Actual rating 3.5

A Darker Shade of Magic began compellingly for me, smoothly introducing the concept of world-hopping (though not much was required for that as it comprised most of the synopsis) and presented me with a cool bit of magic in Kell's multi-sided coat. It struggled to keep in truly interested after that.
I think the main source of this disconnect derived from the two main character, Kell and Lila, both of whom spend the first half of the story acting purely out of personal interest. This works for Lila as she is a street-born thief of dubious morality, but I found the redemption moments intended to form a connection between me and her beyond her initial spunk to be a little generic and absent of emotional weight. Kell suffers from a similar flaw, it takes two-thirds of the book for him to make a compelling decision (and it's about this time that the story recaptured my interest.) Lila makes her's shortly thereafter.
The second qualm I had lies with the various Londons. Ignoring the initial concept (which is purely a gimmick as the author does nothing to exploit the concept of true quadruplet cities) you have a story about world-hopping, but the various worlds differ little from one another. Yes two have magic and one does not, but those differences never manifest in telling way (excluding White London.) Despite it's magic, Red London never amounts to more than a vague fantasy city colored in a red palette, and Gray London is just our London. It is in White London, with it sharp aesthetic and a vaguely cannibalistic society steeped in desperation, that the story truly shines, pitting the protagonists against a prevalent, brooding sense of horror.
The prose is good, but nothing special.
Summary: The story is excellent when it works, but lackluster for most of the middling portions. ( )

4.25 ( )

I read ‘A Darker Shade of Magic’ as I was reliably informed that it’s pretty good and that the two sequels are excellent. It was a light and fun read that I enjoyed, as long as I used the fact that it’s fantasy to repress my nitpicking for anachronisms, americanisms, and the odd misused word. These would have taken it down to three stars had I not made a concerted attempt to ignore them. Instead I focused on the world-building, which inevitably takes up a lot of the first book in a trilogy. Luckily I’m into that, and the parallel Londons are pretty intriguing. I also liked the main characters, especially Lila. She got some great lines, especially when puncturing Kell’s sometimes-trying angst. Her desire to be a pirate seemed a little silly, until I remembered that at her age (18 or 19?) I too wanted to be a pirate. She also had excellent personal style and no-nonsense resourcefulness, although I found her willingness to murder rather alarming. As with [b:Six of Crows|23437156|Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)|Leigh Bardugo|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1500689111s/23437156.jpg|42077459], I wondered why no adults concerned themselves with these unfortunate traumatised youths. Fantasy worlds are always so comfortable with child labour. Also appealing was the fact that the damsel in distress was a flirtatious prince called Rhy, who I kept mistakenly thinking of as ‘Rhys’. The plot is fast-paced and exciting nonsense, with plenty of violence.

I assume that the sequels will further develop the interesting concept of magic, which seems like a non-renewable resource available in at least five flavours with some notion of identity and agency. The roles of magic in fantasy worlds always interest me - does it replace oil, money, labour, computing, or what? Is access restricted to an elite? How pervasively is it used? In the past I've rolled my eyes at worlds in which magic is used unnecessarily for every little thing; you see this quite often in the Harry Potter series. Yet it recently occurred to me that there's a parallel with the rather dubious Internet of Things enthusiasm. Rather than thinking about why something should be connected to the internet, let's just connect it and see what happens! Thus fridge and toaster botnets. I think it's similar in fantasy worlds where magic is as ubiquitous as wifi and computer chips are here. Why think about whether something can be done better with magic - just shove some magic in there! The creepy magical mind control in ‘A Darker Shade of Magic’ doesn’t fit this analogy so well, but never mind. ( )

ragazzino mago fa avanti e indietro fra tre Londra parallele lasciandosi trascinare dagli eventi

PS: l'incipit è delizioso

Trama alternativa: il più potente mago del mondo fa il postino ( )

SKSNCNNEJDN SOOOOO GOOD!! ( )