A Gathering of Shadows

, #2

Hardcover, 512 pages

Published March 22, 2016 by Tor Books.

ISBN:
978-0-7653-7647-3
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3 stars (2 reviews)

Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift, and into Black London.

In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games-an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries-a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills …

4 editions

reviewed A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab (Shades of Magic, #2)

A decent bit of light fantasy adventure.

3 stars

On a par with the first. A mostly fun romp. Drags a little in the middle, and is marred for me by the occasional use of very modern turns of phrase which I find very distracting (e.g. someone in a regency-ish era London claiming they're good at "multi-tasking").

reviewed A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab (Shades of Magic, #2)

Review of 'A Gathering of Shadows' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I didn't care for this at all. It's as if this book took the great premise of the first book and kinda ignored it. Instead we get lots of angsty Kell, and Lila, a magic contest that wasn't exciting with just the occasional hint of the overlying plot. My biggest problem is that I learned I don't give a shit about these characters. It read like YA and I don't like most modern YA. Probably not going to finish the series.