A Gathering of Shadows

A Novel

By: V. E. Schwab

Narrated by: Michael Kramer, Kate Reading

Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift, and into Black London.

In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games - an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries - a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again-and so to keep magic's balance, another London must fall.

©2016 Victoria Schwab (P)2016 Macmillan Audio

Performance issues

The performance in the first book was much better. Changing the performance for each first person account doesn’t work because the characters change. Makes me think twice about buying the third book. Also, this story was much tougher to get through and had no resolution.

Solid Second Installment

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.

Mmm liked the book but narration is terrible

I loved the first book and I liked this second book, but I really could not stand the narration. The first book (a darker shade of magic) is read by Steven Crossley and he did a great job. This second book (gathering of shadows) has different narrators (kate redding and Michael Kramer) and they sucked the life and the fun right out of the characters. They read a book with magic as the main theme like they are reading a dictionary. I will read the third book in print form.

Who chose the narrators?

The story was good enough to keep me listening to the annoying female narrator. The only reason I gave the performance 2 stars was because Michael Kramer did a fine job. Kate Reading, however, is overly dramatic, sing-songy and choppy. There's no way Lila would have sounded like that.

American accents in four Londons. UGH.

Why on earth would they switch to narrators with voices like the overly mannered speech of news anchors?

We have a story of four Londons. Yet, our narrators read it with American accents. Wtf?Not only that, but they sound far too old for the parts. It really ruined it for me.

I enjoyed the first one so much. Sigh.

Narration fails this book

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.

Warning - cliffhanger ending.

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.

Do Not Buy!

I loved listening to the first book as it was enjoyable with a great narrator.

This audio book is just plain horrendous with the new female narrator. Changing to a new narrator during a series is the worst thing to do to listeners. We get accustomed to the way the characters sound along the nuances the narrator incorporates. Changing during a series should never be done unless the original narrator dies. And even then, at least get someone who narrates as close to the way the original one had.

I do not recommend anyone should buy this audio book. The story may be good, but I will never know since I refuse to continue listening.

Cliffhanger ending :-(

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.

The new narrators are great

I'm not sure I understand what everyone's issues with the new narrators are. unless it's just that people don't like change. but honestly, the guy who narrated the first book had one of the worst female character voices. I think this book was a wild improvement narrator wise, even though I didn't actually like the story quite as much.

Just ok

A brilliant beginning built my expectation high. It turned out the book was just OK. It's just a very long build-up to book 3, nothing much actually happening until the cliffhanger.
When I listened to the excerpt before buying, I also got my expectations too high. The woman is good enough, though Lilah's accent is much too "nice" for a former Hackney street urchin cum pirate. The man sounds like a life-weary teacher reading to an uninterested class. All bi-characters talks with a drawn accent and clenched teeth, the women with an added smokey "seductive" voice. He just sounds uninspired. Considering all the fantasy he's narrated, I really had thought he'd be better. Or at least less irritating.

It bugs me that I want to read the next book. This one gives me too much of a click bait feeling, it gives me a bad taste to wany to click. I justify it by thinking that I've already spent money and time on the first two, so I'm kind of committed. I haven't checked who's narrating the next, if its the same man, I think I'll read the printed version.

Allucard

Alucard existence is the plot here. Sorry the two stars are just for him! And wow the performance of the narrators are so good!

Entertaining, pleasantly dark and hooking.

Loved the characters, this book keeps you on your toes and provides interesting character development. Works great as the middle part of the series - expands and twists from where the first one left, and leaves you desperate to read the third to know how the story will end. The world building and character relationships were strongly complicated. That being said, there was a bit more of repetition than necessary, and if you are not a fan of action there might be a bit too much focus on that in this part of series.