The characterisation certainly isn’t a strength of the book, but I did warm up to Lila over the course of the story as she became more interesting. Over the course of the book, I did not find that Kell became any more compelling, but Lila did, and her character was enough to keep me reading. Kell is a brooding fantasy hero who has to Resist the Dark Side, and Lila is a scrappy, feisty female sidekick – really, she reads exactly like one of Stephen Moffatt’s women. They feel a little bit too much like stock fantasy characters, a little too flat, especially towards the start. I think my hesitation when trying to work out if I enjoyed it was based primarily on these characters. The story centres around Kell, and another character, Lila, a pickpocket from Grey London. It took me a while to decide whether I liked it, even after I had finished reading it, but on balance I think I did. Firstly, it was the group read for the fellowship challenge in the Fantasy Adventureathon, and secondly one of my friends bought it for me as a birthday present. I’ve never read anything by VE Schwab (or Victoria Schwab, the name she uses for her young adult novels), and I might honestly never have picked up A Darker Shade of Magic if not for two things. There is a fourth London, though: Black London, where three hundred years ago, the magic took control. Each of these Londons has a different approach to magic – in Red London, Kell’s home, it is everywhere and it is revered in White London, it is a feared and dangerous weapon, wielded by despots and in Grey London, magic is scarcely present – plenty of people no longer believe in it. The protagonist, Kell, is able to use his magic to travel between parallel Londons – Red, White, and Grey.

A Darker Shade of Magicis the first book in the Shades of London series by VE Schwab.

Darker shade of magic series