Welcome to Litsy!

A pick, but mostly for the last 30% of the book…
The beginning was very slow & in almost excruciating detail (although Lila‘s high seas antics helped a bit), & the book was more of a setup for book 3 than a completed story. BUT I liked the parts I liked enough to overlook that (I love a tournament plot line & a little romantic tension)

#wickedwhispers This is the last book I read featuring a character in #disguise, as she steals an identity to enter a tournament
@eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

This was a painful obvious placeholder second-in-the-trilogy. There is some good character development and world building, and Schwab's prose is so readable and engaging. Make no mistake that I loved the read, but around page 300-350, it became more and more obvious that this was just a 500 page set up for the third book.

It's my second time through the series and I still love Alucard the best!

1. My library growing up had meeting rooms behind doors that were built into the walls, which was so cool, and had a hill that we'd run up and down anytime we passed. But my favorite memory is @WildAlaskaBibliophile asking me out on our first date
2. A local bookstore or library. I rarely buy books from Amazon or B&N unless I have a gift card
3. I haven't read much this past week, but I'll start the tagged book soon.

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

Not as great as the first one. This was just way too long and deviated from the climax way too much throughout the book. The final event occurs after a lot of unnecessary events that I personally felt weren't required.

Well we all know how I feel about cliffhangers...at least the next book in the series is also the last book in the series.
There are a number of elements about this series I enjoy, and thankfully there are audiobooks for the parts I want to speed up. 💁🏼‍♂️ Great fantasy elements; complex to the point of morally gray characters; thoughts on family loyalty vs monarchical fealty vs free will and personal identity; power and responsibility.

The nicest thing about having the audio edition of A GATHERING OF SHADOWS on hand is that I didn‘t have to choose between settling in with the book and working on my tiny greenhouse! I finished AGoS while I put the greenhouse‘s frame in place and attached some of the frontal decorations, and now I have SO MANY EMOTIONS. SO MANY. I just wanna cry and also SCREAM ABOUT EVERYTHING I LOVED IN IT AT FAR TOO GREAT A LENGTH FOR LITSY‘S CHARACTER LIMIT.

I was gonna keep A GATHERING OF SHADOWS as strictly audio so I could dive into a library book next, but it‘s no good. I love it so much I‘ve gotta alternate between audio and print. Really stay in the narrative all day long.

Cooking jackfruit recipe #3 took me to 48%. This one used a sauce with lots of sour notes, and it was a better fit than the spicy or sweet ones. Still, I don‘t think jackfruit‘ll become a go-to for me. #audiocooking

#AutumnPlease Day 10

This lovely #Shadow book is coming up very soon on my TBR. Loved the first of the series and keep meaning to get around to the rest!

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

#ScarathlonPhotoChallenge
Day 6 Shadow
#BlackCatCrew #Scarathlon

#PhotoChallenge #shadow

I bought the second one as soon as I had finished the first for a #LMPBC round two years ago. And I still haven‘t gotten to it yet. 😅

#Scarathlon2023 #HHC @dabbe, @Clwojick, @Liatrek, @JessClark78, @Chrissyreadit, @StayCurious, @TheDaysGoBy, @vonnie862, @LadyCait84, @Sresendez12, @Nessavamusic, @kelli7990, @JessieKB

#scarathlon photo challenge for the day #shadows
I read this one forever ago but I loved this series!

I love a magic tournament, but I wish we‘d spent more time with the Essen Tasch. Also, I don‘t like cliffhangers, not because I want to know immediately what happens, but because it tends to make the next book either very fast or very slow in the beginning. That being said, I love Alucard, and he‘s a great addition to our main trio. 4/5⭐️

#september #lgbtq #lgbt #lgbtqia2s

Was I frantically turning pages trying to see what happened next? Yes. Did that cliffhanger commit a crime against me personally? Yes. Am I a little tired of Schwab's female leads being weirdly anti-human connection? Also yes, but I can look past that. #fantasy

Is it good or bad that I don't know what to think about the book a month after I read it?😅

I enjoyed this second book of the series. It brings back our main characters along with pirates, more polity intrigue and a magical competition. A lot of fun and I look forward to the next book!
#doublespin done! First #bookspinbingo 😁

The second book in the series was much quicker paced. I could have finished it much quicker if I hadn't been doing the readalong with the author who experienced technical glitches. It kind of disrupted the flow, but it didn't detract from the action!

