I’ve had this on my tbr shelf for an age! No idea why I haven’t read it yet but with Scwabtember in full effect, it was the perfect time to read it!

Title: A Darker Shade of Magic

Author: VE Schwab

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.

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.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. 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.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.

I have waited an age to read this series and I have no idea why?

‘Magic was a truly beautiful disease.’

I’m not going to rehash the plot but basically when a relic turns up from a supposed ‘fallen’ city, Kell and Lila need to protect it from people who want to misuse it.

What I loved:

• World building was utterly superb,

• The London’s,

• Kell,

• The coat of many sides, I want one,

• Barron, the way he looked out for Lila,

• Lila, I didn’t gel to her at first then as I got to ‘know’ her, that changed,

• Kell,

• Rhys, so, so fun! ‘He would flirt with a nicely upholstered chair.’,

• The writing, fabulous,

• The plot was just so fun,

• Did I mention Kell?!

I did actually find the story kind of slow for the first half but then I was so hooked that I raced through the rest!