Mini-reviews: Pigs Have Wings, by P.G. Wodehouse, and A Gathering of Shadows, by V. E. Schwab

Another quickie guided tour of the sequels and series installments I've read this week:

P.G. Wodehouse's Pigs Have Wings, a Lord Emsworth novel.

Review of the Blandings Castle short stories collection available here.

P.G. Wodehouse's 1952 novel Pigs Have Wings is one of the funnier standalone Blandings Castle stories. (Like most of the Blandings adventures, this one involves several thwarted love affairs and a threat to the health and well-being of Empress of Blandings, Lord Emsworth's prize pig.) I usually feel like Wodehouse's novels spend 250+ pages covering the same amount of plot featured in one of his 20-page-long short stories, but this was surprisingly satisfying.

Note: I am extremely jealous of this cover art, which was featured on the first edition. My copy was a sad, faded, 1980s-style thing.

V.E. Scwab's A Gathering of Shadows

Review of the first book in this series available here.

A Gathering of Shadows, the sequel to V. E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic, more than delivers on the promise of the first book. Many middle installments are basically glorified placeholders, but this novel resolves old plot points, introduces new ones, and has adventure, excitement, and character development coming out of its ears. I wasn't thrilled with the introduction of an impossibly charming, universally seductive new character (word to the wise, Ms. Schwab: handsome pirates with Secret Pain can be Mary Sues, too), but apart from wishing him back to the fanfiction perdition whence he came, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.