Kell is one of the last Travelers—rare magicians who choose a parallel universe to visit. Grey London is dirty, boring, lacks magic, ruled by mad King George. Red London is where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. White London is ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. People fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. Once there was Black London - but no one speaks of that now. Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see. This dangerous hobby sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to another world for her 'proper adventure'. But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive — trickier than they hoped. Summary via Goodreads A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E Schwab (aka Victoria Schwab) was published in February 2015 under Tor. This novel is the first in a series and it Victoria’s second novel in science fiction/fantasy realm (her other books are young adult books). I have to say, I picked this book up on a whim. I kept seeing it on my twitter feed and was like what is this book I see magic hmmmm and so I decided to check it out. Thank the stars I did decide to. The summary itself was enough to intrigue me to the point that I instantly went and bought the book and then jumped into it blind. ADSOM was just fantastic. I had never read any of Victoria’s books so this was a completely unbiased reading. I fell in love with how Victoria wrote out her characters (Kell <3) and her world building was fantastic. At first, I was slightly confused by the worlds but I quickly understood what was happening and kept reading in eager anticipation of the two main characters meeting up. I have to say, if you've never read anything by Victoria Schwab, then this book is the perfect place to start. (Also, if you didn't know, the book went through so many printings. I think it hit 2nd printing just a few days after it came out—if that’s not a sign of a good book then I don’t know what is). I just could not put this book down and it’s definitely one of my favorite books of all time. Also, if you were looking for a great novel without romance, this is the book! There are subtle hints are it, but the book doesn't revolve around romance at all. So if you like London, royalty, badass females, magic, and just fantastic novels, then pick up this book and try it out! I swear you won’t be disappointed. If you haven’t read ADSOM, then go and read the book and then come back to discuss! (warning: long review/rave ahead) -Talia CAN I JUST SAY THAT I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS BOOK AND DON’T YOU DARE TELL ME OTHERWISE. I am just utterly captivated by this novel and I’m still crying tears over how perfect it was. I need the next book. Now. It needs to be in my hands so I can devour it and cry and then need the next book. Please? I kid you not, when the book arrived I screamed so loudly that I got some weird looks from the neighbors :) (and yes by that point I had already read it digitally on my phone haha)
ADSOM was such a thrilling ride and I absolutely loved the world building and the characters and just everything! So I’ll first start with the plot. Three (technically four) Londons. How cool is that? And none of them know that the other exists except for the royals and the avid collectors and the Antari and stars that’s just brilliant. We have Red London (where Kell is from) and it’s the London filled with magic, not just limited to the Antari (even though the Antari are still the most powerful). Then, we have Grey London (which is based off of our real life London) where magic was cut off and everything was left to become mundane (this is also where Lila is from). There’s also White London, where magic hasn’t died, but is ruled by sibling rulers who are quite sadistic (also Holland T_T). And then we have Black London, where we never actually visit, but get quite a feel for. Each London gets its own time to develop and I think that Victoria did a fantastic job evenly giving time to each London and letting the reader really connect to each London. All in all, I really want to live in Red London haha. On to the characters! I love these characters so much it’s almost impossible to get across how much I love them without doing a huge keyboard smash (which isn’t too appropriate for a book review but it’s definitely how I feel). So to start, I’ll begin with our wonderful main character, Kell. How to explain Kell, other than perfection? There’s so much to say about him and it’s hard to figure out where to start. As much as I like reading from female POVs, there’s just something intriguing about reading from a guy’s POV and having it flow well (so kudos to you, Victoria, because reading from Kell’s POV was just wonderful). Kell, isn’t your average human. In fact, he’s not even human. He’s an Antari and he has one eye that is completely black (the mark of the Antari). I’m quite fascinated by the Antari but we don’t get to see too much about them considering Kell is one of the two Antari left in the world. I really liked seeing the struggle in him to have the urge for more power and how he had to fight against it and his overall development. Also, the name Kell. I absolutely love it. It’s so unique and perfect. I also wanted to know more about Kell’s backstory (praying we get that in ADSOM2) and find out what Kell can’t remember (like what is his actual