Saturday 18 February 2017

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)

6 comments:

  1. I can't believe I've not read anything by V.E. Schwab! Everyone loves her books, I need to read this asap!

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    1. I know theres a lot of hype around her books so no pressure, but they are really deserving of it! I think the best things about them are the concepts of the stories themselves. All of them are so unique and creative. If you do read any of them I hope you enjoy them!

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  2. OOOH I have heard of this book a lot! I've only read This Savage Song though, but I'm considering reading A Darker Shade of Magic and Vicious!

    I loved this review by the way. 100% short and straight to the point :)

    - Andrea at A Surge of Thunder

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    1. This Savage Song is personally my least favourite Schwab book, so if you enjoyed that then I'd highly recommend the others! My personal favourite is Vicious <3
      Ahhh thank you! This review was originally so long and a rambling mess when I posted it when I read this book a year ago, so I'm glad to hear this was good!

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  3. I haven't yet read V.E.Schwab's books! Definitely need to pick this up. Also, kudos for the diversity :) I think I'm gonna like Kell a lot :)

    Uma@Books.Bags.Burgers.

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    1. I love her writing so much, and if you like reading about really unique fantasy settings then I'd highly recommend her books! And thanks, I try to let people know about diversity whenever possible!

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