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woobieman 's review for:
A Gathering of Shadows
by V.E. Schwab
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pretty conflicted about this book. It has been a while since I read the first one, but I remember really liking it and had rated it 5 stars. When I was reading this one I was taken off guard by how much I hated Lila, not remembering feeling this way in the first book. I think she still had her "not like other girls trope" in the first book but this one seemed to dig into that even further. This being a second installment and definitely suffering from middle book syndrome, you got to know the characters on a deeper level. The problem with that is Lila is pretty much the text book definition of a sociopath. Most of the other characters are interesting enough but I found Lila to be unbearable. In the book she's described as having "A dangerous disregard for her own life and the lives of others" which sums up most of what's wrong with her. She has no issue lying,harming, or even killing to get what she wants. To get into the magic tournament she has to steal someones place on the roster. To do this she picks an innocent person pretty much at random and violently attacks them with a metal pipe, bashing them on the head. Now you could say "Well, she only meant to knock them out",but i personally think the whole hit someone on the head to knock them out is way over played in movies and books. Anyone with any sense at all knows a knock on the head with a literal weapon stands a strong chance of killing or doing life long damage. She knew there was a chance she could have killed this man who had done absolutely nothing to deserve it, and for what? So a spoiled brat can play hocus pocus in a game? A game she then cheats repeatedly while playing and is called out by the person who lost because of it. That person then tries to ship her off in a similar fashion to how she got rid of the person she was intimidating but less violently. All they did was tie her up and put her on a boat which honestly she deserved worse. So what does Lila do? Murders 3 people in cold blood, because they caught her on her bullshit and tried to do something about it. The author then tries to make her some kind of magic savant, all of a sudden being a master of 3 elements even though she barely knew she even had magic when she started. We get it youre a strong independent woman who dont need no man. I love strong female characters but they somehow made me hate everything about this girl. She doesn't show a drop of empathy for anyone till the very end of the book when the only interesting part of the book happens. The majority of this is side plot about the magic tournament that really doesnt advance the story at all, and once you get through that they hit you with a cliffhanger ending. Im not sure i can make it through another book with Lila bard in it but if i do try the 3erd one i just hope the pace is a bit faster and its not all world and character building like this one was.