Originally Posted On The Sassy Book Geek 
 "You believe that magic is an equal. A companion. A friend. But it is not. The stone is proof. You are either magic's master, or its slave." 
 I'm giving a solid 4.5 stars. This book is absolutely amazing, I've never read anything quite like it. V.E. Schwab is a literary genius OK? 
 "A Darker Shade of Magic" centralizes around Kell, who is a Traveler. What's that mean? Well he can use magic to travel between parallel universes, in this case, the universes are different versions of the same city of London. There's Grey London, which would be like our modern day THIS universe London, there's no magic and few people know magic even exists. Red London is the hub of all things magical,everyone is aware of magic and mostly everyone can manipulate it. White London is a place full of desperate people where the city is ruled by whoever kills their way to the top. And no one talks about Black London. So basically what Kell does is carry messages between the monarchs of each London. Also there is another central character, Lila Bard, a native of Grey London and a very talented thief. Lila steals in the hopes that one day she can buy a ship and sail the seas as a pirate. These two both get caught up in events that force them to team up and work together for the greater good of ALL of the Londons. 
 Now what I loved about this book: 
 1. Kell and Lila are amazing characters, I loved them both sooooo much. They both are very believable characters, Kell overall was probably my favorite though, he will do things that go against what he believes or what he knows in order to save those he loves. I can really get behind that, you go man. Also I absolutely adore Kell and Lila together. 
 2. The plot was very intriguing, it kept me guessing and turning pages until I finished the whole dang thing. All of the scenes are written spectacularly, I laughed, I cried, and I got super creeped out by scary dark magic. This book gave me FEELS. It also ends in a very good place, not to where I'm ripping my hair out in anticipation. This book kept me turning the pages and dreading the end. 
 Overall I will definitely be blissfully awaiting the arrival of the next book "A Gathering of Shadows"