A Gathering of Shadows Review
Well, here we are again, reviewing a Middle Book in a series. Feels like I’ve done that a few times recently. But, I can’t get to the end without going through the middle. So here we go again. A Gathering of Light is the second book in the Shades of Magic trilogy by VE Schwab. And it was a fun ride with a very sudden stop. In general, it didn’t suffer too badly from ‘middle book syndrome’ (where you have to get from the first book to the climax of the series but there’s not much in between), though it does wander just a little bit in the first hundred pages or so.
For characters in this book we have Kell, Lilah, and Holland (what? Isn’t he dead?), as well as Prince Rhy and his parents from book 1. And to that we add Alucard Emery, captain of the Privateer (not pirate lol) vessel that Lilah gets on as part of the crew to go see the Red London world. And really, this is Lilah’s book. She is definitely the focal character with the most page/screen time over the course of the book.
The plot for this book mostly revolves around the Essen Tach, a magical competition between the three empires of the Red London world. Arnes is hosting the games in their home capitol of London and Rhy is in charge of making it a spectacle, with one-on-one elemental magic duels between contestants. It’s got a great vibe and a lot of fun, but every now and then we slip over to White London where Holland has somehow become King and things are… different. And Holland is not completely in control of what’s going on. Super exciting and mysterious, for sure. Especially when, just after the last competition of the Games, Kell is lured back to White London and… Well, that’s even more than I should say honestly. The ending is a massive cliffhanger that drove me nuts! Finishing at 11pm and trying to go to bed on time with it all hanging over me was not my finest moment. But I had book 3 just sitting there waiting for me to dive right into. So I guess I forgive the author this time.
The themes of this book are all about authority, and the responses to how it is used. To build, or to sail, or to keep other people doing what you want instead of what they want. And hand-in-hand with that goes Freedom. What that means to each of the characters and what they can do (or not) to become more free, and how having freedom (or its lack) changes their outlook on life. I don’t see this as a particularly coming-of-age story, but it does feel a little like that on the edges.
What did I love about this book? I loved seeing the world build itself outside the single city we got last time. I loved seeing how the kingdoms progressed side-by-side but independently, with Grey London and White London both getting new kings but very different methods and outlooks. I loved seeing all the different ways the Red London empires used magic to enhance themselves, physically or otherwise. And lots of low to moderate stakes magical fights, with some big cool things here and there. I’m really glad I finally got to this series and I really enjoyed the book overall. Wish I’d read it when it first came out, honestly. But better late than never.
