Book Review: "A Darker Shade of Magic" - V.E. Schwab

Hi Steemians!

I finished another book, and here is the review: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab.
V.E. Schwab usually writes a lot of young adult novels and this was one of her first forays into adult books, which is why I was particularly interested in picking this one up. Also, if you've ever spent even a short while on booktube you've probably heard this book be talked about a thousand times over - it's decidely overhyped and everyone seems to only have positive things to say about it.

(picture credit: Goodreads)

Unfortunately, my own experience with this book was quite different.
The story takes places in London - technically, in more than one London. Altogether there are four: Red, White, Grey and Black London. All used to or are infused with magic, except for Grey London with is pretty much magic-free and Black London, which had been destroyed by too much magic a long time ago. The four cities used to be connected by magic, but since the doors have been closed, only certain people with special magical abilites called Antari are able to cross over into the parallel universes. The story follows Kell, who comes from Red London is one of the only two remaining Antari and Lila, who is a thief in Grey London, as they come across an artifact of unknowable power and origin...

Based on the hype around this novel, I was really ready to love it. But it fell flat for me in so many ways.

1. World building. There is just way too damn little of it. Instead of focusing on creating a unique and vibrant and substantial world, this book introduces interesting concepts and then never takes them further than surface-level. I never really felt immersed in the world, never really noticed any actual difference between the Londons aside from the constant reminders of "this world is dangerous!!" and "this world smells of flowers!!". I had really expected more from this book.

2. Plot. There is one main plot line we follow, and then that's it. This book has ZERO subplots. Which possibly works for a 200 page novel, but a book close to double that length needs a little bit more going on. Especially since it just grew so tedious with time. I had to physically force myself to finish the book and read the ending, because I just didn't care about anything anymore. I just wanted it to be over.

3. Characters. The characters feel like they've actually been picked from other, already existing novels, given different names and then placed into this world. There is literally nothing unique about anyone; no one has a particular depth of character or any range of personality traits to speak of. Also I didn't like anyone in this book, particularly Lila. She is the MOST annoying, arrogant, ignorant and idiotic character ever. She doesn't listen to anyone, even when they clearly know more than her about, say, fucking MAGIC which until a minute ago she didn't even know existed... but oh of course she's going to do whatever she wants. So dumb. And we're supposed to fall for her sass or whatever... no. There's sassy, and then there's arrogant and stupid. Guess which one Lila is.

4. Plooooot hoooles and/or stupid plot decisions. I won't go into too many details here since they would be spoilers and I can't hide them here on Steemit; if you want to know my spoilery thoughts check out that section in my Goodreads review.

So there we go, all in all a very disappointing book that I'm honestly baffled is classified as "adult fantasy". This is decidedly not an adult book; it reads way too much like YA in terms of simplistic writing, plot, characters and actually everything I mentioned above.
I guess if you're someone who exclusively reads YA fantasy this book might seem like a step-up but if you're specifically looking for a good adult fantasy read, you should probably pass this book by and look in the realms of some more accomplished writers.

Have you read this book? Do you agree with the hype or not? Let me know! :D

Happy reading,
xx
ivymuse