Oh my goodness, A Gathering of Shadows has me thrown. I absolutely adored the first book, A Darker Shade of Magic. And I actually took a break between reading that and this, the sequel. It was less than a week. But, I still felt like I was seeing old friends again, as I started this.
If you haven’t read the first book, I suggest you do so before “reading more,” because I’m about to spoil literally everything.
At the end of Darker Shade, Lila (our Grey London gal) was leaving. She and Kell had just saved Red London, killed the king and queen of White London, and shipped Holland’s seemingly dead body off to Black London with a super dangerous piece of magic. They had saved Rhy, Kell’s brother (and Prince of Red London). But, only by binding his life to Kell’s. This book starts four months after that.
Lila is sailing on a ship captained by renounced Royal, Alucard Emery. There, she is the ship’s thief, and the rest of the crew has taken to referring to her as the Sarows, a creature that takes your loot, slits your throat, and leaves you to sink, silently. She is happy with a seafaring life. But she soon finds out that they’re headed back to (Red) London, because of some sort of game.
Rhy is in charge of planning the Essen Tasch, and he’s going all out.
King’s from two other lands come to participate in the games, bringing with them their magicians that were chosen to compete. Kell has not been allowed out of his guards’ sight, as the King doesn’t want anything to happen to Kell, or by extension, Rhy. But Rhy has other plans. He’s worked with the man who chooses magicians to come up with a false identity for Kell, so he can participate in the games, and burn off some steam.
Lila wants a chance at the games. So, she knocks out one of the chosen magicians and ships him off (after stealing his look). She has her mask transformed into a helmet and prepares for the Essen Tasch.
Of course, none of it goes to plan.
We find out, about halfway through the book, that Holland is more than alive and well, and has taken the throne in White London. We also learn that Alucard Emery has ties to Rhy and Kell both. It gets twisted, but in an incredible way.
I am lucky enough to have a coworker who is reading this series with me (she actually lent me A Gathering of Shadows, before she read it!) and therefore have someone to gush about it with. There are some insane similarities between this and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but I think they work better here. This book is incredible, and I really think you should be reading this series. Plus the third (and final) installment just came out in paperback, so what are you waiting for?! Go read A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of Shadows, and A Conjuring of Light right now!
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