Gathering of Shadows

The Hundred Halls #4

by Thomas K. Carpenter

Every fall the city of Invictus bustles with new students, and the classrooms reek of spent faez. This year it's true of every hall except one—Arcanium.

While Semyon Grey, the Patron of Arcanium, slowly heals from his soul being torn, no one in the Hall can practice their craft, leaving them defenseless against the Cabal and faez madness. The Silverthorne sisters must find a way to speed up the healing, or the Hundred Halls won't survive the year. But everything they try only makes things worse, until they're left with an impossible decision that may cost the sisters their lives.

Genres: Fantasy

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 17, 2017

About the author

Thomas K. Carpenter is a full time contemporary fantasy author with over 70 independently published titles. His bestselling, multi-series universe, The Hundred Halls, has over 43 books and counting. His stories focus on fantastic families, magical academies, and epic adventures. All the books can be found at major retailers and directly from the author at https://thomaskcarpenter.com/.

You can sign up for his newsletter at https://www.subscribepage.com/trialso...
When he is not writing, he enjoys playing turn-based strategy games and MTG, skiing, hiking, traveling, and chilling on the couch with his wife and their little dog, Merlin, at home in the beautiful mountains of Colorado.

Reviews

[Gypsy Madden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was offered a free copy for an early review, and as a fan of The Dashkova Memoirs I jumped on it, despite not having read any of the earlier books in this series. I was able to grasp what was happening easy enough and didn’t feel like I was floundering without the prior history since it did explain everything while enroute. And there really weren’t any points of info dumping, though the pacing felt exceedingly slow, and it did feel like it took forever to read my entire way through (it took me roughly the time it takes me to finish two 300-page hardbacks to finish this book). I think I never really warmed to Pi. She was too reckless and had a habit of charging into battle without considering the consequences, and was downright lethal and didn’t consider the lives of the people she faced off against (aside from one mention that the dead bodies would haunt her closed eyes, she didn’t seem to feel remorse after killing people). I also didn’t buy the relationship in the book. I mean, there really wasn’t any substance to the relationship aside from touching and kissing. It felt hollow straight from the beginning (I was questioning it from the beginning wondering if it was me just not liking it as a lesbian relationship, but I think I would have been fine with it if they had actually come across as being genuinely in love). Another thing I had a problem with was that this magical world has been in place for several hundred years, but yet there doesn’t seem to be any law enforcement for keeping magic users in check. People were just killing each other off left and right and doing plenty of heinous acts. Without law enforcement, you’d think people would have taken over the world plenty of times by now, and the battles would have escalated to catastrophic heights. Going into the past to see the Patrons when they first came together is a fabulously imaginative idea, though the whole idea of Patrons of the Halls echoes more than a little of the Hogwarts Founders, especially placing them hundreds of years in the past (and yes, there was a moat monster in Harry Potter, too). Still, this was a wonderfully detailed and imaginative world and it did intrigue me about how the whole series got started.

[Bonnie Dale Keck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kindle Unlimited, I found it too slow in places, to repetitive in others, and contradictory in other sections even a paragraph or page apart. Had to force myself to finish reading through, it was that...whatever. Liked the premise but the execution for me was missing...things. Still, promised friend would read all the books so 1-3, 4, and then what usually do is review the sets and individually. Was 3 1/2 which means have to decide to go lower or higher so went with erring on side of higher rating. Read the 3 pack set, then #4, if hadn't promised friend would read these would have given up on book 1, but seeing as how did the ku with the 1-3 set and got 4, well... Maybe someone more in to Harry Potter or whatever type book/s would have more stars opinion. It was more 3 1/2 so had to figure out which way to go with that. Different aggravations made me want to go with 3 but rather err on the higher star judgement.

Every fall the city of Invictus bustles with new students, and the classrooms reek of spent faez. This year it's true of every hall except one—Arcanium. While Semyon Grey, the Patron of Arcanium, slowly heals from his soul being torn, no one in the Hall can practice their craft, leaving them defenseless against the Cabal and faez madness. The Silverthorne sisters must find a way to speed up the healing, or the Hundred Halls won't survive the year. But everything they try only makes things worse, until they're left with an impossible decision that may cost the sisters their lives.

Trials of Magic (The Hundred Halls Book 1)
Web of Lies (The Hundred Halls Book 2)
Alchemy of Souls (The Hundred Halls Book 3)
The Hundred Halls (Books 1-3)
Gathering of Shadows (The Hundred Halls Book 4)

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great big well done on this the fourth book of Thomas k Carpenter in the series The Hundred Halls. It took me a while to get into the book due to the fact that Arcanium was in such a fix and the students where sort of on lock down within their hall and could not use magic however once Aurie and Pi get to doing things to save the Hall and its students and professors things start to get interesting and at some points particularly towards the end of the book the read gets so tense I could not put the book down till I had read the last line. The sisters are really great and their bond is what keeps them going together or apart they just do anything to protect one another. Looking forward to reading the fifth book which marks the sisters’ final year at the Halls.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall- decent story, but I didn't like one plot twist.

Overall great character development of Pi, Aurie takes a backseat in this story and Pi really steps up. Really looks by forward to the conclusion of their story.

Loved that Pi started to trust and build a relationship with Jade. They really worked well together and had great chemistry.

Spoilers: 3.5 stars because of the following.

What I really didn't like : I felt the author betrayed Jade....I truly wanted Jade to be correct. Also why was the relationship built and destroyed in one book.
Didn't like that part at all.

Anyways looking forward to the next book.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the latest installment in the Hundred Halls series. It was great to see Pi coming into her own. This author is fantastic at creating worlds, and I could easily imagine vividly the various settings, creatures and activities taking place the story. Looking forward to Aurie and Pi’s next adventure.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not as good as the previous 3 the author got away from what made the series super great. That being said it was still an interesting read and i did enjoy it. Fast paced enough that kept me interested . Lots of magic but takes a darker tome with more emphasis on the growing apart of the sisters. each doing there own thing for most of the book.

[Andrea Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 4th book in the Hundred Halls series is as riveting as the first! I often get bored after the first few books of any series, but I am already diving into the 5th, after finishing this exciting installment today. This book really tied up some ongoing loose ends, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

[Amanda Sagen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it! Already on the final book and can't wait to see what happens to Aurie and Pi! This book was filled with excitement, stress and happiness as well as incredible adventure for both the sisters and their friends. You won't regret picking up this series 😊

[Christina Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Wow, great storyline, dark and foreboding at times, though full of adventure. Really looking forward to starting the final book to see what else the Silverthorne sisters have to face.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Semyon Gray, the patron of The Silverthorne sisters hall, sole was torn. The sisters must find a way to heal him. All Arcadium Hall students cannot use magic, it will eventually kill Semyon.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

[Jacqueline Maddox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story

I Love these stories. You almost picture what is going on , like watching a movie. I really like this series.

[Karen Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome story :) ...This is Book 4 in the series. I kept wanting to know what happened next, so I couldn't put it down. I ended up reading far past the time I should've gone to sleep.

[Susanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very bloody, almost to much. But I want to know how the story ends and will read the fifth book as well.

[Stuart Macmartin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting world and characters and twists.