Review: A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab

The good

• Great characters. Especially Lila. And since most of them are returning characters from the first book, instead of spending time on basic introductions, the book gets to go deeper.

• More good world building. The magical tournament was really fun.

• Good writing and pacing.

• Fun action.

The not so good

• The magical system remains poorly defined, so more deus ex machina.

• Minor spoiler: the main villain spends the entire book brooding in the background, doing nothing, until the very final few chapters, and then the book ends.

Rating: 5 stars