A Darker Shade of Magic By V.E. Schwab

4.5 stars

What you need to know:

The magic in this book is tangible. Open your imagination and you will be enchanted by the clever world(s) that V.E. Schwab has built and the charismatic characters that fill it. Within four chapters I texted my sister telling her I had found a book on par magically with Harry Potter. Then I got nervous. What if I put too much faith in this writer that I had just recently picked up? But even then, I could not forfeit the overwhelming respect I had already gained from the ambition of the concept and the bright writing that illustrates it. And I was not let down.

The Longer Version:

This morning I tweeted: "A Darker Shade of Magic returned to me a sense of imagination and magic that I thought I left with Harry Potter. I am so grateful." And I stand by it. Obviously, the connection I have (and so many of us have) with HP is beyond comparison, but there's some inexplicable feeling I garnered from ADSOM that stemmed from a similar place--perhaps it was the fact that the Stone's Throw, a local pub on the "seam" of worlds, in my mind, shared familiar, warm characteristics with the Leaky Cauldron. Or maybe it was the awkward, unwieldy friendship between our two cheeky protags, Kell and Lila, becoming a powerful unspoken bond of trust. Or the brilliantly evil Antari Holland that, in the end, earned our sympathy like a certain unlikely potions master. Despite these similar characteristics, at the base of ADSOM lies a well of magic that somehow shares the essence of whatever it was that J.K. Rowling was brewing.

But ADSOM stands brilliantly in its own right with a unique set of complex magic rules (which I can't wait to learn more about) along with its own power-hungry villains to betray them. I thoroughly connected with the flawless pairing of the imcomparable Lila, a fiery cross-dressing wanna-be pirate whose greatest desire is freedom, and Kell, the disillusioned Antari who is one of the last to travel between worlds. And I have to give credit, Schwab didn't miss a chance to distinguish her fantasy worlds with not one but two unique languages.

My one drawback is that at times the fictional world did not seem to stretch beyond the borders of the map that was such a huge symbol in the story. At one point, Lila examines a map of Red London and asks Kell where Paris is. He answers that the borders of Red London stretch much farther than Paris. It is my hope that this conversation is not a quick remedy for the geographical limitations, but rather a nod at the wide expanse to be explored in a sequel. After all, Captain Bard is bound to acquire a ship--one way or another.

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