Remember how Goblet of Fire was about a tournament of magic-wielding teenagers, but there was all kinds of political intrigue going on in the background, making the players of the game players in a bigger game?
...
Remember how Catching Fire was a tournament of teens caught in a reality TV show survivor game, but there was a bigger political game at stake?
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And Godsgrave had a tournament of teen gladiators fighting for sport, but there was a bigger political game at play?!?!
...
There is no bigger game at play in A Gathering of Shadows -_-. It's 360 pages of setup followed by another 140 pages of ACTUAL SPORTS COMMENTARY, followed by a 4 page cliffhanger, all interspersed with a lot of teen angst in lieu of actual character or plot development. I feel cheated. There was so much potential here. But the word count was wasted more on the setup than the story. Most of the characters are pretty insufferable this go-around, and a central "conflict" doesn't really assert itself until the cliffhanger, with everything that comes before being mostly self-inflicted melodrama.
The first book set the bar so high: A non-magical person gains magic and traverses worlds, parallel monarchs attempt to assassinate one another, and raw, wild magic gets loose and runs rampant... And this sequel... fell so low: Some teens avoid each other, then complain about how difficult love is, all while playing magic-tag.
It is very hard to believe that these books are from the same series :(.


EDIT Review 2:

Having finished the orig trig, and reread this book, I have a little more patience for it. Yes, it is a slow burn, and a lot of setup or foreshadowing. But there are some epic echoes in the finale that make these intermediary dance steps worth it. Plus, all of the characters - especially Lila, Kell and Rhy - needed to go through these growing pains at a natural pace, there was no getting around it for them to grow into who they become. This book has A LOT to say about personal balance, dualities of self, and imposter syndrome, that I didn't give it enough credit for in my first readthrough. Restraint vs impulsiveness, career duties vs self-care, fostering relationships vs claiming independence, imposing order vs having faith - everyone is trying to forge their identities between a set of maxims. It's the same pain as pushing through one reality to get to another, and yet the same natural order as opening an internal doorway and allowing yourself to step forward. Sorry for being saccharine, but it's a painful magic, growing up, learning to balance, owning one's identity. I know that these themes are very near and dear to the author, and it shows on the page. The characters are still very authentic.
... eeeeven if the YA tournament thing has been done to death XD.
One star returned, for V.E. Schwab being brave enough to channel into this book her own meditations on striking balance, and allowing yourself to take up space. We each deserve to feel like the victor in our personal arena.