A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

A lot of the books I've read just recently all came off of the People's Choice Awards and Runner Ups for 2015. Deliberately reading a bunch of newly published books usually means incidentally reading a lot of new authors. I know practically nothing about Schwab except that she publishes YA fiction under Victoria Schwab and adult fiction under V.E. Schwab. There isn't much available information on her actually.

It's always a bit nerves-making to read a new author. I think that over time, we build up a relationship of trust with authors and we are willing to labor a bit to give their books more of a chance. We learn what to expect and trust them that the pay-off at the end is worth the time reading. With a new author, it's like starting from scratch which can make it hard to get hooked.

I had a couple of false starts with A Darker Shade of Magic. I wasn't in the mood or didn't really have the time. However, when I got stung by something in the garden and decided, after my whole left foot swelled up like sausage, to go to the doctor, I took A Darker Shade of Magic with me to read while I sat in the waiting room. I figured either I would finally get hooked or it was time to put it aside. Because of a water leak in one of the offices, I was in the waiting room a long time. So in the roughly two hours I sat, I had ample time to read.

So, I read.

And I did finally get hooked. A Darker Shade of Magic isn't exactly a slow start, but there's a great deal of world set up to do and that can be tricky for an author to work in while also providing the reader with enough action to hold interest. Schwab places her story in a world of overlapping alternate realities who have, in the past, interacted with each other. These alternate realities vary in many ways but most significantly in the amount of magic available in each. The main character, Kell, is an antari which means that he is possessed of an unusual inborn magical talent that allows him to travel between the realities which he's coded with colors.

Overall, the story follows a solid arc and is clearly a set-up for a series (which already has two more out, I believe). The characters are well constructed and interesting. In Lila, Schwab is aiming for a stronger female who is more interested in her own goals than romance. Several times during the story I had a hard time predicting how the plot was going to flow, yet the events and character decisions were plausible.

It's worth the read and I plan to pick up the next book in the series.