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A Gathering of Shadows - SAMPLE
The first 150 pages available on NetGalley as a sneak peak.
Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift, and into Black London.
In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games—an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries—a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.
But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again—meaning that another London must fall.
Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift, and into Black London.
In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games—an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries—a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.
But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again—meaning that another London must fall.
- GenresAdult
154 pages, ebook
Published November 1, 2015
1 person is currently reading
519 people want to read
About the author
V.E. Schwab
71 books77.6k followersThis author also writes under the name of Victoria Schwab.
VICTORIA “V. E.” SCHWAB is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including the acclaimed Shades universe, the Villains series, the City of Ghosts series, Gallant, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Fragile Threads of Power. When not haunting Paris streets or trudging up English hillsides, she can usually be found in Edinburgh, Scotland, tucked in the corner of a coffee shop, dreaming up monsters.
VICTORIA “V. E.” SCHWAB is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including the acclaimed Shades universe, the Villains series, the City of Ghosts series, Gallant, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Fragile Threads of Power. When not haunting Paris streets or trudging up English hillsides, she can usually be found in Edinburgh, Scotland, tucked in the corner of a coffee shop, dreaming up monsters.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 14, 2019
Can’t wait to read more about pirate Lila!
January 18, 2016
NL - Wat doe ik mijzelf toch aan? 150 pagina's lezen en daarna moeten wachten tot eind februari voor de rest, niet slim. Maar ook: ik ben nu nog enthousiaster om aan dit tweede boek in de A Darker Shade of Magic reeks te beginnen! (als in: ik ga dat boek pre-orderen. Ik doe dat nooit, maar voor deze ga ik een uitzondering maken :p)
EN - Downloading the first 150 pages of A Gathering of Shadows wasn't a smart thing to do. I flew through them, excited to meet Kell and Lila again and see what troubles the story brings them now. And now I have to wait until the end of February before I can finish this book. It's not something I usually do, but I think I'll be pre ordering this one. :)
(Sample was provided by the publisher on Netgalley)
EN - Downloading the first 150 pages of A Gathering of Shadows wasn't a smart thing to do. I flew through them, excited to meet Kell and Lila again and see what troubles the story brings them now. And now I have to wait until the end of February before I can finish this book. It's not something I usually do, but I think I'll be pre ordering this one. :)
(Sample was provided by the publisher on Netgalley)
December 25, 2015
I read the preview up to page 154 so I can't really start rating except I'm feeling super biased already. Those 154 pages were wonderfully written and I already sense a 5-star rating pressing upon me. YASSS
The layout of the book matches the mood of the story and it is sparsely embellished with a dagger at every chapter, strips of the map of 'London', and occasional insignias that separate different viewpoints.
I am so ready for February 23rd!!
The layout of the book matches the mood of the story and it is sparsely embellished with a dagger at every chapter, strips of the map of 'London', and occasional insignias that separate different viewpoints.
I am so ready for February 23rd!!
December 7, 2015
This is another fabulous book from V. E. Schwab. The story had me hooked from the first page. It will be hard to wait until it is published to finish the story, but I will be one of the first in line.
March 1, 2016
Cannot wait to read the rest of this.... so many feels already.
June 5, 2025
oro puro
November 27, 2015
I obtained a 154-page preview (the first third!) of this novel via NetGalley whilst on holidays, which made for very excellent London reading. I’ve read everything by V. E. Schwab (also known as Victoria Schwab) so far (even her books for middle-grade, that’s how good she is – anything is very readable no matter what age it’s aimed at) and each book somehow keeps getting better than the last – even if the last book is easily one of my favourites for that year.
As I said in my write-up of the first book in this series, A Darker Shade of Magic, this book really reminds me of Scott Lynch’s style in The Lies of Locke Lamora – Schwab has said she’d a fan of his work previously, and here you can see the beauty of descriptions of the places visited, the richness of the items that dominate the rooms.
A Gathering of Shadows starts with Lila, a thief and pirate and all kinds of awesome. The feats she manages to pull off are pretty awe-inspiring, and it makes me wonder how the heck Schwab manages to come up with them in the first place. We also meet with Kell again, along with his brother Rhy, and we’re introduced to the Element Games. We see the after effects for the connection between Kell and Rhy, which makes you wonder what else could be to come in the rest of the book…
This is easily the most anticipated book for 2016 (unless we get the new Scott Lynch book, then it’s pretty even!) I’ve pre-ordered four copies – paperback, hardback (it’s just too pretty not to!), kindle and iBook versions. Because this is a book I’ll need on every platform, it’s printed in such a beautiful way (the title and chapter page illustrations are just wow, just look at the artwork!) that I’ll need it in hardback, and then I’ll need a paperback to fling at people so I can get as many people as possible to read it.
Check this one out. It’s going to be so dang excellent. And also read the first A Darker Shade of Magic so you get to experience just how amazing these characters and worlds are.
As I said in my write-up of the first book in this series, A Darker Shade of Magic, this book really reminds me of Scott Lynch’s style in The Lies of Locke Lamora – Schwab has said she’d a fan of his work previously, and here you can see the beauty of descriptions of the places visited, the richness of the items that dominate the rooms.
