A Gathering of Shadows: A Novel

I've seen criticism of book 2 being slow, but the characterization was above and beyond what I read in book 1. Maybe, just maybe, I need to read book 1 again and pay better attention, but I think we only scratched the surface of who these characters are in book 1 and we got such a more indepth view here in book 2. Now, I could fault this book or book 1 for that... but I choose to keep my book 1 rating at 4 stars and give this one the favor it deserves for such an exciting story with such amazing characters!!Picking up where book 1 left off, Lila is determined to make her way in Red London, a world she should not be able to exist in, but maybe she'll be able to find out who she really is, why she has unexplained magical ability, why one of her eyes is false...Kell and Rhy are trying to navigate their new twined soul, both feeling each other's pain and frustrations, so Kell has become restless and angry, while Rhy is feeling guilty for being tethered to Kell's life force. The solution?? Enter Kell secretly into a magical Triwizard Tournament! It was ridiculous in so many ways, I constantly waited for everything to fall apart, and maybe it should have, especially when COMPLETELY UNTRAINED Lila manages to get herslf into the tournament as well...Also, enter a whole host of new and familiar characters, all drawn expertly to complement our mains, and I absolutely adored this middle book! Yes, it's true, the "plot" doesn't even happen till after the halfway mark, but if you love these characters, you will adore the build-up. The angst in every character is perfectly rendered and I loved being inside their heads, feeling their longing and their frustrations. The tournament bouts and the conversations were so well articulated! I was transported to this world!My only criticism is that we never EVER seem to get enough of Lila and Kell together. And I'm not even talking about payoff, just their trying to figure each other out. TALKING! You know? That magical thing you do with your mouth? Instead of doing the manly thing and bottling it all up like Kell and Rhy love to do, or running from it like a thief in the night like Lila and Alucard love to do.The way this book ends is the sweetest torture! I cannot wait to start book 3. So much is hanging in the balance! No middle book syndrome here for me, I loved this book fully and cannot wait to see how the story concludes!!

There are parts of this novel I absolutely loved. Like truly adored. Rhy, for one. Other things I won’t spoil here. But I just can’t get over how much I dislike Lila. I think VE Schwab has a great mind for writing villains, and background characters - Rhy, Alucard, Holland, all of the others, are fleshed out and exciting to read about. I would read an entire story about the Dark Spire crew. Or hell, give me more of that magician warrior woman we meet in the tournament, I love Kell too, although he’s not my favorite.But Lila is INCREDIBLY boring. She has zero character development. She’s about as one dimensional as the piece of paper she was written on. Plus, her scenes with Kell were just lackluster and they had ZERO chemistry. Alucard had more chemistry with literally the entire universe than Lila has with anyone (let alone Kell).This seems to be an ongoing issue with this author. Her female characters are cardboard cut out caricatures of real women. Is VE Schwab a woman? I thought she was but she writes women as if she’s literally never met one.Im going to read the rest of the series because I love everyone else and I want to know what happens, but damn I kind of wish Lila would just cease to exist as a character 😂

Disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.A Gathering of Shadows was everything I hoped it would be and so much more. As a long time fan of Schwab, I’m starting to run out of wonderful things to say about her and her novels; I’m afraid I’m about to sound repetitious in my review but I can’t not use ‘brilliant, creative, talented, master storyteller, or incredible’ when it comes to describing Schwab and her books…because she and her books embodies those words. Schwab once again out does herself (no surprise lol) as she gives readers a captivating and thrilling sequel in the Shades of Magic series.Oh, how I missed Kell, Lila, Rhy and the world of Shades of Magic! Within the first page, I felt like I never left, like I read the first book just yesterday, as if no time has passed; and yet it’s been over a year but everything, from the story to the characters felt fresh in my mind. The first book, A Darker Shade of Magic, I’m sure, has that effect on everyone that reads it. It’s memorable and leaves a lasting impression on its readers, where we all find ourselves thinking about the characters and world long after we’ve read it. I know I did. Before I began A Gathering of Shadows, I kept wondering…how can she possibly out-do the last book, because it was one of my top favorite reads of 2015. And I had very high expectations. Ladies and gents, I give you two words: Essen Tasch (The Elemental Games). The Essen Tasch was the main focus of the book; we had empires across the land make their way to Arnes with their strongest competitors, as magicians were pitted against one another to see who/which empire’s magician would come out on top. And boy, was it a marvelous pulse-pounding game! My heart was literally racing and Lila had me grinnin’ and laughing out loud. Gotta love the girl! I loved learning more about the magical system and that of the neighboring empires, it’s was fascinating, intricate and specific, and like Schwab’s characters, everything was very believable and realistic. The entire book, the scenes felt so real that I can imagine myself a part of the crowd as the magicians dueled, as the lights flared so bright from a plate being hit to hearing the energetic deafening cheer of the crowds. It qwas definitely the most fun and best part of the book!Talking of missing characters, I didn’t know how much I missed them till I got 5 pages into the book. It felt sooo good to be immersed in Red London again and right off the bat; readers were treated to Lila’s old snarky self and witty dialogue. She’s definitely something special, and the more I see of Lila, the more she’s becoming my favorite fantasy heroine. Even before she possessed elemental magic, she was already a strong, clever, independent kick-a*s and a personality/attitude to match. What I liked most about her is her hunger for life, to make the impossible, possible. When she wants something, she goes out and makes it happen. No questions or hesitation about it. The word ‘’can’t” isn’t in her vocabulary. Lila is setting a pretty high standard for other fantasy characters. Watch out literary world, there’s a new favorite heroine in town! I can’t forget my boys. Readers of course are also treated to more of the princes; the ever-charming Rhy and the revered magician Kell. I love the both of them and was ecstatic to see more of Rhy…because there can never be enough of Rhy lol. The brothers are having a tough time adjusting to life after the black night and consequences of the previous book, but nonetheless, I enjoyed seeing more of their relationship, and how they’re moving forward and dealing with their new situation. As much as I love Lila, Kell and Rhy…there’s a new character this time around, one that I found myself fascinated with and is starting to grow on me….who is none other than Alucard Emery, magician and captain of the Night Spire. I was intrigued the moment he appeared and there seems to be a lot of history between him and the princes. Readers learned a good chunk about what that all entails but I hope we’ll be seeing more of Emery in the next book. He’s too interesting of a character not to make another appearance.But everything wasn’t all fun and games, as a threat hovers just at the edges in White London, as a new king ascended the thrones after the death of the Dane Twins. A threat that unforeseeable to the characters and will have monumental consequences that will affects all Londons. That Ending was torturous. It’s been awhile since I encountered the dreadful cliffhangers, and Schwab wrote a wallop of a cliffhanger! Talk about devastating and heart-wrenching.I am already pining for book three; a year seems like a life-time away! I loved every minute of A Gathering of Shadows and highly recommend this series to everyone. This is a series that everyone needs on their book bucket list! I’ve said this before, but her books are truly one-of-a-kind. Schwab is by far one of the most brilliant and talented authors of our time; every book she writes is magic. From the world she creates, to the characters that inhabit it down to the very words written on the pages. Everything is done with care, purpose and meaning. Like Lila, Schwab is unstoppable, a force to be reckoned with and there’s nothing she can’t do. Luckily we will have something to tide us over as we await the next Shades of Magic book; Schwab has a new book coming out this July, a YA series, the first book titled This Savage Song. It’s full of monsters! I can’t wait!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 / 4.5 starsIn A Gathering of Shadows, we go back to Red London four months after the events of the first book happened.I have loved this world ever since I read A darker shade of magic earlier this year. The way everything is written is so detailed, you can picture everything so easily. We mostly see more of Kell’s world instead of the different London’s. The world was expanded, and I wanted to see even more of it. As we learn more of the world, we learn more about the characters. We see the characters even develop more and some new ones are introduced.The buildup throughout the whole book and suspense that keeps building keeps you on your toes the whole time. In the beginning, it seemed to be a bit slow. I would’ve loved to see more of Kell’s antari powers. Somewhere around page 100 a big bomb dropped, and I suddenly got so excited! You got teased with little snippets throughout the chapters that kept me wanting to turn the pages. The way the suspense build, you know something big is going to happen and I just couldn’t wait for that moment the be there. When it finally was, there were way too little pages left to the book! The book ends on a mayor cliffhanger (so make sure you’ve got book 3 ready! I didn’t and I keep hitting myself for being so stupid🙈). Still, I would’ve like to see more of Kell’s powers.I love how we got to see more of Rhy as well! We got some chapters and paragraphs from his POV and I loved that. Especially after what happened in the first book, I loved how we got more inside and saw the effects from both persons. Lila was exactly the same as in the first book but has grown in her own ways. I would’ve like to see more personal growth from her. Because she seemed a bit the same, I didn’t enjoy her as much as in the first book. But with the ending, I’ve got hope for her.Overall, I loved the book and the suspense and buildup! The ending killed me, and I can’t wait to start the next one sometime this week! The theory I had at the end of the first book still isn’t answered! But it’ll probably be answered in the first page of book three.

