Colours of London

Jun 2017
A Darker Shade of Magic - V.E. Schwab - Titan Books, 2015
* * * *
This is a book that I bought on the strength of its opening lines: "Kell wore a very peculiar coat. It had neither one side, which would be conventional, nor two, which would be unexpected, but several which was, of course, impossible." From which we can conclude that Schwab is a fan of Douglas Adams, a fact also attested by her style which emulates his lightness of prose while lacking his epigrammatic inventiveness. Still, the setting she has come up with, a many-worlds suite of fantasy Londons differing in their degree of magic, is an interesting idea with a contemporary allegorical edge.
( Read more... )