Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - A Darker Shade of Magic

Schwab always enchants with her writing. I have to say this was my least favorite of hers so far, after having read Vicious and The Invisible Life. But solid. Characters are really lovely, world building is stunning. My issues lie with pacing: the book starts off slow, and the ending is rushed. I am definitely still interested in continuing the series.

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olenvasynyt's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book is everything I have been looking for in a fantasy story. I feel like the best way to describe this book was a really good dungeons and dragons campaign. Not only is the writing fantastic, but the worldbuilding and the magic system are both comfortingly familiar and totally unique at the same time. The magic involves traveling across worlds, spoken words and the bending of elements, and it’s done well because of the restrictions and the different amounts of magic for every person and every world. It adds to the worldbuilding because the different worlds have different amounts of magic which leads to them interacting with and using magic differently and it’s just really well thought out.

The characters! There are not a whole lot of main characters in this book (I feel like with some fantasy books there can be way to many) so you’re really able to follow everything well. As I said, this book gave me DND vibes and the main reason was the characters, especially Lila! Pirate / rogue / ninja vibes from her. She reminds me a lot of Celaena from TOG; I didn’t like Celaena in the beginning because she was kind of just a really brash, reckless and borderline rude girl, but as I learned more about her and saw how and why she fought I liked her a lot more. I definitely think when I learn her backstory I’ll fall in love with Lila just as I did with Celaena.

It is usually very hard for me to like a villain in a lot of fantasy books because they’re never as dark as I want them to be or they’re written as dark but they just come across as cheesy. But *oof*, I loved the villains in this book so much! Spoilers,

I will say the ending was a little lackluster to me mainly because I was upset with the twins dying because of how much I loved them as characters and villains. But Holland is for sure still alive, I refuse to think otherwise, (I say that now but I’ll probably jinx it because I really liked him too lmao) and I know if the first villains are this good then the ones that are coming will be even better.

This was the first book and I think it was just a such a good way to set up a series because of how well the world was portrayed and how the main plot began. It was simple because it was the pacing I think, but it was still exciting and you know the plot will just continue to unravel and mysteries will be solved. I’m so excited to continue reading this series!

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books_and_rainydays's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I love Schwab's writing style and perspective but with this book (and especially in the ending) I felt that it was a little bit too rushed. I felt like somethings were just thrown into the story for the sake of the plot without the reader really understanding where they came from and how they are related to what happened before.

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abundance_of_fiction's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

As with all her stories, Schwab is fantastic at world building. You are given snippets of her worlds in a way that feels slow building but also authentic and genuine. Like if a friend is telling you about a city while you are simultaneously walking down the streets and making your own discoveries too. This can cause the beginning to feel anticlimactic but the payoff is immense. The drama, the tension, the movement from “mostly good” to deceptively morally gray, all have this story picking up pace in the last 100 pages and set up perfectly for the sequel.

I will say that I wanted to see some romance between Kell and Lila, butttt the fact that there wasn’t any was also wholesome. Like maybe there will be later but nothing is rushed and these are two characters that are establishing a relationship in the weirdest of situations, whatever that relationship may become is going to depend on time.

Really enjoying the series, 4.5 stars but rounding down because of the slow start. But again, I am hopeful that it will pay off and have the sequel be a 5 star read.

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