Kell is one of the last magicians with the ability to travel between parallel universes, linked by the magical city of London. It has been four months since a mysterious obsidian stone fell into his possession and he met Delilah Bard. Four months since the Dane twins of White London fell, and the stone was cast with Holland's dying body back into Black London.Now Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila. And as Red London prepares for the Element Games-an international competition of magic-a certain pirate ship draws closer. But another London is coming back to life. The balance of magic is perilous, and for one city to flourish, another must fall...
My feelings towards this book are similar to my feelings for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Yeah, the tournament is great, but what do I care? I just want the plot to progress and not a filler book. And don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this book, but it could have easily been a five star read if the plot had progressed at least a little bit while the tournament was going on. I mean, Holland was in White London, why couldn't we have some more chapters just about him and the plans to lure Kell into this?
It's the second book, it always is. It is a shame that they are written just to become a filler and get more money. I don't blame VE Schwab, she is a lovely human being, I blame the whole publishing industry in general. They seem to forget that duologies are a thing as well. However, the stakes were high at the end, it makes a great start for the third book, and the writing was captivating. Few complaints there. I just wanted to see more plot progression during the first three-quarters of the book.
