Teodora 's Reviews > A Darker Shade of Magic

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
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it was amazing
bookshelves: on-app, fantasy, ya, adult-new-adult, owned, favorites

4.5/5 ⭐
Full review on my Blog: The Dacian She-Wolf 🐺
“Magic was truly a beautiful disease.”

Up until now, I haven’t read a single Schwab book that disappointed me to the point I’d hate it.
And A Darker Shade of Magic is no exception. I bloody loved it!

Do you know that feeling you have when you start a new video game and your character simply drops in the middle of everything that’s going on and you have no idea what is happening but you already feel like you are part of a whole new world?

Well, that’s how I felt about the world V.E. Schwab created for us in this magical series.

From the very beginning, I was fascinated by the insanely good world-building. It doesn’t take much to get me on board, but when you know how to build up your world so that I feel like I’m right there in the middle of it all – I’m definitely your girl.
“Battles may be fought from the outside in, but wars are won from the inside out.”

The atmosphere was filled with magic and a distinct note of dystopia. It also used to change from London to London.

The concept of this whole world was that there were multiple worlds overlapping each other. The centre of the action was London.

There was a Grey London (magicless, dull, poor, simple), a Red London (vibrant, filled with beauty, magic, wealth), a White London (dangerous, rotten, bloodthirsty) and a Black London (which was nothing more than blackness and nothingness now).
Pretty neat concept, don’t you think?
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Kell, one of the most important characters in this series, has a somehow unique gift: he is one of the very, very few people (and by very, very few I mean two) who are able to travel between those overlapping worlds.

The rest of the people either have no idea that other Londons exist or they can’t do anything about it because they lack the ability to travel between them.

I can honestly say that I fell in love with Kell from the beginning. There was something interesting, alluring about him and about the way he acted that simply aroused my interest. I wasn’t quite sure if I was supposed to like him (you never know with Schwab anyway) but by the end of the book, I was definitely pretty much in love with him.
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Lila was also a character that I loved.
Born in the magicless grey world, Lila managed to find her own way and survive the wickedness of her poverty and loneliness, aspiring to things young ladies do not, in general. Which is sad. If a girl wants to be a pirate, I’d say “Let the girl be a pirate!”. The worlds are already filled with princesses.

What I truly appreciated about Lila was that she wasn’t constructed to be pleasant to the eye. She wasn’t the usual ‘I don’t even know my own beauty’ type of character. She knew she was undesirable to men and she made sure she stayed that way.

She was an androgynous figure, prone to mischief and fascinated by men clothing and ships and the sea and she knew just right how to always turn that in her favour.
You go, Delilah Bard!
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As always, Schwab’s characters are hard to like. And that is simply because, at some degree, every single one of them has a hidden agenda.

I’m dying over there, reading and wanting to love some of them but I simply have to talk myself out of it. First, I observe, then I fall in love.
“You may be the bravest, boldest soul I’ve ever met, but you’re still too much flesh and blood and too little power.”

However, I really like the characters in the way they are constructed. There is certain evilness even in the good ones that simply adds more to their personalities because life is never about black and white.

Overall, this was a very good, imaginative book, with three-dimensional characters and an amazing storyline.
Schwab never stops amazing me with her overly complex mind and I am, yet again, a big fan of her work.
“We can’t all turn blood and whispers into weapons.”
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Quotes Teodora Liked

Victoria Schwab
“Some people steal to stay alive, and some steal to feel alive. Simple as that.”
V.E. Schwab, A Darker Shade of Magic


Reading Progress

February 10, 2019 – Shelved as: to-read
February 10, 2019 – Shelved
March 13, 2019 – Shelved as: on-app
March 21, 2019 – Shelved as: fantasy
March 21, 2019 – Shelved as: ya
September 21, 2020 – Shelved as: adult-new-adult
September 21, 2020 – Shelved as: books-i-own-but-did-not-read
September 21, 2020 – Shelved as: owned
November 19, 2020 – Started Reading
November 19, 2020 – Shelved as: soon-tbr
November 19, 2020 –
page 59
15.36% "Kell is already baby
Sorry I don't make the rules"
November 20, 2020 –
page 109
28.39% "I'm *in love* with this already"
November 21, 2020 –
page 155
40.36% "Lila when she first meets Kell

On the outside:
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On the inside:
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November 22, 2020 –
page 207
53.91% "Kiss!
For luck, ya know 👉👈"
November 23, 2020 –
page 254
66.15% "ADSOM so far
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November 24, 2020 –
page 305
79.43% "Lila's androgynous fashion sense >>>>>"
November 25, 2020 –
page 353
91.93% "description"
November 26, 2020 – Shelved as: favorites
November 26, 2020 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-8 of 8 (8 new)

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Brittni Kristine It’s an all time fave of mine!


 Teodora @Brittni I'm honestly already loving it 😍


message 3: by SoyJethro (new)

SoyJethro Teodora more like dora the explore ah

;)


Reynita ★ The Night Reader ★ Happy reading! I’ve read this and I liked it very much. 😁


 Teodora Reynita wrote: "Happy reading! I’ve read this and I liked it very much. 😁"

Thanks!
I love it already :)


Iskra Profil nije aktivan u ovo vreme. This book's perfection has no limits!


 Teodora @I Angelina Yes that's very true!


message 8: by Debra (new) - added it

Debra Terrific review, Teodora!


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