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A review by belady147
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
4.0
I loved this book! My only real issue with the first book was that it did not feel like the start of a trilogy to me as I did not feel like the first book set up an overarching plot. After reading this book, I am even more certain that Schwab did not have a trilogy in mind when writing the first book. However, I love this book because it got to expand on everything the first book introduced (except for the plot lol). I already liked the characters and the world and the magic but after this book I loved them. It is important to note, I feel, that this book is almost entirely focused on world-building and the like. A plot is slowly introduced in the background of the narrative, but never really takes center stage. That is reserved for the Element Games (a magic competition) which I loved.
While I loved this book I cannot give it 5 stars because I did not like the romances introduced in this book. I am totally biased on this because I am aromantic and asexual so I am very picky when it comes to romances, but I genuinely feel like the romances in this book were not developed before they were introduced. I feel like they just happened. I'm torn because I wish the romances just were not including at all if they were not going to be developed beforehand, but I also don't want to read about these relationships being developed because I don't care for them. I like it when romances happen organically as characters develop their relationship overtime, and that is definitely not the case for either of the romances in this book. However, this is not a big issue since the romances did not take up a lot of time or focus in this book.
If you are a very plot-driven reader, you probably will not care for this book. However, if you are a character-driven reader, you will probably like this book better than the first. I am a bit of both, so I think that I will probably like the third and last book the most since it will definitely have a plot and it will have established characters and a world that I love.
While I loved this book I cannot give it 5 stars because I did not like the romances introduced in this book. I am totally biased on this because I am aromantic and asexual so I am very picky when it comes to romances, but I genuinely feel like the romances in this book were not developed before they were introduced. I feel like they just happened. I'm torn because I wish the romances just were not including at all if they were not going to be developed beforehand, but I also don't want to read about these relationships being developed because I don't care for them. I like it when romances happen organically as characters develop their relationship overtime, and that is definitely not the case for either of the romances in this book. However, this is not a big issue since the romances did not take up a lot of time or focus in this book.
If you are a very plot-driven reader, you probably will not care for this book. However, if you are a character-driven reader, you will probably like this book better than the first. I am a bit of both, so I think that I will probably like the third and last book the most since it will definitely have a plot and it will have established characters and a world that I love.