The Fragile Threads of Power
- Set in the world of the Shades of Magic series, but seven years after the events of A Conjuring of Light
- Introduces new characters, while also continuing the stories of fan favorites like Kell, Lila, Rhy, and Alucard
- The book follows two royals from different empires as they face similar struggles to keep their crowns. A girl with a unique magical ability comes into possession of a device that could change the fate of all four worlds.
- Explores themes of deception, the growth and change of magic, and how people can use ingenuity and creativity to challenge the status quo
The Fragile Threads of Power is the start of a new high fantasy series that builds upon the events of the Shades of Magic trilogy (A Darker Shade of Magic, etc.). The universe features four parallel dimensions, each centered on a version of London with a distinct relationship to magic: Red London (magic thrives), Grey London (no magic), White London (magic starves), and Black London (magic is destroyed).
Trilogy Events: A Battle for Magic
The original series follows Kell Maresh, a powerful Antari (world-traveler) who serves the Red London crown. His life is changed when he meets Lila Bard, a clever Grey London thief who harbors her own rare magic. Their first adventure involves smuggling an artifact from Black London, which pits them against Holland Vosijk, a White London Antari serving the tyrannical Dane twins. Kell and Lila manage to defeat the twins, saving Red London.
The peace is shattered when the supposedly dead Holland makes a bargain with Osaron, a magical entity that destroyed Black London through its immense power. Osaron possesses Holland’s body, bringing magic back to White London before invading Red London, causing mass death and chaos, including the deaths of Rhy’s parents.
The climax sees Kell, Lila, and Holland defeat Osaron by sharing their Antari powers. Holland dies in the battle, and Kell is severely wounded, leaving him severed from his magical abilities and in constant pain. Kell and Lila decide to leave the royal court to travel the seas, while Rhy Maresh is crowned King and makes a life with his love, Alucard Emery, restoring a fragile balance between the Londons.
Once, there were four worlds, nestled like pages in a book, each pulsing with fantastical power, and connected by a single city: London. Until the magic grew too fast, and forced the worlds to seal the doors between them in a desperate gamble to protect their own. The few magicians who could still open the doors grew more rare as time passed and now, only three Antari are known in recent memory―Kell Maresh of Red London, Delilah Bard of Grey London, and Holland Vosijk, of White London.
But barely a glimpse of them have been seen in the last seven years―and a new Antari named Kosika has appeared in White London, taking the throne in Holland’s absence. The young queen is willing to feed her city with blood, including her own―but her growing religious fervor has the potential to drown them instead.
And back in Red London, King Rhy Maresh is threatened by a rising rebellion, one determined to correct the balance of power by razing the throne entirely.
Amidst this tapestry of old friends and new enemies, a girl with an unusual magical ability comes into possession of a device that could change the fate of all four worlds.
Her name is Tes, and she’s the only one who can bring them together―or unravel it all.
Character Analysis
Kosika
is a young girl from White London, whose name literally means “little queen.” At 14, she is the reigning child queen and the most powerful Antari magician in her realm. Raised poor and estranged from a mother who tried to sell her into slavery, she is physically unremarkable but burdened by her power, which she wishes she could shed. Kosika’s primary struggle is establishing magic in White London. She is naive, driven by a desire to save her kingdom, and becomes dangerously reliant on the ghost of the former king, Holland, whom she idolizes. Her single-minded dedication means her goals may ultimately threaten the stability of the other Londons.
Tesali “Tes” Ranek
is a 15-year-old protagonist from Red London with the rare ability to see and manipulate magical threads. She is defined by her independence and profound loneliness, having fled her home at 12 to escape a manipulative father who only valued his daughters for their usefulness. Tes finds comfort in Vares, a tiny owl skeleton animated with magic, who is the only one she trusts with her secrets. Her arc is a struggle to be seen as a person rather than a tool, constantly fearing exploitation due to her gift, youth, and gender. She completes her coming-of-age journey by finding safe harbor as an apprentice on the Ferase Stras, where her talents will be nurtured without the risk of being used.
Kell Maresh
is a protagonist and Rhy’s adopted brother, known for his powerful Antari magic and his deep love for Lila Bard. Due to past events, he has tragically lost his ability to access magic without agonizing pain, forcing him to grapple with a loss of identity. Though anchored by his protective love for Lila and his bond with Rhy, Kell struggles to accept his weakened state. He views himself as a former hero, but Lila sees him as the man beneath the magic, a “pane of glass” through which she sees the truth. His journey is one of learning to fight without his power, culminating in a devastating sacrifice where he shatters his remaining magic to save the worlds, only to have it restored by Tes.
