Eighty-eighth book of 2020
Reading period: Oct 19th 2020 – Oct 26th 2020
Summary
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.
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.
Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.
After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. 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.
Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.
Rating
Review
The story in itself is quite engaging. I like it, and I want to continue the series as I still have a lot of questions.
I was sceptical of the plot and where everything would end. The events are logical, but the way you discover everything is sometimes too long and not as straightforward as it might be.
On the contrary, the world is well described with a lot of details and so enjoyable. They are four environments which are clearly different and so complete in what they are. In the beginning, I was a little lost as it’s kind of overwhelming to have that much of worlds, but you rapidly understand their differences.
The main characters (Kell and Lila) work well together as they complete each other, even if I was sometimes fed up by Lila and her love of adventures. In the right side, I also like Rhy and his witty personality and his relation with Kell, I want more of him in the next books of the series. I would have loved to know more about the mysterious character who is Kell. In this story, evil characters are genuinely evil characters not only by their intentions but also by how they dressed, their personalities and their acts.
It will be a pleasure to continue this series as the first book is good despite its flaws.
Liz.
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