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A Darker Shade of Magic
- Shades of Magic, Book 1
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
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Publisher's Summary
A Darker Shade of Magic is the incredible first installment of the Shades of Magic series, from number one New York Times best-selling author V.E. Schwab.
Most people only know one London; but what if there were several? Kell is one of the last Travelers - magicians with a rare ability to travel between parallel Londons. There’s Grey London, dirty and crowded and without magic, home to the mad king George III. There’s Red London, where life and magic are revered. Then, White London, ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. But once upon a time, there was Black London....
Critic Reviews
"A Darker Shade of Magic has all the hallmarks of a classic work of fantasy. Schwab has given us a gem of a tale...." (Deborah Harkeness)
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Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Annie Wilson
- 20-07-2022
A beautiful magical world
A bit of a slow burn. Beautifully woven story with magical worlds and lots of layers. The characters are complex in a good way, and left me wanting more.
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- S. C. Townsend
- 19-08-2023
Loved this book, had to actively try to ignore the narrator
This is a great story and I’m excited to get to the next one. For me the narrator gave the most unrealistic voices to the characters and almost ruined the book for me.
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- Tammy O’Brien
- 26-01-2023
Loved the story, hated the heroine
I LOVE Lila. She’s one of my favourite modern heroines to date, but oh my god Crossley butchered her voice like there’s no tomorrow. She’s this beautiful, enigmatic, confident thief and yet Steven Crossley made her sound like a fairy tail witch. Please sir, never try to do a female voice again. I’d rather you read her in a male voice, honestly. It was disgusting. Everytime she “spoke” my soul cringed. It felt like climbing into a warm, wet swimsuit while dry. Yuck.
Every other voice rendition was amazing. Lila just ruined it for me.
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5 people found this helpful
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- miss jane
- 20-08-2023
Great story
I read quite a few of the earlier reviews before I listened to this book. Many of them noted how annoying the narrator's portrayal of Lila was. I was glad to be forewarned. Fortunately I thought it was going to be worse than it was. A fairly long way from good, but bearable. Great story, interesting worlds. Looking forward to the next instalment 😊
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- Judith
- 21-06-2023
Narration of main female character detracts
The story is mostly very engaging and entertaining. However, the narration of the main female character is so irritating, I nearly gave up. The narration seriously detracts from the story.
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- Stephen
- 13-08-2020
Excellent
On recommendation I read this and got the audiobook too. The story is excellent, drawing on an original imagining of the worlds of magic.
The performance on the audio version is first rate from Steven Crossley.
Not sure why he doesn’t do the sequels as well as they are very sub-par and involve English/London accents being performed by Americans so they are terrible. Think Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins bad! Rather ruins the sequels after you have heard Steven Crossley reading this instalment as he is excellent.
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13 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 12-07-2022
Worth hanging in there...
Although difficult to settle into the rhythm of this story, due perhaps in part to a less than engaging narration, it is well worth the effort.
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- Beth
- 21-09-2023
Great story, narration not quite there.
While the narrators voice is pleasant to listen to, his intonation for many speech parts feels wrong. It's easily enough ignored though, and the audiobook is still enjoyable.
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- Anonymous User
- 05-06-2023
Better as a hard copy
The story was compelling enough, I loathed the narration, particularly when speaking the lead heroines lines. Couldn’t move past it. Better read than listened to. Not captivating enough to continue with this series.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 27-10-2020
engaging fantasy story
very dynamic fully formed and believable characters. nice story arc. would be keen to read more and revisit these characters again 👍
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