<REVIEW> A GATHERING OF SHADOWS•• ⭐️: 5/5••💬: It has been four months since a mysterious obsidian stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Prince Rhy was wounded, and since the nefarious Dane twins of White London fell, and four months since the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift--back into Black London.••🔰: Incredibly written as always. There’s something about Schwab’s writing that always get to me, it always make me feel part of what is happening in the story. The dialogues always funny with a dash of cleverness, and her characters...OMG She really knows how to write complex, lovable and flawed characters that it makes me sometimes relate to people on real life. Even if it’s in a fantasy context I can relate to a lot of things because Rhy, Lila, Kell, Alucard and Holland are so HUMAN.The plot of this one was very captivating, with the Games and all the deception that the characters were trying to achieve. Also, I loved the way we really see how much Kell and Rhy love each other above everything else, they might not be blood brothers but they are real brothers. How much they care about each other’s happiness.And boy, TONS OF EMOTIONS GOING ON ON EACH CHAPTER!I feel like I can’t be the same after reading this one, after seeing Kell’s feelings so raw. I don’t know, I just love this book so much that I want to carry with me to everywhere and introduce it to people.

Esta es la edición regular que incluye detalles de tinta en la portada así como un ribete metálico y arte en las primeras y últimas páginas, así como una historia corta, vale la pena adquirirlo, la historia es cautivadora, no pude soltar el libro hasta la última página, con estos libros la sensación de leerlos en físico a leerlos en la versión kindle es diferente, es mágico, no puedo esperar a la edición de cierre de la trilogía.

Good

I hate writing reviews that are just one big gushy mess, but there was nothing I didn't love about this book. Schwab is merciless with her characters, but it was all fitting. If there are no consequences, then there would be no reason to be on the edge of your seat! The tension in these books certainly ramps up. The beginning of this story is relatively calm with very important 'backstory' details. These are the character development parts of the story that ensure that you care about everything that happens to the characters once things go south.If you loved the first book, what are you waiting for?There are too few books these days with magician/sorcerer/wizard battles! This one has all of the excitement and danger of The Triwizard Tournament in the Harry Potter books!! I absolutely love competitions like this so that's part of what made this book really soar for me. Plus, pirates. And, training montages! (Montages isn't really the right word, but there are sections where Lila is being taught how to use magic.) Another one of my favourite parts of fantasy novels.I'll take a minute to talk about the one new character for this book. Alucard is awesome. He is funny and deep but I feel torn also because you find out right away that Kell hates him. It's interesting to see Lila become friends with him while knowing how much Kell hates him.Small spoiler alert:I had heard before reading this book that the ending has a cliffhanger so I waited to read it until right before A Conjuring of Light released. I'm so glad that I can instantly read the finale now!