A Darker Shade of Magic // hooked from the very first page

The first book in V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic had me hooked from the very first page.

Schwab's universe contain four parallel universes, all connected by one city with a shared name: London. The doors between Londons have been long closed, but as a rare blood magician, Kell can travel between them. In his travels Kell finds a relic with a corruptive power, and with the help of Lila, a thief and aspiring pirate with a habit of violence, they must travel between worlds to eliminate it.

The writing in this series is simply gorgeous. I cannot express this enough: Schwab really knows how to write. It's the kind of writing that has enough detail to fully immerse you in the world you're reading about, which is so vital to the success of this book. A Darker Shade of Magic deals with some complicated concepts, and yet Schwab glides through them with ease.

Schwab masters a perfect combination of writing, characters, concepts and plot in her books. In my reread, I found that the pace was a little slow in order to build up this magnificent world, but the effort is so utterly worth it. Kell's world is one I want to get lost in, and one that I would happily explore again and again.

"I'm not going to die," she said. "Not till I've seen it."
"Seen what?"
Her smile widened. "Everything." 

Warnings: blood, death, violence, self-harm
Diversity Note: genderfluid character and POC bisexual character (labels not specified in book)