A Darker Shade of Magic
A Novel
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- ¥1,400
Publisher Description
A Darker Shade of Magic, from #1 New York Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab
Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.
Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.
Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.
After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.
Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.
"A Darker Shade of Magic has all the hallmarks of a classic work of fantasy. Schwab has given us a gem of a tale...This is a book to treasure."—Deborah Harkeness, New York Times bestselling author of the All Souls trilogy
Other books by V. E. Schwab
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Shades of Magic series
A Darker Shade of Magic
A Gathering of Shadows
A Conjuring of Light
The Fragile Threads of Power
Villains Series
Vicious
Vengeful
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Jump into V. E. Schwab’s inventive swashbuckling fantasy series with this thrilling first installment. Kell is among the last of the Antari, a dutiful magician who travels between the parallel Londons as an official royal emissary. (And, on the side, an unofficial smuggler.) But when he’s deceived into transporting a forbidden relic from the vanished Black London, he becomes entangled in a catastrophic conspiracy that threatens the balance of all the worlds. Schwab elegantly combines world-building with brisk, plot-driven momentum. The moody atmosphere is shot through with wit and emotion, especially once Kell crosses paths with the fearless, dagger-wielding thief Lila Bard. This is a must-read for anyone who craves dangerous magic, daring heists, and a crackling chemistry that keeps you guessing.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Schwab (Vicious) creates an ingenious set of nesting alternate Londons in this imaginative, well-crafted fantasy. There's Grey London, set in our mundane world's Regency era; Red London, where magic flourishes along with the populace; and White London, where a desperate struggle to control magic has bled the city and its people. No one speaks of Black London, consumed by magic and presumed destroyed. Kell, adopted brother of Red London's prince and one of the few Antari, who can travel between worlds, is a royal emissary and collector of forbidden artifacts from other Londons. When Kell is tricked into taking a dangerous artifact of Black London into Red, he falls in with the cross-dressing Grey thief Lila Bard, a cutpurse with a quick tongue and her own sense of honor. Confident prose and marvelous touches a chameleon coat, a scarlet river of magic, a piratical antiheroine bring exuberant life to an exhilarating adventure among the worlds.
