A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab

I nabbed this audiobook for A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab as a backup to Sunshine when I was on a road trip. I ended up listening to it when I got back home, mostly on dog walks and while cooking. The only other book I've read by Schwab is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which I liked well enough, but felt was unbearably sad, so I steeled myself against negative emotions and dove right in.

 

Kell is one of the last Antari - magicians who can travel among four parallel Londons. Red London is where Kell resides as an ambassador for the royal to family to the other Londons. Delilah Bard lives in Grey London, White London has no magic, and Black London is a death sentence. Lilah is a thief in Grey London and she steals a magical stone from Kell. The thing is, Kell wasn't supposed to have that stone, either, and it's full of dark magic. Soon there is war and only Lilah and Kell can stop it.

This is an absolutely fascinating premise. Parallel universes! Multiple Londons with just a few buildings that are in all of them! Blood magic!

But instead it's just plodding. I liked some of the early scenes with just Lilah when she was living her thieving life and trying to figure out her future (Lilah is having some trouble figuring out what she should do next in life and I was really relating! Ha!), but Kell was boring, Red London was boring, and the narrator here did not do a lot to help me differentiate among all the Londons.  

It was, yet again, another lackluster November book. I'm starting to worry that my reading month is doomed.

2.5/5 stars