Reviews with content warning for Violence - A Gathering of Shadows

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab

137 reviews

escapismforlife's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book. THIS BOOK.

Can you hear me almost falling to grab the third off my shelf?

I haven't felt like this since reading the Legend trilogy Marie Lu back in high school. Or even finishing Ember in The Ashes Series just last year. I've got through this series quicker than both. It's taken me a month. And I am eager to see what happens. Though I think its already been told shown to me in this. <spoiler >Something to do with a dark Lila shown to her. By a dark mirror in a illegal market.

Anyways, I'm wrecked because of the ending. Delilah Bard is the true antihero/thief/magician of London. And the fact she's the strong one in the kind of relationship with Kell is the best thing ever. I love seeing an average woman do extraordinary and dangerous things. And I'm ready to see things take a left turn for once.

Content Warnings

poetry_shaman's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

nabaraditi's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This competition thing reminded me of Goblet of Fire (there's no resemblance other than the fact that both are competitions) But still. And the book felt like it was all about this competition. A new character was added

a love interest for our pretty, charming prince Rhy

which I felt like why...?????

I also didn't understand the logic behind Rhy and Kell in making Kell join the competition. TO BLOW OFF STEAM??? CATHARSIS??? REAAAAAALLLLLYYYYYYYY???????? i feel keeping you and your brother safe is more important. Hence, i sort of didn't feel bad and i could feel myself agreeing with King Maxim for imprisoning Kell. Lila joining the competition... I like her character at times but there are multiple times when I dislike her when she's being bloody stupid. She seemed to participate out of spite for Alucard?? Like i'm not mad. This fits her character. She is egoistic (at least i find her egoistic)

I quite enjoyed the first book and I thought the first book was like a build up for the next books but it seems so was this 2nd one! And I don’t want to say I was disappointed as such but I did have trouble picking this book up.

Content Warnings

sk_coco's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

wolfje's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It took me literal years to finish this book: I never really got into it the first time and stopped after about 100 pages. Then I picked it up recently and finished it in a few weeks (without rereading the start). It might've been the wrong time to read it for me the first time, or the book might start of very slow.

Content Warnings

blueberry0531's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

nebraskanwriter's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

No plot.

This book suffers from “middle book syndrome”. The magician games served absolutely no purpose to the overall story, it’s just filler. Kell and Delilah don’t even meet back up for the first time in 4 months until about 80% into the book. It isn’t until 95% into the book that action actually starts happening that moves the plot forward. The rest of the book is just fleshing out the characters, Lila on a ship with mischevious pirates, Kell & Rhy navigating their new bond and then the magician games.

For an audio book that is over 16 hours long, how did nothing happen until literally the last 30 minutes? I’m both astounded and amazed that Schwab can write such a long book where literally nothing happens until the very, very end.

Side note: the two narrators did an amazing job, they were both so good and super engaging. I feel like if they hadn’t been so amazing, I probably would have DNF’d this book.

Content Warnings

reddeddy's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i am just *inhales*……Delilah Bard…..you are insane….but you’re also a fucking badass…..i had some issues with this book through the middle and towards the end, but that ending….i’m kinda shook…..that final line gave me literal chills.

overall a solid sequel, and im so looking forward to the last one, especially after that cliffhanger…i mainly had issues with some of the character development, especially Lila, because i feel like she doesn’t get the same kind of nuance as Kell or even Rhy, especially with everything going on, it feels like she doesn’t ever get the same emotional depth the others do, but hopefully in the next book she will!

Content Warnings

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I appreciate the way that VE Schwab builds on the world in this book, giving us more about the magic system. Especially how it relates to other areas outside of London. The magical tournament was probably my favorite aspect of this story. While magical tournaments aren't new, I enjoyed the way it was written in this, and Lila's determination to join even if she isn't the most skilled magician.

Rhy might be my favorite character in this; I just think he is one of the most interesting and complex. Kell and Lila aren't terrible, but I found Lila to get a bit repetitive towards the end of this book. Becuase I didn't really realize how long this book was!

Overall, I do think this book suffers a bit from second book sydrome, especially at the beginning. It felt like it was a little longer than it needed to be, but I guess there is some build up for the third book. Which I'll definitely be reading, because I still need to know how it ends!

Content Warnings

bookaholic_in_wonderland's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

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