Wizards, parallel worlds, and pirates! If you mix those great fictional components together, you might have something fun. When V.E. Schwab mixes them together, we readers are treated to something great. A Gathering of Shadows is the direct sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic so you’ll need to read that first one before diving into this since Gathering takes place only about 4 months later. So, be warned as information considered spoilers for A Darker Shade of Magic comes up in this review.
The story begins with thief and trickster Delilah “Lila” Bard, tied up in a boat with very little in the way of supplies or means of survival. When a pirate vessel encounters her, she is rescued from certain doom and very possible death. As it turns out, Lila wasn’t in need of rescuing, she just needed to be brought aboard so she could steal the pirate ship. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Schwab kicks off A Gathering of Shadows with somebody stealing a pirate ship in the most entertaining fashion.
Schwab jumps from Lila’s story to Kell, back in Red London being as he “dragged” around by his brother Rhy. Kell seems despondent so Rhy dragging him around is the prince’s attempt at cheering up the man who saved his life. From one place which Kell was miserable to a place where his spirits are raised, Rhy convinces Kell to compete in Essen Tasch, the upcoming tri-country magical tournament. Yes it sounds familiar, but the similarity to a certain boy wizard’s magical tournament is only superficial.
A third storyline involves…well, another practitioner of magic who has found himself in much better standing than he expected to be after the events of A Darker Shade of Magic. What we see of this magic man is sparse, but paced expertly and placed perfectly at intervals of Kell and Lila’s narratives. Each of these interval scenes raises a sense of dread only we as the reader can know, and it grows more so because it is a dread about which our protagonists are utterly unaware.
There are a lot of storytelling tricks for which I’m a sucker and one of them is when a story contains parallel narratives that eventually meet up with each other. Schwab plays with that technique extremely well. Lila’s pirating adventures, along with her captain Alucard, lead up to her arrival at London where her story comes together with the unfolding story of Kell and Rhy.
When I read (on audio) A Darker Shade of Magic, I was enwrapped in the narrative. Admittedly, I wasn’t initially fond of Lila, like Kell, I found her to be a bit of an annoyance. However, I grew to like her a great deal by the end of novel. Within her first chapter of A Darker Shade of Magic I was in love with her and she’s now one of my favorite trickster characters. What makes her such a great character, at this point, is that so much has yet to be revealed about her. All we really know about Delilah Bard is what we’ve seen in these two novels. Whereas I enjoy narratives that parallel then intertwine, the character who willfully holds back information often annoys me. Not with Delilah Bard, everything about her in this novel is perfect and Schwab’s slow reveal of her character is superb.
Kell is even more tortured here than in the previous volume. The conflict that twists and burns his soul is all the more believable and palpable as the story comes to a head. When Kell’s narrative is being told, his frustrations and trapped feeling evokes empathy.
Where A Darker Shade of Magic set the foundation for the parallel worlds and their various levels of magic, A Gathering of Shadow works more as a character piece. Together, the two novels work marvelously well. Much as I enjoyed A Darker Shade of Magic, I loved the sequel and have this as a must-read series as I impatiently wait for the next (final?) installment.
Very highly recommended, but with the proviso that one read the highly recommended A Darker Shade of Magic first.
© 2016 Rob H. Bedford
A Darker Shade of Magic, Book 2 , Februar 2016
Hardcover, 512 Pages | ISBN 978-0-765-37647-3
https://veschwab.wordpress.com/
Excerpt http://www.tor.com/2015/09/28/excerpts-a-gathering-of-shadows-ve-schwab/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
