624 pages
Published Feb. 20, 2017 by Tor Books.
Witness the fate of beloved heroes - and enemies.
THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED... The precarious equilibrium among four Londons has reached its breaking point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to rise.
WHO WILL CRUMBLE? Kell - once assumed to be the last surviving Antari - begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. And in the wake of tragedy, can Arnes survive?
WHO WILL RISE? Lila Bard, once a commonplace - but never common - thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.
WHO WILL TAKE CONTROL? And an ancient …
Witness the fate of beloved heroes - and enemies.
THE BALANCE OF POWER HAS FINALLY TIPPED... The precarious equilibrium among four Londons has reached its breaking point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to rise.
WHO WILL CRUMBLE? Kell - once assumed to be the last surviving Antari - begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. And in the wake of tragedy, can Arnes survive?
WHO WILL RISE? Lila Bard, once a commonplace - but never common - thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.
WHO WILL TAKE CONTROL? And an ancient enemy returns to claim a crown while a fallen hero tries to save a world in decay.
Fast paced fantasy, deep and resonant characters, lovely magic system, and a fascinating world I want so much more of. I wish all fantasy was this rich. Only thing I’d add is a splash more nonviolent solutions to add weight to the violence. There were some gaps and frayed ends here and there, but over three expansive novels, a few misses are easy to forgive.
As the previous book ended on a massive cliffhanger, this book started of in an epic battle, so it was boring already from the start. The rest of the book felt like tying up all the bits and ends and I was bored.
It is probably more in the eyes of the reader than the book as events did happen, it's just that I felt done with the series.
In the first book I loved how the relationships between characters influenced how the characters acted, in the last book it felt to me like the characters did the only thing possible regardless of who they had been in order to solve the doom and end the battle.
A Gathering of Shadows has such a cliffhanger there was no way I wasn't going to prioritise the final instalment. Kell and Rhy's lives hang in the balance and the dark magic that destroyed Black London is loose in Red London.
I like that Holland isn't a straight out bad guy. Kell has always felt sympathy for him, realising he could so easily have been in his place. Holland's backstory is revealed, telling how he ended up a slave for the harsh monarchs of White London. It's not easy to like him, but I can understand why he did the things he did. He just wanted his freedom, to no longer be a puppet, his is a sad tale.
The demise of characters I thought I didn't care about ended up the most emotional parts. I wish there had been more of Kell and Lila's backstories, there was a hint …
A Gathering of Shadows has such a cliffhanger there was no way I wasn't going to prioritise the final instalment. Kell and Rhy's lives hang in the balance and the dark magic that destroyed Black London is loose in Red London.
I like that Holland isn't a straight out bad guy. Kell has always felt sympathy for him, realising he could so easily have been in his place. Holland's backstory is revealed, telling how he ended up a slave for the harsh monarchs of White London. It's not easy to like him, but I can understand why he did the things he did. He just wanted his freedom, to no longer be a puppet, his is a sad tale.
The demise of characters I thought I didn't care about ended up the most emotional parts. I wish there had been more of Kell and Lila's backstories, there was a hint that they could be revealed when they are at the black market, but frustratingly it didn't come to fruition.
I was a bit irritated by Kell and Alucard's hatred of one another. It seemed petty in light of the danger they faced. It's Rhy's heart he broke, not Kell's and he wants to make amends. It was a bit laboured especially with the knowlege that Alucard didn't have choice in his leaving.
I have been reading this trilogy on Kindle so I didn't notice that the final book is a fair bit longer than the others until I was quite a way into it. Wny are third books always so chunky? I certainly felt the story dragged in places. It takes them so long to formulate a plan and do something that doesn't involve hiding in the palace. It was like they'd all given up. Maybe they had?
The world-building had relied on the Londons and had worked being isolated until now but... If you're a big bad evil and one city is resisting, why would you not just pop on over to the next one where they weren't expecting you? The whole world is not London, as some of the characters do leave it. No where else was affected and it was all a bit convenient that it was just a London problem.
Anyway, it was, eventually, a fitting and moving ending. I'm glad I read it so I can now contribute to the inevitable discussions that crop up. I've actually had some magnets on my fridge with quotes from these books so it's good to know I don't need to take them off in embarrassment or anything.
