mtvessel | Colours of London

Jun 2017
A Darker Shade of Magic - V.E. Schwab - Titan Books, 2015
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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.

Kell is an antari, a blood magician who can cross between worlds. He acts as a messenger between the royal families of Grey London - our own historical, magic-less world - and Red London, where the river Thames glows with a ruby light and magic is much more prevalent. Occasionally he also visits White London, a brutal world where magic has hidden itself away and the city is dying. And everyone remembers Black London, the world where magic ran rampant and which had to be closed off for good before it infected everything.

The other viewpoint character is Lila Bard, a small-time thief in Grey London who acquires something she shouldn’t. Her ambition - to be a pirate - makes her a lively character, though a somewhat stereotyped one. Other characters of note are Rhy, a young, cheerfully bisexual prince in Red London who is Kell's sort-of brother, and the ruthless Dane twins, co-rulers of White London with a penchant for binding spells that turn people into human puppets. No prizes for guessing who the bad guys are.

What I liked about this book is the paciness of the plotting and the way that the setting is explained through the actions and thoughts of the characters in a mostly unforced way. The writing is smooth and to the point, making it very easy to read. This skill should not be underestimated. So many fantasies - and pretty much all mainstream literary fiction - get bogged down in minutiae about character or setting at the expense of narrative pace. Prose that allows a story to be read quickly is a gift that not many writers can give.

Of course there are drawbacks. Schwab has clearly done little or no historical research, making Grey London appear just another bland pseudo-mediaeval city (even though it is in fact nineteenth century - George III is on the throne). Frankly, there is no reason why London needs to be the setting at all. A completely made up town would have worked just as well. The lack of depth in the background also makes Lila's character in particular problematic. I am all for morally complex kick-ass heroines who refuse to be defined by their environment, but the reader has little sympathetic engagement that could justify Lila's more dubious choices. By contrast, Kell is mostly likeable, but smug in his white male privilege and power.

That said, his character does fit with the real world allegory inherent in the setting, which is world trade and immigration. After all, Red London, successful and balanced in its access to magic, has been instrumental in restricting communications with the other worlds. The parallels with developed nations putting up trade and immigration barriers that prevent people in developing countries from reaching their levels of prosperity are pretty exact. And that interesting subtext is why I think that this is more than just a run-of-the-mill lightweight fantasy. Douglas Adams she ain't, but Schwab has talent.