Delilah “Lila” Bard
is Kell’s partner, an Antari, and the fiercely independent captain of the Grey Barron. She is a prickly, sarcastic, and extremely dangerous fighter, marked by a missing eye that she disguises with a false one. Kell sees her as a “blade in the dark, dazzling, and sharp,” not a “soft bed.” Lila’s character is shaped by a traumatic, deprived upbringing, which makes her fiercely protective of her freedom and found family. She treasures Kell because he “sees” her without trying to change her, easing the trauma she still carries from a lifetime of being neglected and used.
Rulers of Red London: Rhy Maresh, Nadiya Loreni, and Alucard Emery
Rhy Maresh: The King of Arnes. Rhy is a fair and generous monarch but feels burdened by the throne and worries he can’t live up to his parents’ legacy. He is self-sacrificing and deeply loves his adopted brother, Kell, often envying his freedom.
Alucard “Luca” Emery: Rhy’s consort. Alucard is a charismatic nobleman and former privateer who is now focused on protecting his family from the Hand. He struggles with the trauma of his abusive childhood, choosing a path of love and forgiveness in stark contrast to his bitter brother, Berras.
Nadiya Loreni: The Queen of Arnes. Nadiya is beautiful and calculating. She is defined by her passion for inventing, seeing power as a neutral force and often overlooking the danger in her creations. Her tendency to prioritize her family’s well-being above all else puts her at odds with those, like Lila, who distrust her powerful inventions.
Berras Emery
is the novel’s main antagonist and Alucard’s estranged brother. He serves as Alucard’s foil: both were raised in an abusive household, but Berras turned his trauma into hatred, becoming a tyrant and a bully obsessed with vengeance. He is consumed by his shame and jealousy of Alucard, believing his own earth magic to be a crude “butcher’s cleaver” compared to his brother’s “surgeon’s blade.” Berras’s plot to overthrow Rhy and kill Alucard is driven by his desire to reclaim what he feels he is owed, a quest that ends with his death in prison by his co-conspirator.
VICTORIA “V. E.” SCHWAB is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including the acclaimed Shades universe, the Villains series, the City of Ghosts series, Gallant, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Fragile Threads of Power. When not haunting Paris streets or trudging up English hillsides, she can be found in Edinburgh, Scotland, tucked in the corner of a coffee shop, dreaming up monsters.
Obras autoconclusiva
- The Near Witch (2011). Hyperion Books.
- Spirit Animals (Fall of the Beasts) Book 2: Broken Ground (2015).
Saga Monsters of Verity
- Una Canción Salvaje (This Savage Song, 2016).
- Un Dueto Oscuro (Our Dark Duet, 2017).
Saga The Archived
- El Archivo (The Archived, 2013). Disney-Hyperion.
- El Vacío (The Unbound, 2014). Disney-Hyperion.
Saga Everyday Angel
- Everyday Angel #1: New Beginnings (2014). Scholastic.
- Everyday Angel #2: Second Chances (2014). Scholastic.
- Everyday Angel #3: Last Wishes (2014). Scholastic.
Como V. E. Schwab
Saga Vicious
- Una Obsesión Perversa (Vicious, 2013).
- Una Venganza Mortal (Vengeful, 2018).
Saga Sombras de Magia
- Una magia más oscura (A Darker Shade of Magic, 2015).
- Concilio de sombras (A Gathering of Shadows, 2016).
- Conjuro de luz (A Conjuring of Light, 2017).
Obras autoconclusivas
- La vida invisible de Addie LaRue (2020).
- Gallant (2022).
Other fantasies recommendations
4.04 Goodreads review.
If you could open a door to anywhere, where would you go?
In New York City, bookseller Cassie Andrews is living an unassuming life when she is given a gift by a favourite customer. It’s a book – an unusual book, full of strange writing and mysterious drawings. And at the very front there is a handwritten message to Cassie, telling her that this is the Book of Doors, and that any door is every door .
What Cassie is about to discover is that the Book of Doors is a special book that bestows an extraordinary powers on whoever possesses it, and soon she and her best friend Izzy are exploring all that the Book of Doors can do, swept away from their quiet lives by the possibilities of travelling to anywhere they want.
But the Book of Doors is not the only magical book in the world. There are other books that can do wondrous and dreadful things when wielded by dangerous and ruthless individuals – individuals who crave what Cassie now possesses.
Suddenly Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is, it seems, Drummond Fox. He is a man fleeing his own demons – a man with his own secret library of magical books that he has hidden away in the shadows for safekeeping. Because there is a nameless evil out there that is hunting them all . . .
Because some doors should never be opened.
4.03 Good reads review
In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family’s library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection–a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power.
For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements–books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.
All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna’s isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they’ll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .
3.81 Goodreads review
A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can’t stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.
Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland–and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.
Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.
As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.
If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.
