Tor Books, the publisher, dropped the ball on this one even more than the writer. Disappointingly, the middle and end of the book turned out to be more like mediocre young adult fiction, but without the coming-of-age aspect-and with slightly lower hormone levels. The beginning led me to hope for something along the lines of Jo Walton's "Tooth and Claw", or "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" by Susannah Clarke, or Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere". There were also several subject areas where the writer hadn't done her homework-especially anything to do with ships-and it showed. And then there were the cheesy lines from two-dimensional (as in poorly developed, not literally flat) villains-especially during fight scenes. The protagonists seemed to lose several IQ points, and the plot felt like a quickly made Hollywood action flick-and just as predictable. a good deal less than I had hoped.Īfter a promising first several chapters, the two protagonists-one the aforementioned grey-shaded Londoner, the second a pickpocket with aspirations of becoming a pirate-meet each other, and the book goes downhill from there. Parallel worlds, regency London, and a world-shifting protagonist with some definite shades of grey. I read the sample chapter and was intrigued. Schwab has given us a gem of a tale.This is a book to treasure."-Deborah Harkeness, New York Times bestselling author of the All Souls trilogyĪt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
"A Darker Shade of Magic has all the hallmarks of a classic work of fantasy. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive. 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. A Darker Shade of Magic, from #1 New York Times bestselling author V.E.
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