A Darker Shade of Magic is an adventure-fantasy novel with parallel worlds, wizards, royal courts, secrets, duels, intrigue, and a quest for Kell (An Antari wizard from Red London) and Lila (a thief from Grey London).    There are no great underlying themes, nor any attempt to develop a parable, nor are there any obvious parallels to today’s world.   It is a story written to entertain and it does that very well.

The story moves well with sparkling dialogue and we find Kell and Lila engaging characters (similar to the style of Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse books).    An accessible book that is recommended.

My rating – 4.3 out of 5.0 stars4.3

An audio version of the book on YouTube: