 First US edition cover | |
| Author | V. E. Schwab |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Will Staehle [1] |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
Publication date | February 24, 2015 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN | 0-765-376458 |
| Followed by | A Gathering of Shadows |
A Darker Shade of Magic is an adult fantasy novel by American author V.E. Schwab published by Tor Books in 2015. It is the first installment of the Shades of Magic trilogy.
Kell is an Antari -- a rare magician with powerful innate magic that sets him apart from others, who have to study hard to master magic. As an Antari, he has the rare ability to travel between parallel Londons, which he calls Red, Grey, White, and Black.
Kell was adopted at a young age by the King and Queen of Maresh Empire of Red London. He works as an ambassador, traveling between worlds to deliver messages between officials in magical and thriving Red London, the magicless Grey London, and White London, which has been ravaged by magic. The royal family treat Kell like a member of their family, and he is close with his brother, the crown prince Rhy, but he suspects that his adoptive parents may not care for him as much as they seem to.
Kell also has a secret life as a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of magic.
When the Maresh king and queen receive an enchanted necklace from White London, they send Kell to deliver a message in return. When he returns home, he realizes their king and queen -- twins Astrid and Athos -- have slipped him a powerful black stone. The stone is a dangerous relic from Black London, which fell centuries ago when its people’s greed for magic exceeded their ability to control it, and all remnants of the lost world were supposedly destroyed.
Kell is pursued by Holland Vosijk -- the only other known living Antari. He flees to Grey London, where a thief named Delilah (Lila) Bard steals the stone from him. Kell finds Lila, and the two fight Holland. Kell tries to convince Lila to give him the stone back, but she demands that he allow her to accompany him, and the two come up with a dangerous plan to return the stone to Black London.
Kell learns that Astrid has been controlling Rhy through the enchanted necklace, and she and Athos plan to break down the barriers between Red and White London and conquer it for their own. In a fight with Astrid, she stabs Rhy, and in order to save him, Kell binds his own life to Rhy's.
Kell and Lila return to White London, where they fight Astrid and Athos using the dark stone. The stone nearly overcomes Kell, but Lila helps him dispel the darkness, revealing some of her own magical affinity. Kell banishes Holland and the stone back to Black London, and returns to Red London with Lila. Lila, feeling free for the first time in her life, decides to stay in Red London and seek out magical training.
The Guardian called A Darker Shade of Magic "a compelling, swashbuckling read reminiscent of Tim Powers’ more gung-ho fantasies". [2] It received a starred review from Publishers Weekly [3] and a Goodreads Choice Award.
On February 3, 2016, it was announced that Gerard Butler's production company G-BASE have acquired rights to adapt the book as a limited TV series. [4]
However, a year later, on February 24, 2017, it was reported that a movie would be produced instead, [5] and that Sony Pictures won the movie rights, beating Fox 2000, eOne, and Lionsgate. [6] With the format change, Schwab has become one of the producers of the movie alongside Robinson, Alan Siegel, and Neal Moritz. Toby Ascher from Original Productions is the executive producer, and Executive Matthew Milam and Sanford Panitch, the president of Sony Pictures, are set to oversee production. [7]
On October 3, 2019, the movie's screenwriter was announced: Derek Kolstad, the creator of the John Wick franchise. [8]
The second installment of the Shades of Magic series, titled A Gathering of Shadows , was released on February 23, 2016. [9] The third book in the series, A Conjuring of Light , was released February 21, 2017. [10]
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a fictional boarding school of magic for young wizards. It is the primary setting for the first six novels in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, and also serves as a major setting in the Wizarding World media franchise.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the first novel in the Harry Potter series and was Rowling's début novel. It follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday when he receives a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry makes close friends and a few enemies during his first year at the school. With the help of his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, he faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents but failed to kill Harry when he was just 15 months old.
In the fictional universe of Harry Potter, magic is depicted as a supernatural force that overrides the laws of nature. In humans, magical ability is inborn and is usually inherited. Most children of magical parents are magical themselves. Some children of "Muggle" (non-magical) parents also display magical ability. Children who are born to wizard parents but are unable to perform magic are known as Squibs.
Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog is a fantasy-adventure television series set in a fantasy version of ancient Ireland, created by Saban Entertainment. It was loosely based on actual Irish mythology. The name is derived from Tír na nÓg, one of the Otherworlds of Irish mythology. It was Saban's first fantasy series to involve knights, dragons, and wizards. It aired on the Fox Kids Network from September 12, 1998 to May 7, 1999.
The Farseer trilogy is a series of fantasy novels by American author Robin Hobb, published from 1995 to 1997. It is often described as epic fantasy, and as a character-driven and introspective work. Set in and around the fictional realm of the Six Duchies, it tells the story of FitzChivalry Farseer, an illegitimate son of a prince who is trained as an assassin. Political machinations within the royal family threaten his life, and the kingdom is beset by naval raids. Fitz possesses two forms of magic: the telepathic Skill that runs in the royal line, and the socially despised Wit that enables bonding with animals. The series follows his life as he seeks to restore stability to the kingdom.
The Life and Times of Juniper Lee is an American animated television series created by former MTV reality star Judd Winick for Cartoon Network and produced by Cartoon Network Studios. It premiered May 30, 2005 on Cartoon Network and ended its run on April 9, 2007.
Ultra Maniac is a Japanese manga series written by Wataru Yoshizumi. The romantic comedy series features 8th grader Ayu Tateishi, a tennis club member, and her transfer student friend, Nina Sakura, who is actually a trainee witch from the magical kingdom. It premiered in Shueisha's Ribon manga magazine in February 2001 and ran until January 2004. It was also published in five collected volumes by Shueisha. Viz Media licensed and released an English translation of the series in North America. With Miho Shimogasa by designing the characters and Animation Production by Ashi Productions.
Jonathan Strahan is an editor and publisher of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. His family moved to Perth, Western Australia in 1968, and he graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Arts in 1986.
Magical Circle Guru Guru is a Japanese manga by Hiroyuki Etō, which was serialized in Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 1992 to 2003. It was later adapted into an anime series on October 13, 1994. A second manga series was serialized in Gangan Online in 2012.
Dark Cloud is an action role-playing video game developed by Level-5 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. Originally intended as a launch title for the system in March 2000, the game was eventually released in Japan in December 2000, in North America in May 2001, and in Europe in September. A spiritual sequel, Dark Chronicle, was released in Japan in 2002 and worldwide the following year.
A Certain Magical Index is a Japanese light novel series written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura, which has been published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint since April 2004 in a total of three separate series. The first ran from April 2004 to October 2010, the second from March 2011 to July 2019, and the third from February 2020 to present.
George III has featured in many examples of popular culture.
Susanna Mary Clarke is an English author best known for her debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), a Hugo Award-winning alternative history. Clarke began Jonathan Strange in 1993 and worked on it during her spare time. For the next decade, she published short stories from the Strange universe, but it was not until 2003 that Bloomsbury bought her manuscript and began work on its publication. The novel became a best-seller.
Beautiful Creatures is a 2009 American young adult novel written by authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and the first book in the Caster Chronicles series. The book was published on December 1, 2009 by Little, Brown, and Company. In the UK, Beautiful Creatures is published by Penguin Books.
Victoria Elizabeth Schwab is an American writer. She is known for the 2013 novel Vicious, the Shades of Magic series, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which was nominated for the 2020 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. She publishes children's and young adult fiction books under the name Victoria Schwab. She is the creator of the supernatural teen drama series First Kill, based on her short story of the same name originally published in the 2020 anthology Vampires Never Get Old: Tales With Fresh Bite.
Shimmer and Shine is an American animated television series created by Farnaz Esnaashari-Charmatz and produced by Guru Studio on Season 1, Xentrix Studios on Seasons 2–4, and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It premiered on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block on August 24, 2015, and ran for four seasons until February 9, 2020. The show is about twin genies, Shimmer and Shine, who grant wishes for their human friend Leah.
Witchy Pretty Cure!, also known as Maho Girls PreCure!, is a Japanese anime television series by Toei Animation and the thirteenth installment in the Pretty Cure series. The series, directed by Masato Mitsuka and written by Isao Murayama with character design by Emiko Miyamoto, aired on ABC and other ANN television stations between February 2016 and January 2017, succeeding Go! Princess PreCure in its timeslot, and was succeeded by Kirakira Pretty Cure a la Mode. The series' main topic is friendship, while its motifs are magic and jewelry. A sequel series began airing on ABC TV's Animazing!!! programming block on January 12, 2025.
Kell is a given name.
Witchmark is a 2018 fantasy novel by Canadian author C. L. Polk. It features a murder mystery set in a secondary world in a country called Aeland, and has been described as gaslamp fantasy. Witchmark won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2019. It was first published by Tor Books.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a fantasy novel by the American author V. E. Schwab. It was published by Tor Books on October 6, 2020. The story follows a young French woman in 1714 who makes a bargain with the Dark that makes her immortal, but curses her to be forgotten by everyone she meets. It was widely praised and nominated for the 2021 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.