A Darker Shade Of Magic - Review

Title: A Darker Shade of Magic
Author: VE Schwab
Part of a series? Yes, the first book in the A Darker Shade of Magic trilogy.
Synopsis (from Goodreads): Kell is one of the last Travelers—rare magicians who choose a parallel universe to visit.
Grey London is dirty, boring, lacks magic, ruled by mad King George. Red London is where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. White London is ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. People fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. Once there was Black London - but no one speaks of that now.
Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see. This dangerous hobby sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to another world for her 'proper adventure'.
But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive — trickier than they hoped.
Rating: 4.75 stars.




This was the first book by V.E. Schwab I have read, and I absolutely LOVED it. Do you ever have moments when you're reading a book and suddenly realise that it's exactly what you wanted to read at that time? Well, I had that during this book. Quite a bit. Her writing is wonderful and the story is fast-paced as the chapters are short but detailed, and I am so glad that ADSOM lived up to the hype surrounding it!




*SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON*






So, where to start with ADSOM? The world(s) were interesting, distinctive, and it was clear that a lot of thought had gone into making them. I liked how Grey London was our London, as it made it feel like the possibility of Red, White, and Black London existing was not as far-fetched as it sounds. The magic system was interesting and different to most I've read, too, although at times it was slightly confusing (having said that, my head is a bit fried at the moment from exams, so maybe that's why I struggled to keep up!).




Another part of the novel that I loved was the characters. They were so well-developed, and Kell was a great protagonist. Admittedly, it took me some time to like Lila, but by the end of the book I thought she was pretty kick-ass and amazing. Athos and Astrid were excellent villains,  which was good because I love it when you can really hate the villains! My favourite character was definitely Rhy; I may have fallen a little in love with him, and I hope there's more of him in the second book. V.E. Schwab also blurred the lines between good and bad with Holland fantastically, and I just know that he's going to come back in the second book, maybe in charge of Black London with that creepy stone? That's my theory, anyway.




A Darker Shade of Magic was refreshing, because there was little romance in it! We got to see Kell and Lila's friendship develop, and, while I love romance books, it made a nice change to just focus on the adventure and action (of which there is lots, some quite gruesome), and not the couple (although Kell and Lila were a cute pair).




I would recommend this book to lovers of fantasy or historical fiction (or amazing books!), and to people who want to try an adult book and who aren't opposed to the odd swear word and bloody battle. I only just found out that A Darker Shade of Magic is an adult novel, not a YA, and unlike the Mysterious Affair at Castaway House, I found it quite easy to read.  I'm actually glad ADSOM is an adult novel; after reading TMAACH, I was feeling a bit apprehensive of reading other adult novels, but now I'm more excited to read some of the books I've got waiting for me, like The Miniaturist and Gone Girl. One of my favourite books this year so far!


Have you read ADSOM? What did you think? Let me know!
Thanks for reading(:

Night School - Review

Title: Night School
Author: C. J. Daugherty
Part of a Series? The first book in the Night School series.
Synopsis (from Goodreads) : Allie Sheridan’s world is falling apart. Her brother’s run away from home. Her parents ignore her. And she’s just been arrested.
Again.
This time her parents have had enough. They cut her off from her friends and send her away to boarding school, far from her London friends.
But at Cimmeria Academy, Allie is soon caught up in the strange activities of a secret group of elite students.
When she’s attacked late one night the incident sets off a chain of increasingly violent events. As the school begins to seem like a very dangerous place, she finds out that nothing at Cimmeria is what it seems to be.
And that she is not who she thought she was.
Rating: 3 stars.

For some reason I thought this would be about the supernatural. Heads up: it isn't! Night School is definitely a book that got better as I read on. To start with, I wasn’t overly impressed; it had quite a few features that are found in lots of other books – a boarding school, a mean girl, a love triangle. However, some of these changed or were resolved later on in the novel, which improved it.  

Night School also felt like such a set up for the next book! There wasn’t as much action as I had hoped, although more happens towards the end of the book, but the building of the world of Cimmeria Academy was good. I especially liked the settings, like the chapel and the library.

Allie was a really likeable main character. She was strong, but not all the time, made mistakes, and was funny. This made me root for her throughout the book, as she was so realistic. In fact, most of the characters felt realistic, and it was interesting how the relationships between different characters were never 100% clear, which added to the whole mystery around Night School. Carter as a love interest was good too, but it did feel like he told Allie off far too much! More than that, he told her what to do a lot, which kind of annoyed me, but these moments weren’t too common. And Slyvain kind of felt unnecessary until the last few chapters of the book, but not in a way that completely made me want to stop reading.

Overall, I gave this book three out of five stars. It was quite entertaining, with fun, fast-paced dialogue, but there were parts that I didn’t enjoy. I would recommend Night School to people who like books set in boarding schools, as Cimmeria Academy seems like a great boarding school and you’re really immersed in the little Cimmeria world. I also think that Night School would be a good book for people who are trying to get into YA or who want to get back into reading.

May Book Haul & Wrap Up!

Despite being in the middle of exams, May has been quite a good reading month for me! I read four and a half books, and all of them were really good. I also seemed to have been in a reviewing mood this month; I reviewed three out of the four books I read! And yes, I know I said I was on a book-buying ban, and yes, it does say book haul in the title. BUT, I only received two books: Rook by Sharon Cameron, which I pre-ordered in April and looks STUNNING, and Night School by C.J.Daugherty, which I received from Atom books. So that's progress, right? Let's be honest, fellow booklovers, when we say, "I'm on a book-buying ban", we really mean, "I will be less books this month, but not none."


Onto the books I read in May!

• Cinder by Marissa Meyer. I LOVED this book. At first, I was a little unsure of what to expect as there has been so much hype around The Lunar Chronicles; I was worried that I wouldn't love it as much as everyone else. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised! I gave this 5 stars, and my full review is here.
• Fire With Fire by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian.  It had been a while since I read Burn for Burn, but I really enjoyed it when I did, and this sequel did not disappoint. 4.5 stars. Full review here.
• And then I read Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian, the concluding book in the Burn for Burn trilogy, and...wow. 4.5 stars. Full review here.
• The final full book I read in May was The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson, and Sarah Rees Brennan. Overall, I loved each story, and it was so nice to be back in the Shadowhunting world I love. The Bane Chronicles was humorous and full of the fantabulous High Warlock of Brooklyn, before he became the High Warlock of Brooklyn. The writing styles of the authors mostly blended together well, and there were malec feels, which made me very happy! And a certain wonderful Welsh Herondale in it, which made me VERY happy. I would have done a full review on it, but school got in the way. Anyway, I gave this book a 4.5 stars, which seems to be my average review rating of this month! What can I say? I read some great books in May!

The book I'm currently reading is Night School by C.J. Daugherty, and a review of it will be up as soon as I can!


What books did you read in May? What was your favourite? Let me know!
Thanks for reading(: