have been more attached to the characters, but as it is now I can’t stand them. I don’t plan on continuing the series, and I’m not sure I’ll give any of her further works a try. I can understand why people would love this, I can see the appeal, I also wanted to enjoy it! But I didn’t. Sigh.
What a disappointment.
I’ll start with the positives, because there are a few. The cover is phenomenal, props to the illustrators (because many of these versions are stunning) for convincing me to pick this piece of shit up. I loved the idea of the world, of all of the different Londons and magic systems. Splitting them up by colors, gray London being our fugly foggy London, white London being desaturated etc were all really cool, and they did feel like distinct locations with their own cultures and histories. I liked the opening with the king and Kel, and I think it did a lot of good character and setting introduction work. I like the ideas of the characters and plot, but not the execution. The prose itself is mediocre but inoffensive, not bad. I have definitely read worse. Yeah… That’s about it.
My issues:
- The Characters: They ranged from boring to unbearable. I wanted to love Delilah so bad. A cutthroat cutpurse with dreams of piracy is on paper, right up my alley. But she, on paper, made me want to drive my head into a wall. You could tell with every word that Schwab thought that she was sooooo cool and sooo edgy and just the coolest, while in reality every fucking sentence made me hate her more. I like complex unlikable flawed female characters, but I can not stand annoying stupid characters whose decisions are framed as genius because the author loves them too much. I did love her motivations and drive for adventure, and some of her lines and actions were cool, but she was just too violent and edgy to be taken seriously. She really read like a 13 year old’s original do not steal self insert oc. Someone who realistically is used to survival will know when to pick fights and when to let things lie, when something is a trap, how to outmaneuver stronger opponents. She doesn’t, yet we are told that she is sooooo cool isn’t she the coolest. Kel was wet toast, he wasn’t awful but he certainly wasn’t interesting. I liked his relationship with Rhy, I liked his complex feelings around his “parents,” and I really liked the fact that he smuggled trinkets and felt a sense of connection to them! Unfortunately he was just really boring when it came to magic? Which is exactly the opposite of what it should be?? I did not feel any chemistry between the two of them. Rhy was fine, he’s a character archetype I really like bisexual royal whore), but I didn’t care for him enough to get invested in the stakes of his character.
-The Villains: I can’t even remember the twin’s names. They were one dimensional mustache twirling nothing. Which is fine, I guess, honestly it would probably be worse if there was more of them. Holland was easily my favorite character in the book. He’s ruthless and efficient but not comically evil. He has motive, backstory, some tragedy, an actual threatening presence. I don’t like him enough to continue the series though.
- The Pacing: Bad. Awful. The plot does not start until over 100 pages in to a 400 page book. I praised the opening scene because I do think it’s well done, and then new opening scenes just kept going. And going. While I understand that this is a world and magic system that requires some explanation, Schwab manages to explain the same fucking concepts over and over. I understand that Kel has one black eye. I understand that the different Londons have different magic. I understand magic has a verbal component. Trust me to follow along. It is such a slog to get to the actual plot, and by then I was so soured that I couldn’t stand the rest of it. The story is not innovative, not exciting, not meaningful, not precious enough to justify such a slow buildup. There were many scenes that could have been edited together to be more economical, but this is a book where you can tell that Schwab is too obsessed with her own creation to kill her darlings. The actual plot is then dragged down by Lila and Kel having to attempt to use any combined brain cells. With their backgrounds, a smuggler and a pickpocket, I was expecting some cool thieving, some rogueish cunning schemes, four dimensional plots and magic and a looming sense of danger! It was mostly them just getting jumped in various locations. Honestly, I can’t even complain about the McGuffin because I don’t remember enough about it even though I just finished the book. I have heard similar criticism of the pacing in A Secret Life so I think this might be an issue with her. Schwab’s writing and sentence structure also doesn’t have that Oomf needed for fights and high stress scenes. Honestly, it reads very politely British.
- The ending (and the stakes): Speaking of killing your darlings!
- Cowboy Bebop : I love Cowboy Bebop. I instantly could tell that Schwab did, too. That, and ATLA. For ATLA, many of the magic fight scenes with the elements read like she was imagining the show, that she wanted it to have this really cool mental image, but all it succeeded in doing me was reminding me that ATLA is a better story. Same with Bebop.
Was this book actually awful? No, I have read worse and worse has been written. There are redeeming qualities, but the disappointment I felt, that sinking feeling with every further page, made me hate it more than an awful but ultimately thoughtless read. Perhaps if I had read it when I was younger I would have been more attached to the characters, but as it is now I can’t stand them. I don’t plan on continuing the series, and I’m not sure I’ll give any of her further works a try. I can understand why people would love this, I can see the appeal, I also wanted to enjoy it! But I didn’t. Sigh.