It is probably rated this way because of some of the scenes of torture, fantasy violence and the fact that all of the main characters are adults. This book is categorized as an adult fantasy, but honestly some of it reads a little more Y.A.

That being said, I still think that there are a great many readers who will love this book, but I’m not so blind anymore as to not see its weaknesses. I think this is something that happens in every readers life, but I wish it wasn’t happening with this book. However, after re-reading it for one of my 2021 reading challenges, I don’t love it as much as I used to. I love Kell and his coat of many sides, I love the concept of the parallel worlds, I even loved Holland and his wish for death. It was an easy 5 star read for me at the time. I remember reading this when it first came out in 2015 and loving it so much. Escaping to Grey London, he runs into aspiring pirate Delilah Bard, who after robbing him and then saving him, forces him to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. However, this defiant hobby has dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand after an exchange goes awry. However, unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, taking little knickknacks from one world to another. Kell was raised in Arnes, Red London, and officially serves the Maresh Empire as their ambassador navigating the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the Grey one. Kell is one of the last magicians with the ability to travel between the parallel Londons: Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell traced the edge of the bank, weaving through the evening fair, savoring the taste and smell of the air, the sound of laughter and music, the thrum of magic.“ The stalls were always changing, but the energy remained, as much a part of the city as the river it fed on. “ Every night of the year, the market lived and breathed and thrived.

A darker shade of magic series order