Will Sargent reviewed A darker shade of magic by V. E. Schwab
Review of 'A darker shade of magic' on 'Storygraph'
2 stars
Okay, here we go -- here's the Zelzany / China Mieville "many londons" with magic, here's the protagonist with a mysterious past who is actually a prince, only a little mopey and whiny... and here's the beautiful 19 year old common thief who wants to be a pirate, and also sneak into a ball and play dress up who is clearly a Mary Sue character stand in and ends up doing all of those things and who captures the protagonist's interest despite not being magical... or is she???
It's not 50 Shades of Grey, but unfortunately the plot felt like it was very manufactured to keep these two together and dependent on each other. And I didn't like them. And it's... not clever? Compared to Mievelle or Susanna Clarke, the "magic" here is a dim wish-fulfillment construct and the world doesn't breathe on its own -- notably, the scenes without …
Okay, here we go -- here's the Zelzany / China Mieville "many londons" with magic, here's the protagonist with a mysterious past who is actually a prince, only a little mopey and whiny... and here's the beautiful 19 year old common thief who wants to be a pirate, and also sneak into a ball and play dress up who is clearly a Mary Sue character stand in and ends up doing all of those things and who captures the protagonist's interest despite not being magical... or is she???
It's not 50 Shades of Grey, but unfortunately the plot felt like it was very manufactured to keep these two together and dependent on each other. And I didn't like them. And it's... not clever? Compared to Mievelle or Susanna Clarke, the "magic" here is a dim wish-fulfillment construct and the world doesn't breathe on its own -- notably, the scenes without the two main characters are stilted. It's not bad, but it's filler.