Review | The Shades of Magic series

Ok, I'm going to be switching up the template for this entry. The Shades of Magic series was so good that I feel like combining all three of the books into one review does each individual book a disservice. I will be reviewing each book separately, but let me just tell you this series was sooooooo good.

The Book: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Dates Published: February 24, 2015

Dates Read: August 3-5, 2018

Current Goodreads Rating: 4.09/5

Man, what a start to this series. There is so much to unpack in the worlds of this novel, but it isn't difficult to follow. We open on Kell, one of the last Antari, traveling from his London - Red London - to a different London - Grey London to visit a king from another world.

Let me back up a little bit. Way back before the start of this book, there were four Londons. Each one had magic and the doors between the worlds were thrown wide to any who wished to pass. One day, however, black magic began to spread like a disease in one of the Londons. One by one, every person fell to magic and threatened the safety of the other Londons. One of the three remaining Londons decided to cut itself off from the others in order to protect its people from the spread of this magical disease. Now Kell, one of the only two people who are able to visit these other Londons, calls them by their respective names.

Black London - the London that fell

White London - the London that was left behind

Red London - the London that closed itself off and thrived

Gray London - the London that forgot about magic and the other worlds.

While Kell visits the king of Grey London (George III which means I'm pretty sure Grey London is supposed to be our London), he runs into Lila who is probably the actual definition of badass. She's a cutpurse with dreams of being a freaking pirate. She's somewhat made a name for herself too. There are wanted posters all around her London for a mysterious man who has been stealing from anyone dumb enough not to guard their pockets.

Because even in fantasy novels, women are still underestimated.

Anyways, through some awesome story telling that you're just going to have to find out when you read the book yourself, Kell and Lila have to band together to return a piece of black magic before it infects the remaining Londons. It's a classic story of "put that thing back where it came from or so help me" told in a new and exciting location.

There are several reasons why I really liked this beginning book. First, I loved how simple the plot was. We are reading a book about four different versions of the same London and each of them has their own different brand and amount of magic. Done incorrectly the story could get bogged down in all its confusing details. However, not only did this book deliver a killer plot it also really helped with the world building and she continued to build off of the original book in the following sequels.

My Rating: 5/5

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The Book: A Gathering of Shadows by, you guessed it, V.E. Schwab

Date Published: February 23, 2016

Dates Read: August 7-9, 2018

Current Goodreads Rating: 4.32/5

First things first, of the three books, this one was my least favorite. That being said, I still read this book in 48 hours and I was still blown away by the storytelling.

You know how in certain series there's always that one book that's like a set up for the next book? This seemed to be that book in the Shades of Magic series. Don't get me wrong, this book still did a lot of world building and we met a lot of new, interesting characters and got to know old, familiar characters better, but there were several chapters where I knew it was building up to something big and then it just didn't. At least not until the very end and then you had to wait until the third book to find out what happened.

This book reminded me a lot of the Avatar: the Last Airbender series. Magic in this book is completely elemental. Specifically in Red London, people can have influences over one, two, or possibly three elements. Only Antari can control all the elements including the most difficult (and illegal): bone. Taking place four months after the end of Darker Shade, Red London is planning an international tournament called The Element Games. In it, contestants from all over the globe battle one another using only their magic.

Lila, fresh off the (literal) boat, returns to Red London after months at sea as a thief on a pirate's ship finds herself constantly looking for Kell with no good reason as to why (or if) she really wants to see him again.

Kell, still suffering from the sacrifices he made in the previous book, is suffering from pent up rage. Thanks to his efforts four months ago (guess you're going to have to read it to find out), he no longer has the trust of Red London's people nor of its royalty. Once he was treated as though he were their second son, now Red London's queen can't look him in the eye and its king has him followed with armed guards.

Rhy, the handsome prince of this world is also suffering. He played a somewhat important role in the first book, but he really steps up his game in the second and third book. Before he was just a spoiled prince who flirted with everything that moved, now he has seen his fair share of loss and is suffering from it too. Once you have lost a crucial part of yourself, how can you not question who you are?

