Fantasy Book Club Series discussion

Have you finished reading A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab? Let us know what you thought!

Spoilers OK here!

9/10
I loved the idea of the intersecting Londons and I thought the world-building was superb. Small details like the attention to clothes added to the fullness of the world without dragging the story down. And the story certainly moved right along—I finished this in a couple sittings.

Kell, Lila, and Rhy are pretty well-rounded characters, with strengths and flaws. The Dane siblings were a bit one-dimensional but even that was understandable, given the backstory of White London.

I am definitely interested to see where book 2 in the series takes us since this book tied up most of the plot threads.

Hi. I finished listening to it today. Rated it 4/5. Overall, I really liked it. I agree with you about the intersecting Londons. I do not remember running into that concept before, especially with only 1 version of each person across all the Londons. I never felt the story was slow and I finished it in a few days. Looking forward to book 2 - will try to wait to next month :)

I had trouble with Kell overall being so much weaker than Holland. Even with the stone he lost the first fight. Considering there were only 2 of them I would have thought Kell would have held his own better.

My main question is why did the Danes give up half of the stone to begin with? Why give it to Kell to carry to Red London? If it was required, couldn't Holland have done that for them? It just seems like the whole story is them trying to get the stone half back so they could rule all the Londons. If they already had it, why not just do that? Why give it to Kell? Did I miss something in the story? The only thing I can think of was Astrid wanted to own Kell, but again couldn't she had done that with the stone?

Andrew wrote: "My main question is why did the Danes give up half of the stone to begin with?"

I think they needed part of the stone in White London and part in Red London. The two parts would be calling to each other, tugging at each other, and that would eventually break down the walls between the Londons/worlds. If Holland had the black stone, would it have made him strong enough to defeat Athos? Maybe that was their fear, plus Astrid wanted Kell as her “pet”.

Edited to add that if Holland were discovered with the stone in Red London, the suspicion/blame would fall on the Danes. But if Kell had it, the Danes would not be suspected.

Andrew wrote: "My main question is why did the Danes give up half of the stone to begin with? Why give it to Kell to carry to Red London?"

Athos explained it to Kell before/during their fight. They said if Holland had taken it and been caught, it would have implicated White London/the Danes and that would be bad, but in giving it to Kell, if he's caught it's only him to take the fall.

I SWEAR there was somewhere in the book where Athos explained it but I just searched through beginning where Lila arrives in White London to the end and can't find it. To the best of my memory, it was explained that if Holland was caught in Red London with it, it would implicate the Danes and that would be bad. But if Kell got caught, they would be in the clear. If I manage to find the passage, I'll post it.

The book literally fell open to the page. -_-

"Besides," she [Astrid] said with a sigh. "It made sense. If things went wrong, and Holland was caught, the guilt would lie on our crown, and we would not have another chance. If things went wrong and you were caught, the guilt would like on your head. I know of your hobbies, Kell. You think the Scorched Bone keeps secrets? Nothing goes unnoticed in my city." Rhy's [this is when Astrid was possessing him] tongue clicked. "A royal servant with a bad habit of smuggling things across borders. Not so hard to believe. And if things went right, and I succeeded in taking this castle, this kingdom, I couldn't have you out there, un accounted for, fighting against me. I wanted you here, where you belong. At my feet." (Schwab 303)

Thanks a lot Casey for taking the time to find and provide those details :)

This was a fun read. It will be interesting to see where book 2 heads.

I just finished this and really enjoyed it. I do agree that all the loose ends felt tied up in this book, which doesn't leave a whole lot for the next book except who is going to take the throne in white London...