I’ve been in the mood to read a fantasy book for a while now and I’m happy to have started with A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab.
In this story, there isn’t only one London, but instead there’s four. First there’s Grey London, a dull and plain version of the city without magic. Next there’s Red London, a city filled with vibrant life, color, and magic. White London is fraught with a ruthless magical war. Lastly, there’s Black London, a place whose doors have closed forever.
Kell is one of the last and only magicians who can travel between the worlds and he serves as a messenger for and member of the royalty of Red London. Unbeknownst to the King and Queen, Kell secretly (and illegally) smuggles items from each of the worlds back into his own. When he accidentally smuggles an artifact from Black London that is dangerously powerful, he realizes that he’s in huge trouble. As Kell does his best to dispose of the stone, he meets Lila Bard, a bold and incredibly capable thief, who joins him on this adventure.
London is one of my favorite cities in the world and I was excited to see it brought to life in multiple different worlds. I thought that Schwab did a wonderful job creating extremely interesting and likable characters. I especially admired Kell’s honor and the Lila’s bravery throughout the story.
I really enjoyed this fast-paced adventure and am already looking forward to opening up the next book in the series, A Gathering of Shadows.
Dream by Day 
I’ve seen a lot of buzz about V.E. Schwab’s writing, but this is the first review I’ve read—and this book sounds amazing! I love London and the idea of having four different versions of it is thrilling. I think I’ll have to check this out now! 🙂
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I’m so glad to hear that! The four versions of London were what originally caught my attention (I love London too!) and it was really interesting to read about each. The characters in the story are also pretty great!
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Oh man! I’m so close to finishing up studying for and taking this CISSP exam. Once I do I’m going full-on fun reading mode. I’ve added so many books to my Goodreads list but promised I’d wait to read those until I got done studying (my motivation). I can’t wait! I’m getting tired of reading about cryptography and disaster recovery plans, haha.
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This book has been sitting on my stack of books on my floor for quite awhile and I keep meaning to get to it! Glad to see you enjoyed it 🙂
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This book had been on my shelf for awhile too! I really enjoyed it so I hope you have a chance to read it soon!
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Glad to hear you enjoyed this one. I keep reading wonderful reviews. It’s on my wish list!
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It’s well written with such a fun story! I hope you can read it soon!
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