Welcome to my re-read of A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. This is the 13th 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 XIII The Waiting King.
SPOILER WARNING FOR PART I – XII
And we’re back in Creepy London!
Athos has been waiting for us, I mean waiting for Kell and Lila, in his throne room. Her sister’s body propped up besides him. Apparently, Astrid was still up and wrecking havoc in Kell London. I wonder if she’s killed the all the royal family members minus Rhy. Athos, however, just wanted to kill Kell. For now.
Kell and Lila went into the castle through different doors. Kell was supposed to handle Athos and Lila the still-out-of-her-body Astrid. Kell vowed to himself not to use the stone’s power because he was so close to be consumed by it. Strangely, Athos—who owned the other half of the black stone—didn’t seem to be affected much by it. Or maybe he already gave in a long long time ago and now the stone has his body? I dunno. Kell’s vow proved to be short-lived when it became clear he wouldn’t win without the stone. He used the stone for protection and tried to trap Athos into doing something stupid. This turned out not to be a difficult feat. Athos, upon being compared to his evil genius sister, became angry and summoned a serpent from the stone. Uh oh, remember when Lila tried to create living thing (Kell’s doppelganger) from the stone? The same thing happened here. Eventually, the king was beaten by his own arrogance and shortsightedness.
What about the queen? I always consider Astrid as the smarter one, but her consciousness was still in Kell London. Will this be an easy kill for Lila? Of course not! As if Schwab will let her protagonist get away that easy. After being forced to kill the boy who was bound to Athos’ will, Lila went into the throne room to find the unconscious Astrid surrounded by a circle of protection (which existence she realized after her bullet richoceted back. Dear Delilah, you should’ve known better.). She broke the protection circle, but Astrid woke up right before Lila stabbed her. Unfortunately, the queen—with her magic was too powerful for our heroine. OHMYGODDONTKILLHERDONTKILLHERDONTKILLHER. Fortunately (or not), Astrid decided to kill Kell before finishing Lila.
The cunning queen took Lila’s shape after rendering her unconscious then went to see Kell. Kell, now the proud owner of two halves of the black stone, used his magic to fused back the stone. Lila-who-was-not-Lila asked Kell to give her the stone, and all he gave her was a knife… in the stomach. Oh the bastard, I thought he was going to fall to her trick. The real Lila wobbled in, and everything was right and good—at least as good as it could be considering the black stone was still there attaching itself to Kell’s hand. The calmness lasted one page, more or less, before the stone dragged Kell into its world and tried to force him to give in. He almost did, but then he realized that if he dies, so will Rhy. That sobered him a bit and gave him the idea to dispel the magic. And so he did.
And so back in Kell London, the bodies fell… And the prince shivered then fell still.
And… that’s the end of Part XIII!
Part XIII ended with a freaking cliffhanger, but I promised not to read more than one part each week. So please join me next week to read the LAST PART of A Darker Shade of Magic!
FYI, Victoria Schwab also announced #ADSOMReadalong on her twitter where the internet will read (or reread) ADSOM before AGOS comes out. It’ll start on 02/01/2016. Join in if you want! I might or might not reread ADSOM for the third time. :p
Favorite Scene
The calm before the storm (aka the strange calm before the stone tried to take Kell).
Favorite Quote
Because she said please.
INDEX
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI | Part XII
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