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A Darker Shade of Magic: Unpopular Opinon


SYNOPSIS

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand. After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

Author: V.E. Schwab

Page Count: 400 pages

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 3 stars

Publisher: Tor Books

Release Date: February 25, 2015

MILANA'S REVIEW

Do you ever get really nervous to read a series that has such raving reviews and hype surrounding it? Do you tip toe into the book and wonder why everyone seems to adore it? Those of you who have read this book and loved it brace yourself.. because this is an unpopular opinion coming at you!

Lila Bard​.. Lila and I did not hit it off. I really, really wanted to love her. I wanted to be best pals. Except I found Lila’s personality and “bad-ass” attitude completely forced. My favourite female characters (Paige Mahoney, October Daye, Flavia De Luce, etc) are so effortlessly amazing and I had an extremely hard time believing in Lila.

The 500 times we are told Kell has a black eye!!! This is a huge pet peeve of mine. REPETITION. It drives me insane. I wanted to throw the book at the wall. It truly felt as though every other page we were reminded of his black eye. I understand it is an important feature in these books but I couldn’t get on board.

The world, the writing, the everything?

Sigh. BIG SIGH. I had previously read This Savage Song by Schwab and found her writing rocky for me personally. I cannot seem to ride the Schwab train. Her writing does not do it for me. Which is strange because at the same time I fly through her books! So this is quite the conundrum. The world was muddled for me. I could not separate the Londons! I realize this is not a hard concept but there was no pivotal originality in the worlds for me. Guys, maybe I was just too sleep deprived?

Now what? Do I read the second book? Do I read Vicious? I was told I may like Vicious more but can I muster up the energy to read another Schwab book? We shall see…


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