I am finally back with another review, I know, it's been a while. I have been in the worst slump for a long time. I pushed through with Lady Midnight and then fell again, however I finally pulled my ass back up and finished A Gathering of Shadows. At the moment I'm toying between contemporaries, so I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me your favourite contemporary book down below. On with the review...
All the feels, I can't put into words how shocked I was come the end of the book. This is the sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic, and it was fabulous. It's been a while since I read ADSOM so it took me a while to learn the world and familiarize myself with the characters and the previous story; though once I did it was incredible.
Victoria has a unique way of writing that you might not pick up on, I feel like she focuses on the smaller things to make the bigger things feel more ominous and present in the book.
A Darker Shade of Magic centres around the idea that Kell, our main character, is one of the last Antari. An Antari is someone who can travel between the parallel universes dubbed as: Red London, White London, Black London and Grey London. That's all I'm going to say, though I recommend you read it.
So there we go, I hope you enjoyed this non-spoiler section, you can continue forth to read my thoughts on more specific parts of the book. Apologies for everything going on with the March collab review I promise it will be up soon. You can also pick up our book for April which is Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews.
Welcome to my London of spoilers...
Well, what a book. I can't remember in too much detail what happened at the beginning, so we are going to start with what I can remember. Lila joining the night spire, I'll admitt I never really trusted Alucard Emery, he kept a lot of secrets, plus he felt fake to me. It felt like he was acting. The way she joined the crew was so totally her style that I ended up laughing.
I am immediately hating the way the bond between Rhy and Kell has changed those characters. I feel like Kell is a lot less reckless which I miss as it was enjoyable to read about. The dynamic between him and the royal family has changed so dramatically, and I feel that Victoria tried hard to make that seem apparent.
We did a lot less switching between worlds which was a shame, we only went to Grey London twice. Once to meet that pompous arrogent king, and once to watch Kell mope. We didn't even go to White London with Kell until the end.
Ojka I hated, she was so willing to do anything for Holland and it irritated me that she almost had no will and personality of her own. I think what annoyed me the most was the fact that the writing made it come across as if she was better than Kell, which I hated.
We had the essen tasch or element games this book, those are what really hooked me into the book. At the very beginning I just automatically assumed that it would be Lila, Kell and Alucard in the final, so it kind of surprised me when Lila lost and Kell forfeited the match. I love the idea and excitement surrounding the games, it gave a very Goblet of Fire feel. Much like Kell, I didn't really like the fact that Lila was competing, I enjoyed the fact Kell was though.
On the blurb it metions another world awakening, until I started it I was so sure that it would be Black London. I thought that maybe because White London fell it would ignite the arousal of Black London. I was sort of right. I was so shocked when we saw Holland, I hated him last book, but now I have a little more sympathy for the guy.
Finally let's discuss the end, and the shitstorm that blew up. First of all, how could the king have Kell arrested. In the end I appreciated their discussion and I feel it was good for Kell to finally let go of what was dampening his mood. I felt a little betrayed myself when the king didn't forgive Kell or even apologies, he just yelled back. Then in the courtyard we finally encountered Ojka, I was so hoping that she had just left, but no. The whole time she was convincing Kell to come with her, I was practically yelling no at the book. When that collar clamped around Kell's neck I think that's around where the tears started. I hated how when Rhy went down, no one was overly concerned about the fact that Kell was probably going through worse, they just wanted to save Rhy. Finally we finished on Lila about to try and push through to another world. I really hope she isn't an Antari, I feel a sort of protectiveness towards Kell, and I honestly liked the whole: Kell's the last Antari, bow to him! Attitude. I don't know I just irrationally really dislike how powerful Lila is.
So, there we go. I hope you enjoyed that very long spoiler section, don't feel too sorry for yourself, I'm the one who has to proof read and edit it. I would love it if you commented your thoughts and opinions on the book. See you soon.
-A
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