A Gathering of Shadows
Ratings387
Average rating4
It was quite an exciting ride with an especially cliffhanger ending. I loved how the characters intertwined one another and the banter between them all seemed very genuine.
I understand why people say this book has the “middle book syndrom”.
Yes the action is way slower than in the first one, but I have to say I really enjoyed to go deeper in the culture of the world and the characters psychology. Even if the main plot does not advance that much, Lila, Kell and Rhys definitively do!
This serie is outstanding compare to what I have read of V.E. Schwab. I am really excited to read the last book and see how the story will wrap up !
There's a reason why I'm obsessed with every single one of Victoria Schwab's books. Maybe it's the unique stories, or the amazing characters, or just the outstanding writing. Whatever it is, A Gathering of Shadows is no exception. Like all of Victoria's books, it is 500 pages of pure, creative writing that blew me away at each word.
Ever since I finished A Darker Shade of Magic in November, I have waited, quite impatiently, for this book. And every second of free time I've had since the moment, on Tuesday, when I ran to my mailbox after arriving home from school, has been spent invested into the beautiful world that Schwab has created. That ending has left me craving more, and I don't know how I am going to wait until the next book. I need more Kell. I need more Lila. I need more Rhy. I just need book three.
I have got to say that this is fast becoming one of my favourite fantasy series.
AGOS (as nobody is calling it) takes place about four months after the first book and updates us with the current goings on in Red London. The characters of Kell and Lila are developed as is the rest of the world and it's inhabitants, particularly Rhy and the rest of the royal family.
The second story in the trilogy is more of a character driven story than A Darker Shade of Magic, and it is testament to Schwab's writing that whilst there are not spectacular action set pieces all through the book, she manages to keep the reader engaged with the development of her characters.
The only thing that irked me was the introduction of Dracula (Captain Alucard!) even to the point of having him as the dragon. Everytime I read it I kept thinking of Dracula 1972 AD. Although, I did like his character
I have got to say that I liked the character development and the world building that is done in this story. Again hats off to Ms Schwab because rather than hitting you over the head with a mallet to expand on the mythos of her world, she uses the age old trick of show don' t tell and subsequently the world of Red London is enriched by this approach.
Cannot wait to read the next one!
4.5 Stars
When I finally finished this book, I then proceeded to internally scream nope in my head repeatedly. I knew we were in for a crazy ride at the end of the book, but I was not expecting it to be anything as extreme or unexpected as it actually was. I was not at all prepared to read those last few chapters.
For me this book started off really slow, it was not until right before the tournament began that I really connected with the plot. That being said this was still an amazing and strong sequel. I'm still amazed every time I finish another Victoria Schwab book. She has slowly become one of my favorite authors (even if I have only read four of her books).
February is so long away I have no idea how I'm going to patiently wait to get my hands on A Conjuring of Light. It is going to be a long wait. This would have been a five star book if it were not for the slower start.
I KNEW it wasn't a good idea to read this so far away from the sequel release but I did it anyway.
I have so many regrets.
Nine of them, to be precise.
One for each month I still have to wait before reading A CONJURING OF LIGHT.
melts into a puddle of want
No, just no. You take the uninteresting sidekick and make her the protagonist of the sequel? You make her flawless and invincible?
Things I also despise: romanticized pirates (pirates are rapist, murderers and thieves), a remorseless killer made out to be the good guy, NO PLOT WHATSOEVER.
The first scene of the book is an action scene (ugh), has the ‘protagonist' defeat a crew of 20 man by herself.
Read 1:22/16:08 9%
This is going to be a very unpopular opinion but... this book is terrible.
As in, for the first time in 15 years I gave up mid book and mid series. No plot, characters I hated, a world that wasn???t developed and not even good writing. I got to the last chapter and realized I just didn???t care how it ended.
The first book showed promise and I started this one hoping it would be more fully developed. Not only did that not happen, it actually regressed in this installment.
Just as awesome as book 1 but ends with the worst kind of cliffhanger. I'm glad that I don't have to wait as long as others for the 3rd one!
3.5 stars
Here we have the second adventure of Kell and Lila in Red London... The first part (personally) was a bit boring. The MC was just walking around the Red London and doing nothing!
I liked Lila in the first book because she was badass and crazy! However, in this second book, it was too much! She acted just like crazy and childish.
Why she entered the Tournament? Just because she can!
Why is she using magic? Just because she can!
Why is she amazing? Just because she thinks so...
And Kell...oh well... I don't know what happened to him. He was just a winy and sad all the time. No action, nothing from him. He was totally boring here!
The best moments were when Holland appeared and did his schemes. But that, unfortunately, happened just at the last 50 pages of the book!
