My Friday Post: Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56 Meme

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS is hosted by Gilion Dumas at Rose City Reader: http://www.rosecityreader.com/

https://www.facebook.com/RoseCityReader

Here’s the book beginning that captured my interest:

Kell wore a very peculiar coat.

   It had neither one side, which would be conventional, nor two, which would be unexpected, but several, which was, of course, impossible.

Watch out for the cover reveal and author’s name at the end of this Book Beginnings and Friday 56 Post.

 

THE FRIDAY 56 MEME

I initially came across The Friday 56 Meme via Caffeine and Books, https://caffeineandbooks42.wordpress.com/

It is a weekly meme hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice, click on the link to her blog, and the rules are pretty simple:

• Grab a book, any book.
• Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
  (If you have to improvise, that’s OK.)
• Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it).
• Post it.
• Add the url to your post on Freda’s Voice.

There’s no page 56 on the book I have before me so here is a tantalising quote from page 55:

How had he ended up on this shelf? What had happened when his eye turned black? Was he born that way and hidden, or did the mark of magic manifest? Five years. Five years he’d been someone else’s son. Had they been sad to let him go? Or had they gratefully offered him up to the crown? 

Have you guessed the book from the quotes? It’s from one of my favourite authors:

V.E. Schwab – A Darker Shade of Magic.

 

This is Victoria Schwab’s fabulous list on Goodreads,  about the main aspects of A Darker Shade of Magic:

–Magic

–Cross-dressing thieves

–(Aspiring) pirates

–Londons (plural)

–Sadistic kings (and queens)

–A royal who is equal parts Prince Harry and Jack Harkness

–More magic (blood magic, elemental magic, bad magic, etc. etc.)

–Epic magicky fights scenes

–Angst!

–And coats with more than two sides

 

This sounds awesome, can’t wait to read it. That list just sounds so appealing. What about you? Have you read any Victoria Schwab novels before?

 

Here’s the Goodreads synopsis:

Kell is one of the last Travelers—rare magicians who choose a parallel universe to visit.

Grey London is dirty, boring, lacks magic, ruled by mad King George. Red London is where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. White London is ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. People fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. Once there was Black London—but no one speaks of that now.

Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see. This dangerous hobby sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to another world for her ‘proper adventure’.

But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive—trickier than they hoped.

Victoria Schwab’s website: http://www.victoriaschwab.com