A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E Schawb

354 pages | Tor Books | Historical Fantasy | 4/21/15 | 11hrs and 34 Minutes

If there is a super popular hyped novel you can bet I will read it years after it comes out. I’m always fascinated by series that have huge fandoms and I’ve seen so much fanart and generally squeeing about this series that I don’t know what took me so long to get to it.

In A Darker Shade of Magic, there isn’t just one London, there are four–red, gray, black and white. At least that’s how Kell likes to think of it. He is an Antari, one of only two people with the ability to travel to the other Londons.

Antari are to be messengers; passing only messages between the heads of states of the various Londons, but Kell can’t help but to smuggle a few trinkets between worlds on the side. When he smuggles an item back that could destroy the Londons and tip the balance of power and magic it will take all his magical knowledge and abilities to set things right. Along the way, he gets mixed up with a Lila Bard, a thief looking for a bit of adventure and danger.

I can see why this book is a keeper. It’s got nail-biting action, sweeping adventure, and dastardly magic. I’ve read enough of Kat’s reviews of Schwab’s work to wonder just how many fully formed worlds exist in her head.

Delilah is my favorite kind of female characters, I would like more, please. She was clever, headstrong, laidback and not afraid to pull a weapon on someone. It was one of those characters where I thought I knew where they were going with her as a character and it just never goes there. Especially at the end.

Narrator Steve Crossley’s deep Britsh voice was perfect for this narration but his voice was a bit to mature for the main characters who were 19 and 21. He made the female voices work but I’m curious to see what Michael Kramer and Kate Reading (who BTW are married), who perform the other books in the series, do with the characters.

A solid fantasy that has plenty of stories left to tell.