May Reads 📚
Tagged my favourite one 🌷

#maybooks #books #springreading

"Whatever I am, let it be enough."

I absolutely love this series so far! Kell, Rhy, Lila, and Alucard are just ?‍?'s?
The last one is going to be amazing!

I can't wait to see how this series ends.

#abookinvolvingmagic #involvingmagic #agatheringofshadows #shadesmagic #veschwab

"Impossibility is a thing that begs to be disproven. Perhaps it hasn't been possible for years, perhaps it's not even possible right now, but that doesn't mean it ???'? be. It doesn't mean it ???'? be. You say the magic guttered, the flame went out. But what if it simply needed to be stoked?"

"Everyone thinks I have a death wish, you know? But I don't want to die—dying is easy. No, I want to ????, but getting close to death is the only way to feel alive. And once you do, it makes you realize that everything you were doing before wasn't ???????? living. It was just making do. Call me crazy, but I think we do the best living when the stakes are high."

It reminded her of the sea and the night sky. It reminded her of sharp knives and stars and freedom.

"That is perfect."

"Look, everyone talks about the unknown like it's some big scary thing, but it's the ???????? that's always bothered me. It's heavy, builds up around you like rocks, until it's walls and a ceiling and a cell."

"Not much of a morning person?"

"Such a useless time of day."

What a waste of life, to stand around and think so much on every little thing.

He'd grown up with them—stories of a bad king, a mad king, a curse; of a good king, a strong king, a savior. Stories of why the magic went away, and who would bring it back. And every time a new ruler the throne with blood and the dregs of power in their veins, the people would say now. Now the magic will come back. Now the world will wake. Now it will get better, now we will get stronger.

Mind blowing. I loved this book. V.E. Schwab has this talent where she could to take something and make it interesting easily. I‘ll admit the book was a bit slow paced near the start (until practically half the book) but it was written in such a magnificent way, that I didn‘t want to put it down once engaged.

I loved the storyline, I love the characters, and I cannot wait until I start the next book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

“People could only hurt you if you cared enough to let them.”

My greatest fear in life isn‘t dying. It‘s being the source of someone else‘s suffering. I know you feel trapped. I know I‘m your cage.

You cannot be the symbol of power and an ordinary man at the same time. You have to choose.

“Politics is a dance until the moment it becomes a war. And we control the music.”

Everyone‘s immortal until they‘re not.

“This is a bad idea,” said Kell
“The best kind,” said Rhy

Do you know what makes you weak?
You never had to be strong.

Magic is tangled, so you must be smooth.
Magic is wild, so you must be tame.
Magic is chaos, so you must be calm.

Lila supposed it would be better not to slit the captain‘s throat in plain sight.
No, it could be done in private.

Mysteries are always more exciting than truths.

I went into this book with high expectations because the first book in the trilogy was so good but it just didn‘t hit the mark for me. I was really quite bored until the last few chapters when things started to finally happen. But at least the ending made sure I‘ll have to read the third book too.

Another beautiful day reading outside! 📚🍁🍂 I hope there are many more gorgeous fall days this month! 💕 I'm hoping to finish this today and move on to my reread of A Conjuring of Light next! After that, there's nothing left to do but wait for the first Threads of Power book to be published! 😭

I forgot how much I love these characters! ❤️ Also, it's a little colder today, but still perfect outside reading weather! 🍁🍂📚

It's actually pretty warm today! And lots of sunshine again! ☀️🌿 Still beautiful outside reading weather! 💕📚

Behold! Coldstone has a Halloween themed ice cream! 🎃🍁🖤 It's cake batter flavor (and colored black!), and filled with m&m's, kit kats, and Halloween Oreos! Plus the waffle cone is orange! HOW EPIC IS THIS?!?! 😱 It looks...kind of menacing in the picture, but I promise that it was in fact delicious! 😅 Eating this at the pavilion in town while reading was particularly blissful! 🎃

3✨The second book in the series did pretty well. Events in the first book caused two characters to be connected. This got pretty repetitive as the story went on. However, a game/ event similar to gladiators caused a lot of drama all around. Magic was learned and used in this battle game, and it made the story more exciting.

I am almost done with the tagged book so my next audio while I clean for Easter is Beyonders. I may DNF the tales of ancient Egypt this month since I‘m finding no drive to pick it up. I started Dinoverse #4 yesterday and I‘m already two chapters in. 😍 @Andrew65 #weekendreading