Kell and Lila are drawn into a great magic tournament in Red London while a dark power stirs in another world
A tournament of magic
Four months have passed since Kell, one of the last magicians able to travel between parallel Londons, saved his city from a deadly stone. Kell and his brother, Prince Rhy, are now bound together by magic, so that any pain one feels the other feels too, and Kell is restless, watched and distrusted. Lila Bard, the daring thief who helped him, has gone to sea aboard a privateer ship to become a pirate.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who enjoyed A Darker Shade of Magic and like character-driven fantasy with magic duels, sharp banter and a richly imagined alternate London.
What you will get
An inventive, character-rich fantasy sequel with a dazzling magic tournament, a fearless heroine and growing danger, setting up a gripping final volume.
A Gathering of Shadows Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Fantasy · Parallel Londons · Magic tournament · Pirates
Length
512 pages · ≈ 15 h
More about this book
Lila learns to fight and to use the magic she is only beginning to discover, under the eye of the charming and mysterious Captain Alucard Emery. Meanwhile, Red London prepares to host the Element Games, a tournament in which the finest magicians of three empires compete before crowds of thousands. Kell, desperate to test himself, finds a way to enter in disguise, and Lila, returning to the city, sets out to compete as well.
The tournament sequences, with their elemental duels of fire, water, earth and wind, are thrilling, and the shifting relationships between Kell, Lila, Rhy and Alucard bring plenty of humour and tension. Much of the book is a slow build, and some readers find the middle section leisurely compared with the first book. In the background, a dangerous new power is quietly taking hold in White London. The violence is moderate, and the romance builds slowly.
Inventive and entertaining, ending on a cliffhanger that leads directly into A Conjuring of Light. Fans who loved the first book's characters will enjoy spending more time with them, and the final chapters raise the stakes dramatically. About 512 pages in the Tor paperback.
A Darker Shade of Magic
Six of Crows
Throne of Glass
A Conjuring of Light
Shadow and Bone
Shadows of Self
Red Seas Under Red Skies
The Everlasting
Wizard's First Rule
A Discovery of Witches
Dragons of Autumn Twilight
House of Earth and Blood