name? because he said that the initials he saw were K.L. which sounded together as Kell) and how will he manage to regain his memories? What was so important that he was forced to forget it? Does this information have anything to do with his heritage or with Black London? I need to know UGH. And on a random side note, we have Kell’s coat, which is one of my favorite things about the novel. There’s a coat that’s not just double sided—oh no. It’s... many-sided. How many sides? Well, no one really knows. But Kell can change his coats to fit the style in whatever London he chooses to go to and just man that coat is bomb I actually really want one (no more buying multiple jackets? One jacket = all the jackets you could ever need? Perfect. Someone go and invent this please). So overall, Kell = life. Next, we have Delilah Bard, aka Lila, cross dressing thief and aspiring pirate (as well as overall badass woman). Although she comes into the novel a bit later, there’s no mistaking that Lila is important and sets off quite a few events. She also appears to be a potential candidate for Kell’s romantic interest (I MEAN THOSE KISSES THO yes please I so ship it). Lila, herself, was just such a great character and contrasted against Kell in many ways that they ended up bettering each other and were able to rely on each other and IT WAS JUST SO PERFECT. I wanted more of Lila, so I can’t wait to see her again in the next book! Also, Lila just being badass and saving Kell all the time, how great is that? Now, about Lila’s eye and the power she has inside of her... Since she was able to make it back without the rock, I’m wondering if Lila herself is an Antari. I mean I know it might just seem like she’s one, but I seriously was thinking that she was one. The hidden power she has, and the fact that she’s from Grey London. See, the two other Antari were from Red London and White London respectively, yes? So why not Grey London? Yeah, Grey London doesn’t have magic anymore, but Kell and Holland were still able to travel to it. Perhaps not all magic is dead there? Or at least the magic that the Antari hold. I’m super excited to see how things pan out! Now, let me talk a little bit about the other characters. I absolutely love Rhy and was devastated when he died. I really liked his personality and how he realized he was wrong for believing Holland and just in general how he wants to be a good ruler and genuinely cares for Kell. I’m super interested how this new bond-thing is going to play out in the next book because if Kell/Rhy dies, then so does the other and they’re tied together with black magic and I’m just super excited to see what happens. Will Rhy be able to use magic finally? Or will the black magic inside of him corrupt him? Will he stay weak? How will this affect Kell? UGH. Also, as I mentioned, I love how Rhy cares for Kell and I love that they really are brothers, even if they aren’t related. Also, if Kell’s memories come back, how will Rhy react to that? It was the royal family that sealed Kell’s memories, wasn’t it? Please don’t hurt Rhy the precious baby has gone through much pain already (he died okay) T_T Holland, Holland, Holland, my child T_T I was literally in so much pain the entire time I read about Holland because I could tell that it wasn’t him and that he probably had a tragic backstory and THEN HE DID and I just wanted to cry oh goodness. I really liked Holland (even though I know others didn’t) and he just didn’t deserve anything that happened to him. Speaking of Holland, I thought it was interesting that there was a certain smell in the air when the Antari used their magic and I wonder why that happens? And what does the smell have to do with their magic? How does it correlate? While I didn’t hate Holland, I absolutely despised Athos and Astrid. They disgusted me and when they finally died, I was saying good riddance. I didn’t like them, but after they cut Holland and drank his blood I was totally done with them (and this was on page 104, so pretty early on in the book) and I couldn’t stand them. Also, what was the significance of them drinking his blood? I don’t think it gave them powers or anything. Also, blood for a drink? Gross. Thank god they died. To be honest, I might have laughed a little bit when they did... oops. I fell in love with this book and it’s one of my favorite books of all time now. I just adore the novel and I’m eagerly anticipating the next one. Victoria manages to just knock me off my feet and I feel that all the hype for this book was totally worth it. This book is one of the few books I’d give a 4.9999999999 stars to out of 5 (and I say 4.9 because in my mind there’s no such thing as a perfect book). The book is beautiful and perfect and there’s just no words to really describe how amazing and fantabulous this book is. Favorite (or one of them) Quote: “Lila’s brow crinkled as she realized what he was saying. ‘I thought you said—’ ‘I said Rhy forgave them.’ Kell pushed to his feet. ‘I never said I did.’ Lila stared at him, not with shock or horror, but a measure of respect. Kell rolled his shoulders and smoothed his coat. ‘I guess we better star looking.’” (page 258) BADASS KELL BEING BADASS HOW COULD YOU NOT LOVE THIS MAN I DO NOT KNOW That’s all for now! Comment below and discuss! What do you think might happen in the next book, and who is your favorite character?
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