Scan barcode
A review by rubeusbeaky
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
2.0
Remember how Goblet of Fire was about a tournament of magic-wielding teenagers, but there was all kinds of political intrigue going on in the background, making the players of the game players in a bigger game?
...
Remember how Catching Fire was a tournament of teens caught in a reality TV show survivor game, but there was a bigger political game at stake?
...
And Godsgrave had a tournament of teen gladiators fighting for sport, but there was a bigger political game at play?!?!
...
There is no bigger game at play in A Gathering of Shadows -_-. It's 360 pages of setup followed by another 140 pages of ACTUAL SPORTS COMMENTARY, followed by a 4 page cliffhanger, all interspersed with a lot of teen angst in lieu of actual character or plot development. I feel cheated. There was so much potential here. But the word count was wasted more on the setup than the story. Most of the characters are pretty insufferable this go-around, and a central "conflict" doesn't really assert itself until the cliffhanger, with everything that comes before being mostly self-inflicted melodrama.
The first book set the bar so high: A non-magical person gains magic and traverses worlds, parallel monarchs attempt to assassinate one another, and raw, wild magic gets loose and runs rampant... And this sequel... fell so low: Some teens avoid each other, then complain about how difficult love is, all while playing magic-tag.
It is very hard to believe that these books are from the same series :(.
...
Remember how Catching Fire was a tournament of teens caught in a reality TV show survivor game, but there was a bigger political game at stake?
...
And Godsgrave had a tournament of teen gladiators fighting for sport, but there was a bigger political game at play?!?!
...
There is no bigger game at play in A Gathering of Shadows -_-. It's 360 pages of setup followed by another 140 pages of ACTUAL SPORTS COMMENTARY, followed by a 4 page cliffhanger, all interspersed with a lot of teen angst in lieu of actual character or plot development. I feel cheated. There was so much potential here. But the word count was wasted more on the setup than the story. Most of the characters are pretty insufferable this go-around, and a central "conflict" doesn't really assert itself until the cliffhanger, with everything that comes before being mostly self-inflicted melodrama.
The first book set the bar so high: A non-magical person gains magic and traverses worlds, parallel monarchs attempt to assassinate one another, and raw, wild magic gets loose and runs rampant... And this sequel... fell so low: Some teens avoid each other, then complain about how difficult love is, all while playing magic-tag.
It is very hard to believe that these books are from the same series :(.