A Gathering of Shadows: A Novel

The sequel was decent but the narration really let it down. The woman narrator's voice was really grating with her over enunciated William Shatner like over emphasis of words. I had to work to keep my annoyance at bay to finish the book. Her narration was distracting and really absurd. I will just read the third book myself instead of listening.

I loved the first book in this series. This one was almost as good but took a long time to get going. If I had known the ending would be so abrupt I would not have been in such a hurry to listen to it. I hope the next one comes out quickly. If I were you I would honestly wait until it does and listen to all three in one long binge. They have used new (American) narrators this time, which was a little bit jarring at first, although they both did a fine job.

Torture to wait for the next installment! I ordered another book by this author to tide me over. Hope it works!

I'm loving this series. I'm a fan of this type of grown-up magic and this story is told very well with both excitement and sentimentality in perfect balance.

My only complaint about this recording is the narrators. Both great in their own right, neither of them "matched" with this story. They both have (how do I say it?) "older" voices -- that didn't fit with the characters they were speaking for. When you find yourself listening to the voice, not the story, you know there is a problem with the narrator, and it till me a while to get past both of these narrators.

Lost the urgency of the original. Characters milled about without direction. Felt like a filler to connect the first and third. And use of "magic" could be more creative beyond just basic elementals.

There are some great parts in this story, but continued to be dwarfed by needless backstory and character arcs that didn't finish.
The biggest problem is weaving an entire storyline through the book and not concluding it. Cliffhangers suck.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, "A Darker Shade of Magic", but I have found this second installment to be disappointing overall. The main plot device feels very contrived, and two the main characters feel as though they're being forced into a situation by the author that doesn't seem worth the danger. The book starts off promisingly but unfortunately has totally lost my interest, and with four hours left I am abandoning it.

Book 1, A Darker Shade of Magic, unfolded creating a wondrous magical world where there were many Londons, each with their own unique characteristics and magical content. These Londons form the backdrop for the adventures of three interesting characters, a powerful young magician, Kell, with the ability to traverse these Londons, an emotionally stunted scrappy young thief, Delilah, who has had grown in a pitiless gray London and by happenstance gets involved with Kell and the prince king of red London, Rhy, who both loves and envies his adopted brother's, Kell, magical abilities. Their adventure, and misadventures, proceed to have them encounter some pure evil antagonists from the twin kings in white London, along with a impossibly strong magician, Holland, who has been bound to one of the twins and forced to become his dog and attack red London, forcing Kell to defend it and Delilah to defend Kell.

Note: light spoilers follow:

Sadly, Book 2, while still expertly written and narrated, changes the characteristics of the three protagonists in ways that make them much less interesting and likable. Kell morphs into an emotional basket-case who is driven by his guilt over the death and mayhem of what occurred in his beloved red London and the perceived loss of love from his adoptive parents, the king and queen, and the restrictive binding between him and Rhy needed to save Rhy's life. Delilah begins to learn magic and becomes a strong magician in her own right and a very interesting character, not unsimilar to until Mistborn's Vin character, until the author turns her into a stone-cold killer. Rhy becomes much less involved and, subsequently, much less interesting. Even the primary antagonist, a risen, seemingly all-powerful, dark god-like figure, is mostly lurking in the background in black and white Londons until near the end and, even then, only comes out to set up the eventual clash destined to occur in Book 3.

The narrator employs a sing-song affectation at the end of every other sentence that distracts from the text and makes listening unbearable. A rare disappointment in Audible.

These voice actors did the Wheel of Time series if I recall correctly. They did a pretty good job here too. I did miss the original voice actor though. I had no pause between the books so it took a while to grow on me.

The story is pretty solid and does a worthy follow-up to the first. I won't say more than that.