Welcome to my re-read of A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. This is the 11th part of my weekly re-read posts. If you have read ADSOM, come re-read and discuss it with me. If you never read it, I highly recommend it especially if you like fantasy books, sarcastic protagonists, kick-ass heroine, and fabulous coat. Even though it’s a re-read, I will do my best to avoid spoiling future chapters in the post itself, which is quite easy because most of the time, I didn’t remember what happened. So even though this is the first time you read ADSOM, you could follow along. However, please note that although the post itself is spoiler-free from future chapters, the comments section are spoiler zone, where you can talk about anything including the plot twist and the book conclusion. Without further ado, let’s sail through A Darker Shade of Magic. All aboard!
This week, we’re going to cover Part XI Masquerade.
SPOILER WARNING FOR PART I – X
We’re getting even closer to the end!
When we left them last week, Kell was captured by the palace guards and Lila was off to save him. Part XI began with Lila standing near the palace, figuring out how to get in. Soon enough, it became clear to her that the palace was holding a masquerade ball and all she needed to get in was an invitation. Such an easy job for our pickpocket! Lila procured her invitation and set off to find herself a costume. Fortunately, one of the market tenant recognized her as Master Kell’s friend and gave her a mask and a costume for free and told Lila to pay her back someway and to look after Kell. Lila assented and went in as Captain Bard of the Sea King. The guard let her in and as she paid her respect to the royals, she realized that they were under some sort of spell.
Kell, meanwhile, came to in Rhy’s bedroom with his brother besides him. It also took him a while to realize that he was bound using special cuff that can dampen magic. Crap, he was in trouble because he smuggled that stone, was the first thing on my mind. It turned out that Kell wasn’t bound because Rhy was mad at him. He was cuffed because Rhy wasn’t even Rhy. *GASP, that necklace from Holland.* Points for you if you managed to figure out this twist. Basically, Astrid sent a necklace imbibed with antari‘s blood (Holland’s I think) to possess Rhy. The antari‘s blood is the one that enable the spell to work in both worlds. So, Astrid was currently safe and sound in White London while possessing Rhy. This lady was an evil genius! ‘Rhy’ tried to get Kell to tell him the stone’s location and Kell told him that he didn’t know. ‘Rhy’ decided to use violence on Kell, but no dice. You should have listened though, Rhy, or Astrid, or whoever, he really didn’t know.
At that point, Lila, I mean Captain Bard, stepped in (more like flew in, actually) and interfered on their brotherly business. Cornered between the antari and the fearless girl equipped with magic stone, Astrid decided to use her last weapon, Rhy. She told them to give her the stone or she was going to kill Rhy. She took off the pendant from Rhy’s body and threw it, at the same time driving a knife into Rhy’s body. The pendant, apparently, was so powerful that Astrid could possess anyone that touch it. Therefore, losing Rhy wasn’t much of a hindrance now that Kell has found out that another person was wearing his brother’s skin. Rhy, meanwhile, was dying. Kell, desperate to save his brother, was forced to run with Lila to avoid being captured by Astrid and the guards under her possession. Kell took Rhy and Lila to his room and made a door to a place he deemed the only safe place for them to go.
But where did the door lead to? We’ll find out in the next part, next week!
Favorite Quote
You look more ready to storm a city than seduce a man.
Favorite Scene
Lila’s awkward exchange with Calla about being Kell’s friend.
INDEX
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X
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