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.
The Review
A Darker Shade of Magic is an incredibly fun adventure story that follows Kell, a rare type of magician called an Antari, and Lila, a wanna-be pirate. Kell is basically a time-traveling mailman who has an obsession with Grey London, the non-magical world that you and I would most likely exist in. Lila is a young woman who is quite cheeky and easily the character that tugged the most on my heartstrings. She is bold, naive, and very much the last person you would expect to save the world. Truth is, Lila is a glorified thief who dreams of adventure even at the expense of her own safety and that of the few people she loves. Four worlds have been sealed off from each other: Red London--the healthy realm that coexists with magic; Grey London--the closest to our world; White London--the shield protecting the others and suffering from magical sickness. This land was fascinating, the constant unrest of political power, the sick landscapes, the starving people. Finally, Black London which is basically shrouded in mystery. What we do know is that it is a place of evil and darkness and the other Londons are not as secure as once believed. I must confess that perhaps the unknnown aspect is what drove me to read this book. (I wonder how the pages of my copy weren't scorched from the rate at which I turned the pages!) The biggest flaw of this book is that I wanted to know more of the worlds, of the magic and of the people. Dare I say this is one story I think info-dumping would have been appreciated. The cultures of Red and White Londons are fleetingly touched upon, but I'd have liked to know more of their politics, people, and seen the difference in the way magic is (ab)used a little more than Schwab did. Not to sound ungrateful... Kell is forced into possession of a deadly relic (and forced in keeping company with Lila, for that matter) from Black London, a world torn apart by rampant and untempered abuse of magic. We see this relic's power in a number ways, but each is absolutely brilliant and grotesque. Schwab's style is lovely and one gets a taste of her wit which is definitely top-notch. While I found fault with the pacing, espcially in the beginning, the more that I read the more entangled I became. She is an ink enchantress, to be sure. The ending is quite abrupt though it does indicate that this is to be a series and I've been forcing myself to consider why she stopped the way she did. Certainly t here is much more to be seen and this is one series that I will definitely be reading and recommending to anyone with a sense of adventure and a love for magic.
