Author: V. E. Schwab
"Aren't you afraid of dying?
- We're all going to die. I'm not afraid of death. But I'm afraid I'll die here," he said, pointing to that room, to the tavern, to the city. - A thousand times I would rather die savoring an adventure than live still."
Kell is one of the last travelers, mages with the rare and much-desired ability to travel between parallel universes, linked through a magical city.
There is Gray London, dirty and boring, devoid of any magic and ruled by a mad king: George III.
There is Red London, where life and magic are revered and where Kell grew up with Rhy Maresh, the irreverent heir to a thriving empire.
There is White London, a place where people struggle to control magic and magic strikes back, consuming the city to the bone.
Once upon a time, there was Black London. But nobody talks about her anymore.
Kell is officially the traveler of Red London, ambassador of the Maresh empire, guardian of the monthly correspondence between the royals of each London. Unofficially, he's a smuggler, serving people willing to pay for the smallest glimpse of a world they'll never see. It's a difficult pastime, the dangerous consequences of which Kell will suffer firsthand.
A fugitive in Gray London, he meets Delilah Bard, an outlaw with lofty aspirations.
First she steals him, then she saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally she forces him to take her to another world in search of a true adventure.
But dangerous magic grows and betrayal is around every corner. To save all the worlds, they must first of all survive.