A Gathering of Shadows starts with Lila, a thief and pirate and all kinds of awesome. The feats she manages to pull off are pretty awe-inspiring, and it makes me wonder how the heck Schwab manages to come up with them in the first place. We also meet with Kell again, along with his brother Rhy, and we’re introduced to the Element Games. We see the after effects for the connection between Kell and Rhy, which makes you wonder what else could be to come in the rest of the book…
This is easily the most anticipated book for 2016 (unless we get the new Scott Lynch book, then it’s pretty even!) I’ve pre-ordered four copies – paperback, hardback (it’s just too pretty not to!), kindle and iBook versions. Because this is a book I’ll need on every platform, it’s printed in such a beautiful way (the title and chapter page illustrations are just wow, just look at the artwork!) that I’ll need it in hardback, and then I’ll need a paperback to fling at people so I can get as many people as possible to read it.
Check this one out. It’s going to be so dang excellent. And also read the first A Darker Shade of Magic so you get to experience just how amazing these characters and worlds are.
December 7, 2015
I should probably stop reading the samples released because invariably I get to the end and just want to read the rest. I don't really mean this of course because as soon as I saw the sample available I grabbed it as "mine" :)
A Darker Shade of Magic was on my "Best Of" list for 2015. So high hopes were involved for A Gathering of Shadows. Already from this sample I know it's going to be up to the standards of the first book. When the full length book is released hopefully we'll find that it exceeds its predecessor.
Gathering picks up four months after the events in Darker Shade and for Kell that time has not been pleasant. He's almost become a prisoner in his own home, he feels more of an outcast than he usually did. For her part, Lila left Red London and didn't look back. She found a ship to sail on and that's what she's been doing. But methinks (or maybe more like I hope) their paths will cross once again as the kingdom prepares for a magical tournament.
I guess we'll have to wait for February to find out, but trust me when I say I did not want this sample to end.
A Darker Shade of Magic was on my "Best Of" list for 2015. So high hopes were involved for A Gathering of Shadows. Already from this sample I know it's going to be up to the standards of the first book. When the full length book is released hopefully we'll find that it exceeds its predecessor.
Gathering picks up four months after the events in Darker Shade and for Kell that time has not been pleasant. He's almost become a prisoner in his own home, he feels more of an outcast than he usually did. For her part, Lila left Red London and didn't look back. She found a ship to sail on and that's what she's been doing. But methinks (or maybe more like I hope) their paths will cross once again as the kingdom prepares for a magical tournament.
I guess we'll have to wait for February to find out, but trust me when I say I did not want this sample to end.
November 28, 2015
While there's always that part of me that wants to get her grabby hands on the entire book, I quite like being offered good sized excerpts of books. They give me a good idea of the quality of writing and story in a book, without detracting from the excitement of opening a personal copy for the first time and delving into the story.
This teaser of A Gathering of Shadow was just enough to whet my appetite and make the wait until its release on February 2 agonizing. I so enjoyed spending this brief time with Kell and Lila and I can't wait to join them on their new adventures/chaos that they seem to be so good at creating.
This teaser of A Gathering of Shadow was just enough to whet my appetite and make the wait until its release on February 2 agonizing. I so enjoyed spending this brief time with Kell and Lila and I can't wait to join them on their new adventures/chaos that they seem to be so good at creating.
December 22, 2015
I wish it was February.
I waited as long as I could to read the sample because I knew it would make me want the whole book even faster.
I can't wait to see where this ends up.
The four star will likely change to a five star once I can the novel in its entirety, especially since I can mostly see where this is going, and it's going to be spectacular. And likely heartbreaking.
White London. I need more of it. I needs it. Make it happen, Schwab. I'm countin' on ya.
Tons of world building in this sample, more of Lila and Kell, and more Rhy. I love Rhy so much.
At least the release date is only about two months away. Surely, I can make it until then.
I waited as long as I could to read the sample because I knew it would make me want the whole book even faster.
I can't wait to see where this ends up.
The four star will likely change to a five star once I can the novel in its entirety, especially since I can mostly see where this is going, and it's going to be spectacular. And likely heartbreaking.
White London. I need more of it. I needs it. Make it happen, Schwab. I'm countin' on ya.
Tons of world building in this sample, more of Lila and Kell, and more Rhy. I love Rhy so much.
At least the release date is only about two months away. Surely, I can make it until then.
December 22, 2015
Why? Why do they give out samples of books far before they are published!!!
I loved the first book (Darker Shade of Magic) and I might like this one even more. I cannot wait until February 2016 when the full book will be available. Sanct!
I loved the first book (Darker Shade of Magic) and I might like this one even more. I cannot wait until February 2016 when the full book will be available. Sanct!
December 27, 2015
So annoyed that I decided to read this so early before the whole hung co,Es out. Went through it too quickly and now I'm stuck! Really fun! This series has great pacing. Not too fast or too slow. I sense our protagonists are in for a lot of trouble in this book.
July 13, 2016
Again, a wonderful yarn. Strong female. Interesting characters. Loved 1st 2 books in this series and cannot wait for 3rd.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews