Read-alikes

Books Like A Gathering of Shadows

A Gathering of Shadows is trials & tournaments, enemies to lovers & fierce heroinesweet (1/5), multi-person, ending on a hard-won happy ending. These 12 romantasy read-alikes are ranked by how much they share with it, closest first — each one explained.

Four months after the events of A Darker Shade of Magic, Kell chafes under royal restrictions while Red London prepares for the Essen Tasch — a grand, tri-annual elemental magic tournament drawing competitors from across the three empires. Lila Bard, now sailing under the privateer Captain Alucard Emery, returns to the city in disguise to compete, and she and Kell find themselves on a collision course inside the arena. Meanwhile, Holland has survived Black London by striking a bargain with a malevolent ancient entity named Osaron — and the book ends on a brutal cliffhanger as that darkness finally reaches Red London.

Closest matches

Share the most of what makes A Gathering of Shadows work.

More to explore