Overall, this book is no good. It didn't help the story and I hope that the last book will be better!
Kell did basically nothing this entire book. Lila and Alucard were basically the whole story. I liked the pirating very much. I always enjoy pirates and magical ones are even better. But I did hope that these characters could collide a little more. Rhy and Lila's interaction in the first book made me very excited for them to become friends but instead, they really only talk for two sentences in the whole thing.
I also don't much care for stopping a book in the middle of a story much less in the middle of a single interaction. It felt like the scene wasn't even over.
At the start of this book, I had an uneasy feeling that it wouldn't live up to the first. It took me a while to get back into the world and the characters, but when I did, I felt the exact same way I did when reading A Darker Shade of Magic. This is the kind of fantasy novel I want to read more of.
again , v.e Schwab has done it again !!!!!
i cried, laughed, cried , cried , cried (for eterninty) kell and rhy are brotp material . the ending . nope , nuh uh , nada , nil ,zero not okay with it. it just was like oh , i finished the book , i need moreee .
a
nd
rhy
and alucard
can we pls just give them more love ,
i love rhy so much my heart hearts , ( rhy and kell's probably do too )
the essen tasch ?
elements ?
games?
count me in people !!! the suspense and romanctics and characters and styles it swept me away like wave crashing into me ( with feels and the odd evil “ you shall be changed by the book “ thing you know ?)
i got to know lots more about LIla or Dealilah or just bae . shes the best pirate ever ( but jack sparrow okay , i have a pirate anda specific pirates of the carribbean thing ok .)
the magic , the maheym , moreish ness and the end .
alucard emery is a pirate and privateer and loves rhy ( just like myslef) couldnt love him more to be honest he ticks all my piratey boxes .
so to sum up , i cried , died , and sighed and again died .
oh ! and please just read it , you have my word it will blow your brains . just like mine.
all the love ,
bookishwolf x
I obviously loved this book - hence the 5 stars review. BUT
yeah, there is a BUT...
LILA WAS SO FREAKING ANNOYING IN THIS BOOK. I mean - I get her. I understand why she did most of the stupid things, btu she was annoying and sometimes she acted like she knew better than Kell and that was obviously not true. As much as I loved her in the first book, in this one I wanted to just portal through this book and slap her and bring her back to her senses. I really hope she's going to get better in book 3 and start seeing that some things are NOT good for her. Because she's a great character and I don't want anything to happen to her.
And... that ending? That was CRUEL.
4.5 stars
It took me a while to finish this one, but I can officially say that I'm obsessed with this series.
I love Kell and Lila. They're my favorite characters. But every single one of the characters in this book intrigues me: Holland, Alucard, Rhy, Lenos, the King, the Queen, Tieren. All of them are interesting characters that kept me invested in the story.
And that ending... it killed me!!! What a cliffhanger!!!
Not a fan of “not like most girls” vibe, though. I still loved it anyway.
Book was slow to start. It didn't becoming overly engaging until the last 150 pages. However, I enjoyed the storyline. On to the last book of the trilogy.
DNF very freaking fast, after 15%.
Miss Schwab, you writing a female character who can go around murdering and even getting praised and rewarded for it doesn't make her a “strong female character”, it makes her a sociopath. Constantly almost being raped and murdering the guy in return is still a cheap thing and bad writing, but when SHE is stealing from someone, he runs after her, she murders him and she gets taken up on a ship as the new perfect little best friendo of the captain who was the employer of the guy, I just can't help calling this a piece of shit, dumb book. You can write imperfect heroes. Hell, even bad ones. But you can't make them evil, then expect everyone to think they are awesome total little babes who you should love.
We should let Lila run around, stab random guys in the kidney, we will find some excuse why she did a great thing, because special snowflakes can do no bad ever.
Screw this idiotic book.
Opnieuw bijzonder veel genoten van deze wereld van Victoria Schwab. Geen tweede boek syndroom voor deze. Het verhaal is van dezelfde kwaliteit als het zelfs niet beter is dan het eerste deel. Gelukkig kan ik direct verder met deel 3!
Fucking brilliant. I couldn't put it down
I would reread this all day long
V E Schwab writing improves with each book and I love her style. Immersive, brilliant well thoughtful characters that make me want to hug them (and I don't do hugs)
Book starts slow but picks up. Tensions are high. And the ending made me buy the third immediately.
Full of fighting games and characters internal struggles I wanted to cry and cheer at the same time. So many emotions went though while Reading this book.
Kell and Rhy are precious
Lila Bard is the best badass I've met
(Also the king is a C***)
But this book got me out of a slump! Big time.
One of my top favourites this year.