Gathering Darkness pretty much continues straight from where Rebel Spring ended. Magnus is back at the castle after everything happened at the camp where the rebel forces have been decimated. Jonas is one of the only survivor’s left and Lysandra and three others including her brother Gregory have been captured and are currently in the dungeons awaiting execution. Cleo and Lucia have started to grow closer and everyone has their eyes on the Kraeshian’s Amara and Ashur.
I loved this book. I just felt like we really dug so much deeper and we are definitely rooted into the story. All of the establishing phase of the series I think is done and now its really starting to explore the mythology and build up a lot more intrigue and tension.
I think a lot of the book was centred more around Cleo and her interactions with all of the other characters, but I am absolutely LOVING all of it. The tenuous relationship between Lucia and Cleo is so entertaining. I like that even though it is built on lies they still sort of have a bond together and I think they really would have been great friends if King Gaius hadn’t of killed all of Cleo’s family. I’m still a little on the fence with the whole Cleo, Jonas and Magnus love triangle. I am a hard shipper of Cleo with Magnus, I just love a good hate to love trope and I think this was done perfectly! It was just the right amount of angst, stubbornness and hatred for me to be on board! Jonas I think doesn’t really know who he likes at the moment. I predict that he is going to end up with Lysandra even though he still is pining over Cleo. It just makes sense that he would want to honour Brion and keep Lysandra safe, thus feelings will grow stronger.
OMG I really enjoyed the twist with Nic and Ashur. I thought it was built up just enough and came at exactly the right time in the plot. Everything kind of felt like it was just plodding along steadily and then that really like woke me up and kept me invested enough to finish it off!
Lucia honestly I never really liked from the start and now she starting to get a little self-centred and boring. She seems very selfish and unlikeable to me. I much prefer the underdog in the story like Cleo. Lucia is just a selfish princess who has been given everything in life and just expects to get what she wants. I do like the direction her character seems to be going and I’m invested enough in the story to want to know what she will do next.
⭐️5/5 It just keeps getting better!
This series is starting to give me serious Game of Throne vibes but like on a YA level. There is quite a large cast of characters and we get different povs from these characters throughout the book. Also, Morgan Rhodes really isn’t afraid to kill off characters that I thought were quite integral to the overall plot and would just introduce new characters who fit in quite organically to this already established cast. It makes every scene really engaging and the stakes are at an all time high!
I had my misgiving about this book but once I got stuck in I was hooked!
Absolutely loved this!
I decided instead of doing individual reviews for each book I would combine them all and do a series review! I was immediately sucked in to this series and the storyline and the characters. I started the first book on a Friday and by the next Tuesday I had completed the series, I was that invested!
It was nice to have a different perspective on the whole vampire genre. It is usually quite straightforward from what I’ve read in the past in terms of their powers and how they are turned etc. The fact that Richelle Mead created something that was so different and unique really captured my attention straight away. Having the three species of vampires and having differing was that they are changed and how they reproduce added a lot of depth to the books.
The characters had the perfect amount of angst that I wasn’t too annoyed by. They weren’t the most complex cast of characters that I’ve read about but there was enough distinction between them that kept me eager to read on.
Rose didn’t really show any growth throughout the books in terms of her demeanour or attitude, she stayed pretty consistent throughout; though that didn’t really bother me because she brought a lot of unpredictability and entertainment to the storyline. She acted and reacted very true to her age and I appreciated that, she read as a 17 year old and that’s why I liked her so much.
Lissa’s storyline was very fascinating; it strayed a little too close to the political side of the story which doesn’t really engage me as much as the action. It was nice that the plot went so in depth with the Moroi royal families and their many layers of political manoeuvrings, but again I wasn’t all that interested in that side of the story. She was one character that we did see a change occur throughout the series. I found her to be a little bit pretentious and entitled in the first few books, but you really get a feel of how much she appreciated Rose and her friends in her rise.
As I was making my way through the series there was definitely times when I could predict exactly what was going to happen and usually that annoys me, but this time I was actually ok with it because it made sense. The progression between each book was purposeful and each book was easy to differentiate. Sometimes when I read a series quite quickly all of the books can kind of blend together and I can have trouble picking out which event happened in which book. With this I had no such trouble, I was invested enough that when I finished one book I wanted to immediately pick up the next and did. I can see now why so many people love and recommend this series; I just wish I had read it sooner!
Amy Leigh Reads 