Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift, and into Black London.
In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games-an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries-a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.
But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills …
Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift, and into Black London.
In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games-an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries-a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.
But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again-and so to keep magic's balance, another London must fall...in V.E. Schwab's A Gathering of Shadows.
I didn't care for this at all. It's as if this book took the great premise of the first book and kinda ignored it. Instead we get lots of angsty Kell, and Lila, a magic contest that wasn't exciting with just the occasional hint of the overlying plot. My biggest problem is that I learned I don't give a shit about these characters. It read like YA and I don't like most modern YA. Probably not going to finish the series.
Review of 'A Gathering of Shadows (A Darker Shade of Magic)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I mostly enjoyed the concept of this world, not necessarily its storytelling. Here we find parallel worlds, with a different amount of magic in it, and all they have in common is London and its river. We have Grey London, which is ours, but felt a bit Dickensian, with almost no magic left. We have Red London, with an abundance of it, White London where cruelty and magic as absolute power reign, and finally there used to be Black London, destroyed by magic.
A race called Antari can move between worlds with blood magic, and our protagonist Kell is one of two known Antari. He is from Red London and works for the royals, delivering messages between the rulers of each London. But on a trip to White London he receives an artifact from fallen Black London that changes everything. He finds that he needs help from a young woman …
I mostly enjoyed the concept of this world, not necessarily its storytelling. Here we find parallel worlds, with a different amount of magic in it, and all they have in common is London and its river. We have Grey London, which is ours, but felt a bit Dickensian, with almost no magic left. We have Red London, with an abundance of it, White London where cruelty and magic as absolute power reign, and finally there used to be Black London, destroyed by magic.
A race called Antari can move between worlds with blood magic, and our protagonist Kell is one of two known Antari. He is from Red London and works for the royals, delivering messages between the rulers of each London. But on a trip to White London he receives an artifact from fallen Black London that changes everything. He finds that he needs help from a young woman from Grey London, a wanna-be pirate called Lila.
I thought Lila was a cool character, but I am not fully sure that I ever found Kell to have a real personality, other than deeply caring about Prince Rhy. But I am willing to find out more about who these Antari actually are, so I shall be picking up the next book as well. Good entertainment, but nothing stellar, so 3.5 stars for me.
