A Gathering of Shadows: A Novel (Shades of Magic, 2)

The second adventure in #1 New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab's beloved Shades of Magic trilogy—a dazzling world of parallel Londons where the balance of power is ever perilous, and for one city to flourish, another must die...
Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Essen Tach tournament, and another London is coming back to life...After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning. But magic must always live in balance—and so now, another London will fall.
Other books by V. E. Schwab
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Shades of Magic series
A Darker Shade of Magic
A Gathering of Shadows
A Conjuring of Light
Villains Duology
Vicious
Vengeful
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Community Reviews
It took me two tries to read this book. The first time, I gave up like halfway through and the second time, I got stalled for months around the same point. The problem is that the first half builds towards the second half, which is great and all but it leaves the first part unable to really stand on its own. It wasn't boring exactly, but it wasn't compelling either.
The second part of the book was where the story really jumped out of the page at you. Descriptions of the competition (which admittedly seemed like very Avatar/Legend of Korra, but tbh how many ways are there to have elementals go up against each other?) were so exciting and the relationships between all the characters really drove the book. It was a bit of a bummer that Kell and Lila didn't meet up again for such a long time until almost the end, which may have contributed to the first part dragging. They just play off each other so well that the book seems like it's missing something when the two of them aren't working together.
But we got loads of great character stuff with Kell, and Kell and Rhys, and Alucard and Lila, and so many other great character interactions that I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on. I'm definitely excited to see more Alucard and Rhys and seeing how the group works together to defeat the new evil, and how Holland ends up at the end of all this. And of course, more Kell and Lila now that they are finally (kind of) together.
I think I'm going to read some other stuff first before diving back into this world, but it's nice to know that I have some more great storytelling and world building to look forward to!
The first half is just Lila moping around on a pirate ship for no particular reason and Kell moping around London because his life is boring and careful because it’s tied to Rhy’s life.
The second half could have been a more interesting magical competition but it is still bloated with a ton of filler.
I love Lila, the sassy strong absolute badass female lead. The two mysterious male counterparts make it more of a page turner and then yes of course magic. Great read and will go straight onto the third of the series now
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