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A Gathering of Shadows

A Darker Shade of Magic, Book 2

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A Gathering of Shadows

By: V. E. Schwab
Narrated by: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
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About this listen

From number one New York Times best-selling author V.E. Schwab comes the sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic - A Gathering of Shadows!

Kell is plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, he is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila.

As Red London prepares for the Element Games - an extravagant international competition of magic - a certain pirate ship draws closer. But another London is coming back to life, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning.

Black London has risen again - and so to keep magic's balance, another London must fall.

©2016 V. E. Schwab (P)2020 W. F. Howes Classics Crime Fiction Fantasy Mystery Fiction Magic Crime Resurrection England

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Critic reviews

"Addictive and immersive, A Gathering of Shadows cements this series as a must-read." (Entertainment Weekly)

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This book had me hooked from the start. I love Kell, Lila, and Rhy and absolutely loved some of the new character introduced. The book is beautifully written and adds more depth to the characters. Couldn't put it down.

Amazing

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Sorry to both of the narrators of this version but they really did their best to ruin the book for me.

The narrator of the first book was pure class- the kind of actor who could make a poor book good and a brilliant book outstanding. His character voices were spot on (I’m English from London, and his grey London accents - essentially based on our world - were excellent). Unfortunately he has been replaced by two rather poor N American narrators who don’t distinguish the character voices clearly, aren’t able to inject the right passion and overall almost ruined the book for me. They are both rather poor. It is also entirely unclear to me why we needed female narrator for Lyla’s story and male for Kel - and this went horribly wrong when they met again- the bit where they went back to Kel’s room was such a bad juxtaposition in narrator that I assumed some kind of evil
protagonist had taken over Lyra in a plot twist, that didn’t then pan out.

In terms of the story, I was gripped (although the tournament part was a bit obviously as a way to bring the protagonists together, I still enjoyed it) and have bought the next book. But please, PLEASE keep a good narrator when you have one and don’t try to stuff it up by changing to someone (two people actually) far inferior.

Loved the story, hated the readers

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Loved this second book, but I struggled a lot with the parts narrated by Kate Reading: I found her rhythmic cadence unpleasant as nearly every sentence is read in the same. It became quickly monotonous and redundant. Luckily it's less problematic towards the end of the book, as there are more dialogues in the parts she narrates, and the dialogues are not affected by this issue and sound more "alive" and not repetitive.

Great story, not too happy about the performance

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I enjoyed the first book as it had quite a fast-paced storyline. I cannot say the same for this one. The book ends with a decent cliffhanger but I hope the next book won't be disappointing.

Would be a filler episode if this was an anime

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Not as strong as the first book. personally I did not like the change of narrator and find the new narrators slightly distracting even if the idea is good, but was not executed in a good way.

change of narrators

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I’ve listened to many books narrated by the same people and loved them so was very surprised when I saw some bad reviews mainly regarding the narration. I found the narration very good. Kate maybe needs to work on her British accent but otherwise it was great. They don’t rush the book, allowing you to savour each part.
The story however I wanted to enjoy more. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it but it is a bridge novel. Not a great deal happened and what did happen so far I don’t see how it fits in. Other than to explain the magic etc but not why the main protagonists are drawn to each other as there seems to be limited ‘chemistry’ prior to a certain scene ;)
I feel this novel is a bridge between more exciting activity and not the most interesting one. Fingers crossed for part three.

Just one more thing in the narration of book 1 I personally was pleased not to have to listen to that awful fake cockney accent in this one!

Don’t blame the narration

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Good story. Now want to get the next one - ended on a real cliff hanger!

Held my attention

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u love these books, however, the narrators really bug me. The story is based in London and the characters are from London yet the narrators are American?? spoils the overall performance for me

love these books

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The first book in the series ended at such a natural point, that the opening half to two thirds of this book felt like the setup for a new premise, as opposed to the middle book of three.

The main antagonist played an oddly small role until the final throws, and the pacing felt odd because of this. I also struggled with some of the characterisations, particularly around the sexual tension Rhy seemed to share with anyone and everything.

Having said that, it was still an entertaining read with some great new characters / developments. It hasn't put me off reading the third in the series.

Felt like an unplanned sequel

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I struggled with book 1, because the voice the narrator used for Lila, really irritated me . This time , the book is narrated by the fabulous Michael Kramer and Kate Reading .

Better than the first .

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