A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

I finally was able to read this book! Over the past few months, so many people have recommended this to me! I did a buddy read with Brittany @ Perfectly Tolerable ! It was a lot of fun and we are going to continue with the second book! I linked her review, if you want to see her thoughts too.

This one had a little bit of a slow start for me but once it got going, I was completely hooked. I loved the world building that Schwab does here. There are four different London’s and they each have their own world within. There’s Grey, Red, White and Black London. All these doors between worlds are locked. There’s only two people who can travel between them.

One of them is Kell. He’s Antari, which is a blood magician who can travel. He delivers news and letters between all the London’s. We do find out as we go on that there’s a little more that Kell can do. I really enjoyed his character. He lives in a grey area and kind of has these secrets from everyone around him. Although, he’s kind, charming and you can’t help just loving his character.

Then we have Lila, who is from the grey world. She’s ruthless and will do whatever it takes to get out of Grey London. She hates the drab world and will do anything to have her own ship. I really liked her and Kell’s relationship throughout the book. They meet by chance but end up on their own adventure together. Her banter had me laughing out loud at times.

There is a lot that happens in this book, once it gets going. I really enjoyed all the magic and the different worlds. Schwab has a great way with words that I was able to just imagine everything played out. In the next book, I hope to learn even more about the magic and about Black London. I feel like there’s a lot more going on there. There’s a lot of mystery around these worlds and I can’t wait to learn more.

I’m really glad that I finally picked this up and thanks to everyone who recommended it! I can’t wait to read more!