What did I enjoy the most about this book? I thought the underlying themes and feelings were great compared to the atmosphere of the setting. This is basically the Olympics for this magical world. All the citizens of Red London are hyped up and ecstatic about these games, but the three most important characters have deeper issues that clash with the happy atmosphere of the world.

Also, the relationships in this series are fantastic. First and foremost we have the relationship between Kell and Rhy. They grew up together since boyhood and call each other brothers, but there's always a hint of jealousy between them. Kell is a very accomplished magician, an Antari, while Rhy can barely move one element. Rhy has a somewhat normal life as a prince, while Kell is constantly being asked to throw himself into danger whether that be in scary White London or even in the dark streets of his own home.

Kell and Lila's relationship is also very interesting in this book. I don't think they've really realized that they might actually have feelings for each other, but they are constantly aware of the other's presence somewhere in this city. They search for each other no matter where they go, but when they do finally run into each other they have no idea what to do.

Finall, we have Rhy and Alucard. Alucard is a new character to the series. He is Lila's super suave captain and he is madly in love with Rhy. Oh my God my heart bled for these characters. Due to a tragic story that we don't learn until the third book, these two had a summer fling that ended in tears and neither of them were able to move on. I loved how we got to see both sides of these men. Rhy is a prince who has to act like a royal, but he is flustered by the return of this man. Alucard is the captain of a pirate ship who even tried to seduce Lila into telling him her secrets, but he can't form a proper sentence when he is with Rhy. Gah. It's just great. I think I rooted for them more than I rooted for Kell and Lila.

My Rating: 4/5

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The Book: A Conjuring of Light by - who is this author again? Oh yeah - V.E. Schwab

Date Published: February 21, 2017

Dates Read: August 9-13, 2018

Current Goodreads Rating: 4.39/5

Let me start by saying, holy crap people had to wait a whole year to finish this series? Dude, I ended the second book and immediately picked up the third one because how could you not with that cliffhanger?! I can't even imagine the agony of the reader who finished the second book two days after the book came out and then had to wait a full year before they got to know the fate of their favorite characters.

Long story short, this book is amazing. There's action, there's drama, there's zombies, there's a spell that is very Sleeping Beauty-esque, there's tragedy, there's even straight up humor.

Look, I love to read. I think I've made that pretty clear with my blog and my Goodreads profile and my Instagram page (@theliterarysomething!), but I'm not one for emoting things as I'm reading. Sure, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix makes me super mad, but I'm not throwing the book across the room or shedding a tear when Sirius dies (spoilers, I guess?). There was a scene in this book where I legit laughed out loud. It scared my husband and then I had to explain the whole scene because just telling him the line that made me laugh would have made no sense and he would have thought me crazy, but I did an actual lol. How many of you can say you have actually lol'd? That's what I thought.

Ok, you know the drill by now. What did I like the most about this book? We were put in the minds of new characters which was super cool. We got to learn more about the King and Queen before this series, before they had Rhy, and even before they were married. We learned what drove characters to do certain things and we learned tragic backstories that made them who they are today.

Also, even with the world ending, Schwab still manages to continue to build her world in interesting ways that don't subtract from the plot. Characters still manage to explore the edges of the map and travel to new places without taking away from the main storyline. Every loss they suffered, I felt too. The last hundred pages or so, when the plot really gets meaty, felt as heavy as though I were there in those streets fighting the same demons Kell, Lila, Rhy, and Holland (I haven't mentioned him in this review yet, but he's in all three books and he is probably one of the more tragically beautiful characters in this series) are fighting.

In the end I didn't want this series to be over. I was sad when I realized I was more than halfway done and then suddenly I was out of pages. There are few books where I actually want to crawl in the pages and live in their worlds forever, but the Shades of Magic is one of those series. I could live in Red London with Rhy and Alucard. I could sail the seas with Lila. I could trip through the doors between worlds with Kell. I could and would do all of that if it were somehow offered to me. We all need a little more magic in our lives, right?

My Rating: 5/5

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