Review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Title: A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab

Published: January 19th 2016

Format: Kindle

Pages: 401

Goodreads Summary: Most people only know one London; but what if there were several? Kell is one of the last Travelers—magicians with a rare ability to travel between parallel Londons. There’s Grey London, dirty and crowded and without magic, home to the mad king George III. There’s Red London, where life and magic are revered. Then, White London, ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. But once upon a time, there was Black London…

MY THOUGHTS:

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟  KELL-STASTIC STARS

I LOVED THIS BOOK. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

This glorious, unique concept of parallel Londons left me starving for more. Thank god there’s only 7 more days that I have to wait for the next book to release. Unfortunately, this review isn’t going to be very helpful because I can’t think straight and the fangirling doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon.

At first, A darker shade of magic was kind of hard to get into. The whole system of magic seemed a little confusing to me and I wasn’t very interested. The 4 Londons is a unique and fantastic idea and may seem like a lot to remember, but Lila sum’s it up perfectly:

“Sure I do,” countered Lila cheerfully. “There’s Dull London, Kell London, Creepy London, and Dead London,” she recited, ticking them off on her fingers. “See? I’m a fast learner.”

I even doubted whether I should continue reading (oh the horror!) and I’m so glad I did. This book was an incredible journey as it was full of awesomeness. It’s too bad I read this in kindle format because the whole time I was reading, I wished I had the actual book in my hand to turn the pages and breathe the awesomeness in. XD

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

The characters were amazing. Kell is totally a swoon-worthy hero and Lila is just precious. They’re both very lovable, strong and loyal characters. I swear the book became much more exciting when these two met. Together they make a kickass team and I can’t wait to read more of them. They’re both similar and different in many ways. 

I especially loved how they drew strength from each other in desperate times. I totally ship them.

The action, magic, fighting scenes were so well written that I didn’t want this book to ever end. I highly recommend ADSOM. It has everything you could want in a fantasy book with magic. The bad guys were truly crazy, the author definitely didn’t water down their terrible actions which made the book even better.

This is definitely going into my favorite books list.