So currently reading book 2, A Gathering of Shadows. I’m at that part where Lilah attacks the competitor who looks like her so that she can take his place. I’m sorry, what the actual fuck? So far her character’s been in a grey area, she’s selfish because she needs to survive. That’s why she doesn’t trust anyone and cannot form proper relationships. But her impulsive behaviour in this book is getting on my nerves. She seems greedy and over-ambitious. She’s been practicing with magic for a few weeks, and now she wants to compete in (what I assume is) the most important magic battle in that world? And she’ll go as far as to intentionally injure an innocent magician just so she can have a try?
Idk this part made her character almost unredeemable for me, it’s evil. If it turns out she’s somehow a prodigy and almost wins the magic games, I’ll break my kindle.
What do you guys think? Does her character get any better?
Wow, I couldn’t stand Delilah Bard and I thought I was alone. I few vindicated by this thread.
So do I, for some reason I thought it’d be an unpopular opinion. Turns out it’s not, she really is an awful character
Omg as Lilah’s number one hater I also feel vindicated. I went to V.E. Schwab’s book tour and she did a q&a and she implied that it was misogynistic to not like/criticize Lilah and said if she were a male character everyone would love him. I found it a bit off putting lol.
Damn I’ve read all three of those books and while the first one was ok the other two were unbearable. Yeah I don’t like how the author handles morality in general. Like the characters labelled either good or bad and whatever they do that can’t change. I wasn’t a fan of the series in general
I honestly think I’ll dnf. It’s just not good. It’s too bad as there’s so much potential, but so far Schwab has disappointed me with everything I’ve read by her
Same! And man I want to like her work but meh
A Gathering of Shadows is by far the weakest book in that trilogy. I remember liking Lilah a lot more in book 3, but it has been a long time since I read it, so take this assessment with a grain of salt
I found these books to be so disappointing, I was so in love with the covers and aesthetics. The second book is easily the worst, but the third isn’t much better sadly. It has high highs but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the story of the books did not matter as nothing significant happens or changes by the end of the series. I hate the new covers with a burning passion but at least they better match the quality of the books.
I read the first one cause I loved the premise and indeed dug the covers. There were things I liked but overall found it a waste of potential. I’ve always meant to continue the series, just never got around to it. Guess I don’t need to bother.
Yeah I stuck with it hoping it would get better because I wanted to love it. I wanted to check out the new sequel but I haven’t heard many good things and I don’t want to waste more of my time lol
I do like this series, but I feel like Lila basically treats Red London as a dream playground because she doesn’t internalize it as a real world, if that makes sense. Especially in Gathering of Shadows.
I’m shocked at all this feedback tbh. This is probably one of my favorite series because of the magic and world building and whatnot. I agree - Lilah is not a good person. I didn’t like her either. I saw her story arc coming from a mile away. But it didn’t make me dislike the rest of the story, I just don’t think you’re supposed to like her as a person overall. She has redeeming moments but otherwise is purely selfish, yeah.
She’s much more bearable in the newest book in the series, Fragile Threads of Power.
She was the biggest reason why I never read past book one.
from what I heard, she just gets worse so no thank you, she was already incredibly insufferable.
This is what sealed the deal on the series for me. Delilah Bard became the main character, with top tier Mary Sue elements as well as a mountain of “not like other girl” energy, but the worst part was absolutely that competition. Like, it wasn’t even relevant. She did it for FUN. If there were a plot significant reason that she HAD to do it, I that’d be entirely different. Instead she screws up someone’s life because she wants to see how good she is. And when 2 people mildly call her out about it she gets furious at them.
I basically read the last book because I had a small hope she would die.
I almost dropped this book when she (almost word for word) says that she’s ‘not like other girls’. That drove me up the fucking wall. How come Schwab, or any editor, didn’t catch how on the nose and cringy that sounded? I friend of mine said that the ending of the book was worth it… but I agree, her ruining a random magician’s life for no good reason sealed the deal
Good lord, I totally forgot how on the nose she is 😂 between this series and Addie La Rue, I just decided I can’t deal with the way Schwab does characters. Bard is absolutely the worst though. I have no idea how people read the second book and didn’t immediately tell her “hey, you know you’re basically making Bard an unlikable villain without having anything about the story or other characters treat her like one?”
I would recommend dropping the trilogy. The third one just continues to make her the most special snowflake ever and better than everyone at everything. It’s ridiculous.
It’s too bad because I found some spoilers that mentioned Rhy and Alucard being romantically involed. They both have interesting personalities and roles within the books, I would have preferred to follow both of them as main characters… I think their dynamic would be interesting to delve into
I think the issue is that when Schwab likes a character, they get center stage in every way. Schwab will entirely ruin other interesting elements she has going for her story or other characters in service of the one she likes. I love her book covers and her stories have really interesting concepts and ideas, but she always just fumbles by making it seem as wide as a lake but as deep as a puddle.