A Darker Shade of Magic

V. E. Schwab

Book 1 of Shades of Magic

Kell is one of the last Antari, a rare magician able to travel between four parallel versions of London, and he moonlights as an illegal smuggler of trinkets from world to world. When a dangerous artifact he's been tricked into carrying threatens to tear the boundaries between the Londons apart, he's forced to team up with Delilah Bard, a scrappy thief from a magic-less London who dreams of adventure on the high seas. Together they race across the different Londons to stop a dark power from spreading, uncovering old rivalries and deadly magic along the way. It's a fast-paced portal fantasy built more on worldbuilding, banter, and found-family stakes than romance.