Source: Wikipedia, Goodreads, AI generated
Plot Summary
The Fragile Threads of Power takes place seven years after the Shades of Magic trilogy, centering on the instability of the four parallel worlds: Red London (plentiful magic), White London (rekindling magic), Grey London (no magic), and the dead Black London.
The Hand, the Theft, and the Crisis
The novel opens with Kosika, a young girl in White London who has discovered the body of the former king, Holland, and will soon be crowned queen due to her rare Antari powers. Seven years later, in Red London, King Rhy Maresh’s consort, Alucard Emery, is worried about the Hand, a shadowy organization plotting to overthrow the throne.
The Hand’s agents rob a magic ship to steal a persalis, a dangerous device that can create doors between worlds. Captain Maris hires Lila Bard and Kell (Rhy’s adoptive brother) to retrieve it. Kell, who is grieving the loss of his Antari powers, joins Lila, and they set sail for Red London, leaving Rhy vulnerable to an assassination attempt.
Tes and the Threads of Magic
The persalis falls into the hands of a mysterious man who takes it to a repair shop run by Tesali Ranek, a 15-year-old who has a rare gift for seeing and manipulating magic threads. Tes quickly realizes the device’s danger when she accidentally opens a door to White London. She rigs a bomb to destroy her shop and escapes with the persalis, but is captured by the Hand’s agents, Calin and Bex, who torture her to force her to create a new one.
Meanwhile, the Hand’s leaders—Alucard’s estranged brother Berras Emery, the high priest Ezril, and an unnamed Master of the Veil—meet to finalize their plan to use the persalis to kill Alucard and depose Rhy.
Reckless Alliances and Sacrifice
Lila and Kell track Tes, whose fear causes her to seek protection in Lila’s presence. The queen, Nadiya, offers Tes asylum, but fearing the queen’s power, Tes escapes, only to be recaptured by the Hand and taken to Berras. Berras poisons Tes and demands she create a persalis for him. Despairing, Tes creates a false persalis leading to an abyss between worlds.
Lila infiltrates the Hand’s meeting but is captured by Berras, who reveals he has stolen Nadiya’s magical invention and used it to steal magic for himself. Kell and Alucard arrive to rescue Lila. The fake persalis activates, creating a rapidly growing abyss. To close the abyss, Lila uses Nadiya’s invention to share power with Kell, which shatters the rest of his magic, leaving him in constant pain.
After Berras is arrested and secretly killed by Ezril to protect the conspiracy, Lila brings Tes to the palace. Tes successfully uses her powers to heal Kell’s magic, and Lila places Tes under Maris’s care as an apprentice. The novel concludes in White London, where Queen Kosika, convinced by Holland’s ghost that the devastating fire in Black London is gone, agrees to attempt to rekindle Black London’s magic.
Symbols & Motifs
Color Symbolism
Schwab uses color symbolism to distinguish the four Londons, highlighting their unique relationship with magic and foreshadowing their fates.
Red London: Represents vitality and abundant magic. The city is depicted in jewel tones around the red-glowing Isle, reflecting its status as a thriving, bustling realm.
White London: Symbolizes barrenness and consumption. Though slowly recovering magic, the land is “starving” and requires ritualistic blood offerings. The color white represents this emptiness that devours life-giving red blood, foreshadowing the dangerous path Queen Kosika takes to restore her nation.
Grey London: Represents lack of magic and industrial drabness. Depicted with gray imagery and coal-soot, the missing color from its river (the Isle) emphasizes that it’s a world where magic no longer exists or is believed in.
Black London: Signifies poisoned magic and absolute death. It is a smoldering remnant where nothing living remains. The color black represents the devastating threat of its corrupted magic spreading to other realms.
Ships ⛵
Ships are a significant motif that represents exploration, freedom, and transformation for several key characters.
For Lila and Kell, the Grey Barron symbolizes the freedom Lila dreamed of in Grey London and the space for Kell to explore his identity as a non-Antari pirate.
For Tes, ships represent a bid for autonomy. Her initial escape from her abusive father was aboard The Good Luck. Later, she finds her ultimate safe haven and transformation as an apprentice on the Ferase Stras, a magical market ship that promises to nurture her talents without controlling her.
The Hand ✋
The Hand is a motif that represents manipulation and deceit enacted by the powerful. This shadowy organization seeking to overthrow the throne is symbolized by a black handprint on walls and followers’ skin, suggesting a possessive “brand.” While devotees treat the Hand as a singular, heroic force for change, King Rhy and the narrator recognize its true nature. The organization is a metaphor for the abuse of power, where a few elite conspirators (Berras and Ezril) use the lower-level members like a glove to do their bidding, intending to use them as scapegoats after seizing control.
The Heiress
The Frozen River
You May Also Like
Sisterhood of the Traveling Book
The Maidens
