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    A Darker Shade of Magic
    A Darker Shade of Magic
    A Darker Shade of Magic
    Audiobook11 hours

    A Darker Shade of Magic

    Written by V. E. Schwab

    Narrated by Steven Crossley

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Kell is one of the last Travelers-magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes-as such, he can choose where he lands. There's Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, ruled by a mad King George. Then there's Red London, where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. There's White London, ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. And once upon a time, there was Black London . . . but no one speaks of that now.


    Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see-a dangerous hobby, and one that has set him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cutpurse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a dangerous enemy, and then forces him to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 21, 2015
    ISBN9781494580759
    A Darker Shade of Magic
    Author

    V. E. Schwab

    V. E. Schwab is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, ranging from middle grade to teen to adult. Her books have garnered critical acclaim and been featured in the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, the Washington Post, and NPR; have been translated into more than a dozen languages; and been optioned for television and film. Schwab, an avid traveler, received her MFA from the University of Edinburgh, where her thesis was about the presence of monsters in medieval art. She lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

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    Reviews for A Darker Shade of Magic

    4.5/5

    620 ratings21 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      The sheer amount of world building and detail in the magic is astonishing. I could not put this books down. I cannot wait to read the next in the series.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Loved it from the first magical word to the last. There has to be more!

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Fun and different. Not what I expected. Not the biggest fan of the audiobook. Sometimes the voices came off whiny. Still good, though.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This is my first book from this author. I first heard about it from several YouTubers that I watch, and boy am I glad I picked it up. I loved the characters and the magical world. I can’t wait to pick up the next one.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      A lot of fun. Predictable at times, but still fun. Like a familiar movie that you have seen before but still want to finish. I liked the characters and the familiar tropes.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I really liked the story but the narration of this threw me off a little bit. I flew through my physical copy of this but it took me a while to get zoned in with the audio book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Very well done! Can't wait to read the series! The narrator has a bit of an old guy voice for a 21-year-old and his Delilah Bard voice is unbearable but the book is so good you can look past it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed my reread of this, and I can't wait to dive back into the next one. There's plenty of magic, danger, and some romance vibes. Kell and Rhys have such a sweet and complicated relationship, and Lila is amazing.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      World building and the mystery of magic was amazing. The plot not so much. If you are new to fantasy it is a great start to get you into the world of magic.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Awesome book , great narrator, non stop action, imaginative world with brave characters both male and female perspective. Will only take a chapter of really listening to be sucked in

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      Good story but I feel there were a lot of missed opportunities for character development and relationships. Very disappointed when authors create a wonderful world and characters but then create major glitches or flaws in them. All of a sudden somebody that has intuition and ability is downright stupid and not forward thinking when that is part of what they are meant to be doing. I found that very frustrating even though I enjoyed the story.

      Probably would have given it another star save the narrator who is absolutely horrible! His accent kept slipping, the antagonists all seem to be racist parodies and the most disappointing part was he made the female protagonist into a completely different character than she was probably written.

      I think this would be a good book to read but give the audiobook a skip for sure!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      World building was amazing and interesting. But the characters were mostly flat. Villains could have been deep considering what they were fighting for. But in the end they were cliched caricatures. The story also had a lot of cliches, odd pacing and bad dialogue. The bond between the brothers is never established as the force it needs to be to drive the story. Overall great setting. Poor story and characters.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book was beautifully written. The world is exciting and new. So much can be done with a world like this. I hope this trilogy isn’t the last we see of this place. The narrating was superb!!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      An excellent rehashing of fantasy storytelling, familiar yet wholly unique. I've been saying I needed a nice refresher of classic fantasy and this book does just that while keeping everything interesting.
    • 1/5
      This book had many opportunities to be interesting and did not manage to take a single one of them
    • 5/5
      I was a little weary of this book but was pleased with how much I enjoyed it. I was invested in the characters all the way through the story and the separation of the world's and the magic in them was intriguing.
    • 3/5
      Buen primer libro de trilogía, tengo muchas dudas y cero respuestas, pero justo creo que eso lo hace un muy buen primer libro
    • 2/5
      Eh not that impressive as far as characters. Left the plot wanting because of it
    • 4/5
      fun story good characters ,I hope there's more !!!! thanks
    • 4/5
      A Darker Shade of Magic
      by V.E. Schwab
      #Fantasy #Magical Realism #YA
      #Scribd audio
      4 Stars

      Four different Londons, Red, White, Grey, and Black, one high in magic, one losing its magic, one who has no idea what magic is, and one that is cut off from the rest because it let its magic turn dark, corrupting its people and world.

      Kell is from Red London and is an Antari, one of the last powerful magicians with the ability to travel between the parallel Londons except black, the one cut from the others. But Kell is also a smuggler, using his gift to bring illegal objects to and from the worlds, selling to those at a high price. But after a delivery goes bad he finds himself fleeing, getting help from Delilah Bard, a thief from the unmagical Grey London who isn't afraid to kill.

      This is a very fast read as the two MCs race between the Londons! The world-building pulls you in but the characters are a little lacking in descriptions after their introductions.

      The story and plot are wonderful, though it could use some more backstories about the other Londons, so to set them more apart. White London was important to the story, but there should've been more about the place so to give the reader a better connection with the world, its people, and the who, what, etc.

      But maybe that's coming in book two. I already have a few ideas of where the next books in the series are going after the surprising info about Delilah.

      4 Stars

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Fast paced action and fantasy, well read, and a wonderful listen. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

      1 person found this helpful