A Darker Shade of Magic Review

This week's novel is A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab.  This one was recommended by my mom, who gets a gold star. 

Kell can travel between worlds.  There are four of these worlds, stacked one on top of another like pages in a book: boring and magicless Grey London, opulent Red London, power hungry White London, and destroyed by its own evilness Black London.  When an artifact from Black London pops up and starts possessing people and luring them towards overwhelming, evil magic, Kell has to carry it across dimensions to destroy it. He's pursued by minions of White London and aided by a thief from Grey London who fancies herself a pirate.

I liked this book.  I liked the characters and I felt for them and understood where they were coming from.  The action had a clear direction and chugged right along.  And the world building was new and shiny and neat.

The thing I liked most about the world building was how each London had its own feel, its own atmosphere.  I like how the different levels of magic affected each culture in a systemic, pervasive way.  I liked how each culture treated magic differently and had different philosophies about its use.  Black London let it overwhelm them, White London wrestled it into submission, and Red London treated it like an equal.  I also liked how there wasn't an obvious right answer for how to best use magic and Kell kept wondering if maybe he should show more dominance over it or if he should let it take control of him.

I also liked that the plot tied everything up.  Characters introduced earlier in the story came back and had purpose.  Chaos strewn through Grey London was addressed and resolved (even if a bit anticlimactically).  Little bits and pieces, that never felt as though they were just there to be used later, all come together in interesting ways.  For example: Lila, the thief, wears a disguise when she steals things.  Rhy, the prince, is having a masquerade birthday party because he's a flamboyant party animal.  And those come together and it's neat.

At the same time that all the plot threads are tied up, there's still lingering tension in the characters' relationships because of the fallout of the book's events.  There will be repercussions and the emotional effects are not over.  I appreciate that.  I don't see it as a set up for the next book, but I do hope that relationships and tone will have changed in the next story.

Side note: it's weird how much Kell sucks at using his magic in battle.  Every time a fight started I thought, "Oh yeah!  Epic magic battle!  Kell's so great, he's going to kick all the ass!" and then "This time he's going to kick all the ass and get some payback and show improvement," and then "Okay.  He's gotta win this one and it'll be all the more climactic for all his failures."  "..."  It's not something you see very often.

***

Next week's book is The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher.

Holy cow!  I'm glad I finished early, because in an earlier draft of this post I'd said I would next read something (without naming names) that has since gone on my Abandoned List because it was awful.