A review by voidstar
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
3.0
There's a lot of stuff in this book that's real fun to play with: a blood mage owned as an asset by a royal family encouraged to see himself as part of the family but ultimately not really treated that way, the different versions of London, Kel's relationship to Rhys, and Lila's very trans-coded character.
Unfortunately, I have a preference for character driven stories, which means that most of the stuff I found really exciting was just not focused/developed enough for my taste and I would have liked it if it was pushed further.
Also, as a trans nonbinary person, a lot of the way Lila's character is handled felt really uncomfortable to me (constantly having to bring up that she's really a woman).
Unfortunately, I have a preference for character driven stories, which means that most of the stuff I found really exciting was just not focused/developed enough for my taste and I would have liked it if it was pushed further.
Also, as a trans nonbinary person, a lot of the way Lila's character is handled felt really uncomfortable to me (constantly having to bring up that she's really a woman).