Where the book really shines is in how the characters interact with, resist, and call out those tropes.
If you’re a Diana Wynne Jones fan, you’ll recognize bits of Howl’s Moving Castle and the Chrestomanci series. Schwab added her own twists to a standard parallel worlds trope. The magical system here is fascinating even though it’s not especially unique. Which is how he meets Lila, a young pickpocket who steals a powerful artifact that puts her in the crosshairs between the Antaris. As one of only two Antaris left, the other being a cruel White Londoner named Holland, Kell has the ability to jump between the worlds. Now, magic is nearly depleted in White London and Grey London (our world) it’s little more than an old story. Years ago, there were doors between all four Londons, but when Black London imploded with too much dangerous magic, Red London shut its doors. Kell lives in Red London, a city bursting with magic. Although I finished it a little over a month ago, I still find my mind wandering over to Lila and Kell. Given how phenomenal A Darker Shade of Magic was, if nothing else I need to move the rest of the Shades of Magic series higher up in my To Read queue. Schwab’s work as I’d like (so far only this, Vicious, This Savage Song, and Our Dark Duet).
I haven’t had the chance to read as much of V.E. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.” (via Goodreads) Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. 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. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.Īfter an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. 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. “ 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.
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