Reviews with content warning for Death - A Gathering of Shadows

Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab

73 reviews

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

5 ⭐ CW: violence, blood and gore, self harm, death

"I am Delilah Bard. Pirate, thief, magician. I have crossed worlds and taken ships. Fought queens and saved cities. I am one of a kind."

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab is book two in the Shades of Magic trilogy. This is my first read of #SequelSeptember , and it was a great way to start! I really need to stop putting off reading Schwab books, because I love her writing style. It's so descriptive and beautiful, it almost feels physical. I love the way they take time to let us get to know the characters, so they feel like real people. Some people might find it slow, but I enjoy the layered world-building.

We pick up with Lilah Bard, who has achieved her dream of becoming a pirate (love that for her). When Lila finds out her captain, Alucard Emery (handsome, annoyingly charming, bisexual), is stopping in London for an international magical games tournament, she is determined to enter. Plus, we all know Lila probably misses Kell as much as his broody ass probably misses her. Lila's story is all about her pushing her limits and defeating the odds.

We follow Kell and Rhy as they deal with the consequences from the last book. Kell struggles with feeling trapped in a cage, while Rhy is bent on self destructive behaviors all while planning an elaborate international tournament. The antagonist was kinda understated in a slow burn kinda way, but was deeply unsettling. That was a beast of a cliffhanger! 😭 I don't have the third book on my tbr this month, but I may have to bump it up!

This world is so interesting!

Content Warnings

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional tense

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

From a critical perspective, this book's plot wasn't really ... relevant to the progression of this series. The parts that were relevant were amazing, though, and to say that I didn't enjoy this book would've been a lie.

I am absolutely in love with this cast of characters, though?! Well, or Alucard, anyway. And Rhy as well, they're both amazing.

Although I think it was an interesting concept and helped exploring the cultures outside of Arnes, I just cannot see how the tournament was necessary at all. Neither Kell nor Lila really have a strong enough reason to compete. They're just competing to ... do something.
But then again, I did enjoy this book very much. I especially liked Kell and Alucard's dynamic. Kell doesn't seem to get along very well with anyone, really. Loving that for him.

I also enjoy Holland MUCH MORE as the villain ruler of White London than the Dane twins. I hated them, to be quite honest. Haha. They felt a bit too cliché evil™. Holland is more realistic, I think. He wants to restore his home to its former glory (and more), but has some questionable methods. I dunno, he's kinda like Hitler, but with less genocide and more sexy, if that's okay? I think we can agree that less genocide is a good thing.

To be honest, I can't remember all the warnings to put here.

Content Warnings

rinku's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I don’t have too much to say about A Gathering of Shadows. With a random magical tournament in its focus, this book felt more like a filler than anything else. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the writing and the world enough to still give three stars.

Like I’ve said, the things happening in this book are not really relevant for the overarching plot. Some time has passed, and Lila is now on the sea with some pirates while Kell is just … I genuinely can’t remember, he’s probably angsty about the things that have happened lmao. Rhy and the monarch’s family are planning a magical tournament which is the only big thing happening, but this tournament only starts after the half of the novel which makes the first half kinda unnecessary.

Another problem I had with the plot was that the two things that made the first novel interesting were mostly absent here, namely travelling to the different Londons and Kell’s and Lila’s dynamic because they are apart for like 80% of the novel. Of course, both take part in the tournament, but their reasons were so weird and stupid that it seemed not believable to me that they would participate there in the first place. Furthermore, the tournament is very predictable; I knew from the beginning that the tournament was just there to get a scene where

Kell and Lila fight against each other, and Alucard winning wasn’t a surprise neither

. There were some moments I liked though, like the discussion of death around King George.

One big problem I have with the series until now is that there’s no character that I really like. All of them are supposed to be ruthless but they only seem too edgy and hence a little cringe to me. This goes especially goes for Lila that kills so many people without any regret which makes her kinda unsympathetic in my eyes. Also, she literally says at one point that she’s not like other girls, and she sometimes gives me some Mary Sue vibes, especially when it comes to the magic. I feel indifferent towards Rhy and Kell but what made them a bit unlikable in my eyes was how they used their guards. The only character I liked was Alucard and

I love the relationship between him and< Rhy

With A Gathering of Shadows, I still don’t see why this book series is hyped the way it is. I just don’t care for the characters, and I have the feeling that the concept of the different worlds is barely utilized which is unfortunate.

Content Warnings

rdmoreland0801's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I’m glad Lila got her own storyline in this book, but she can be a really terrible person.

It’s hard to fault her because of her life up until this point, but she is constantly dragging others down with her. She’s selfish and impulsive and I hope to see growth in the final book.

I absolutely adore Alucard Emery, and he makes a great match with Rhy. No wonder Kell hates him so much.

I loved the action of the Essan Tasche and getting to meet all the other magicians. The best part of these books are the fight scenes. V.E. Schwab does these scenes so well, you can vividly pictures them in your mind.

Content Warnings