Books of Wonder

A Darker Shade of Magic

A Darker Shade of Magic - Main image
$13.31 $17.99 In stock

Category: Teens YA

Enter #1 New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab’s beloved Shades of Magic trilogy—a dazzling world of parallel Londons where magic thrives, starves, or lies forgotten, and where power can destroy just as quickly as it can create.

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.

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Customer Reviews (4.6 / 5 · 5 reviews)

Violet C. ★★★★★

I finally got around to reading this and the parallel Londons concept is so clever, I couldn't put it down once Kell started navigating the different magical worlds.

Eva ★★★★★

I bought this for my daughter but ended up finishing it before she did—the parallel Londons concept is just so clever, and the pacing pulls you in from the first chapter. The worldbuilding around magic that thrives or starves is genuinely unique, and the writing feels mature for a YA book.

Evelyn ★★★★★

The way the four Londons each handle magic differently kept me turning pages long past midnight. Kell’s coat with its hidden pockets is such a clever touch, and the pacing never lets up once you’re in Grey London. I’m already grabbing the sequel.