–More magic (blood magic, elemental magic, bad magic, etc. –A royal who is equal parts Prince Harry and Jack Harkness Like the more common diabolical, which means 'of, relating to, or characteristic of the devil,' the 18th century French borrowing diablerie traces back to Latin diabolus, meaning 'devil. Since it’s early, and the full jacket copy isn’t out, here’s a list of things in ADSOM: noun 1 : black magic : sorcery 2 a : a representation in words or pictures of black magic or of dealings with the devil b : demon lore. I wrote this book, so I’m probably biased. But the best description of this story comes from Victoria Schwab herself and if you are one of my regular visitors I would wager the following will make you get the book without my input whatsoever: It’s Romancing The Stone meets Angel in a fantasy setting that could easily slot into Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series.

For the hundredth time he glanced at his watch. And it’s up to the two of them to overcome their differences and undo the evil. The boat chugged so slowly through the channel, Gary wanted to scream. Together they are hunted, their loved ones threatened with death and torture, their worlds threatened by a vile and insidious magic. And Lila’s means of supporting herself gets her entangled in the affair when she steals the stone from Kell.

Kell’s smuggler hobby lands him in trouble when he’s maneuvered into taking the magical equivalent of a bio weapon across the barriers that separate the three remaining Londons in the shape of a black stone. Kell, the adopted royal who has magic that allows him to travel between worlds and Lila, who is a cutpurse in our version of London. Shades of Magic fan art by (possibly) Luiza Salazar. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.The first book in the Shades of Magic trilogy by Victoria Schwab swept me off with its charm and swashbuckling action. Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn.

She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations, first robs him, then saves him from a dangerous enemy, and then forces him to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.Īfter an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. Kell was raised in Arnes-Red London-and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see. Kell is one of the last Antari-magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

A darker magic