A Darker Shade of Magic | Review

As a huge fan of Schwab's Vicious, I was really expecting to enjoy A Darker Shade of Magic more.  This is not to say I didn't like the book — in fact, I thought it was very well-written.  Schwab is an excellent writer. However, I find myself thirsting for the sequel, for the further development of the characters and worlds, far more than I want to re-read the exploits of book one.

The novel begins with a long exposition and a lulled state of action.  We meet Kell, a young man and magician who possesses enough oomph to cross over into parallel worlds.  His stomping grounds are a number of different Londons, which he keeps straight by assigning them colors — red London, grey London, and white London.  (If this novel was ever made into a motion picture, I bet the art directors would have a heyday.)

Kell, with all his formidable powers, was adopted by the royals of red London as a child.  In his brother's, Prince Rye's, eyes, Kell is a part of the family.  Kell, however, feels like a possession.  This resentment causes Kell to lash out in a particularly treasonous way — by smuggling objects to and from different Londons.  His naughty habit is all going well until, one day, someone presses an unstable magical artifact from the fabled, forgotten, forbidden black London into Kell's hands.  In a world of trouble, Kell flees into grey London, where he runs into a wanted criminal by the name of Delilah Bard, who is quite eager to join in on Kell's misadventure, by force if necessary.

What bothered me about A Darker Shade of Magic was the unrealized potential of all of the characters. We only got to know three of them somewhat well — Kell, Lilah, and Rye — and I was still left wanting more detail, more motivations, more backstory, just more!  You'd think that with only three major characters, there would be plenty of room for their development.  However, most of the words of the novel were spent on a plot that I cared quite little about.  I hope that Schwab was just holding back, with books two and three in mind.

These frustrations should provoke me to give this book a lower rating than 3.5 stars, but I am quite eager to read book two.  I plan to withhold my judgement of the series until after I read 2016's A Gathering of Shadows.