An enormous thank you to NetGalley, TOR publishing, and of course, VE Schwab for providing me with an eARC of this book. I am voluntarily leaving a review of this book, all opinions are my own.

Oh. My. Gosh. I had an absolute BLAST being back in this world and surrounded by these characters. This was done so well and I am still as in love with this book as I was with Darker Shades. It was like putting on a familiar coat (ha) and finding it fits as perfectly as it did before.

The new characters were such a wonderful addition to this world! I absolutely love Tes and cannot wait to see where her journey leads her. Her and Vares were so interesting, I mean, who doesn’t want a dead owl as a pet? Kosika was also intriguing and I loved her story coming into the throne. And REN. I adore her so much.

I loved seeing all our favorites slipping into their respective roles and positions all these years later. I adore the way their lives are playing out and cannot wait to see what’s in store further into this series.

This was a phenomenal spin-off and I am so excited to see what new adventures lie ahead. The ending of this one is definitely leading towards something and I am very much looking forward to seeing where it all leads. My hats off to Schwab, I absolutely adore your writing and your worlds and will forever read anything you write.

Wow. Just wow. Let me preface my review by saying that Shades of Magic is one of my all-time favorite trilogies.

It was such a delight to return to the Londons. I loved that we not only returned to beloved characters but were also introduced to new ones. The book started off slower than I was expecting, but I then read a post from V.E. Schwab saying that she wanted to write this series so that it could be either read second as a sequel to Shades of Magic or read first and then have Shades of Magic be a prequel series. After reading that, I better understood why I felt like I was being introduced to this world all over again as if for the first time. Once we got to about the 50% mark in the book, the story really took off. At that point, I didn't want to put it down.

I really enjoyed the differing POV along with the flashback scenes. To some this may feel sporadic, but I loved how it told the current day story whole also providing a lot of necessary background information.

Tes was easily my favorite of the new characters. Her power is so interesting, and I can't wait to see how she will play further into the series.

Overall, I loved this book so much, and I can't wait to see where the story takes us.

Read if you enjoy:
✔️ Shades of Magic (duh!)
✔️ Interesting magic systems
✔️ Multiple POV
✔️ Flashback sequences
✔️ Owls
✔️ Badass female MCs

A fantastic start to a new series set in the world of A Darker Shade of MAgic. Returning characters feel as great as when we left them and new characters all feel fresh and interesting. Very excited to see where the rest of the series takes us

Thank you Netgalley and Tor Books for allowing me to get my hands on the eARC of The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab in exchange for my honest review.

I have had this book on my arc TBR list for a very long time, and that is because I realized that The Fragile Thread of Power is a continuation, not a spin off as I originally thought. So I went back and read the original trilogy before I sunk my teeth into this book. I guess you could read this without reading the first three, but I would not recommend it.

The Fragile Threads of Power, where do I begin? I guess maybe I am lucky in a way that this book is coming out right after I finished the Shades of Magic series and didn't have to wait 8 years to re-visit this world. I had assumed that this was a spin-off series, that our beloved Antari and friends would not be as involved in this series, but I am very glad to be wrong. I loved that we get to see them again, and fill in the gaps of what happened in the 7 years that have passed in their world.

I will admit that this did take me a while to get into, but once the plot picked up I could not put it down. I did find some of the reveals a bit predictable, but that is my only real gripe with the book. And I'll take it.

I am not stuck in that awful place of having read the book before its publish date and now have to impatiently wait for the second in the series to come out. But I know I will definitely be getting my hands on it as soon as I can.

My Thoughts
Ok I waited as long as I could, I read this book back in June and I have been waiting to share this with you all until it was closer to the release day which is coming soon Thankfully On September 26. Although this is book one of the Threads of Power
It is also a threading of the Shades of Magic series so come on home or start a new beginning. We have some old characters and some great new ones and the worlds are still spectacular. V.E. Schwab just knows how to bring you into these worlds while also having real connections with most of the Characters 😉 Stay in reality and find out what the Antari’s can do.
I can’t recommend this book enough. I want to share so much about this book with you but then I don’t want to ruin any surprises. When it comes out pick it up I believe you will, dare I say like this more than Shades of Magic? Only bad thing I can say is now I have to wait for book 2 🫣.Thank you so much @torbooks and @netgalley for letting me read this 💕

I feel so honored to have received an advanced copy of this book! VE Schwab is one of my favorite authors and Shades of Magic is one of my favorite series ever. I really took my time reading this because I just didn’t want this book to be over!! I love these characters and this world so much. SO HAPPY to see Kell and Lila again!!

Because the original cast of characters has such a special place in my heart, it took me awhile to warm up to the new characters - The new POVs kind of threw me off at first. But as the story developed and we learned more about Tes especially, I really came to appreciate and admire her addition to the story. Her ability to see and manipulate the threads of power is such an interesting magical talent and I loved seeing how her powers were incorporated in the story.

LILA. She really was comfortable in her role as the anti-hero, morally grey character in this book and I kept trying to justify her actions but sometimes it was hard!! However, I really appreciate seeing a woman as the morally grey character. Kell and Lila’s dynamic is so unique and I absolutely adored seeing more of their relationship after 7 seven years of being together.

The plot and world-building of this book was absolutely perfect and I cannot wait to see where this story goes!! VE Schwab, you are a mastermind.

Dive back into the magic of V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic series with an intense ride. Trecherous, bloody, and gripping, if you loved the first three Shades book, this is like coming back home.

Utterly convinced V.E. Schwab can do no wrong. “The Fragile Threads of Power” is her latest, and it’s every bit as dazzling as the rest of her work. This is a page-turner, and an absolute must-read for fantasy fans.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

I would like to thank NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for allowing me to read the eARC for The Fragile Threads of Power.

I am a fangirl of V.E. Schwab and Shades of Magic is one of my favorite trilogies. This book was an absolute dream come true!! This book is set 7 years after Conjuring of Light, with a few flashbacks to the past.

Rhy & Alucard, Lila & Kell, Maris, and even Ned Tuttle are back for more trouble. Plus, special appearances are made by Holland. Plus, we get to meet a whole gang of new characters, including: a new queen, a new ruler of White London, a new Aven Essen, a new set of villains, a tinkerer with a pet dead owl. Theres broken magic, new magic, a glimpse at Black London, and some new magical objects that cause chaos.

I was not Lila's biggest fan before, but she redeemed herself a bit in this book. Kell struggles with his magic and his identity. Alucard finally faces his brother. Rhy finds his place as King, but at the cost of constant fear of regicide. Tes and Vares (my new favorites, by the way) go on a scary adventure.

Will The Hand succeed? Will Kell get his groove back and/or ever come back to London? How is Rhylucard's and the Antaris' relationships going? Who's in the Royal Family? If these are your burning questions, you'd better read this book.

I was binge-reading and wasn't paying attention to the table of contents, and when I got to the last chapter, I was DEAD when I realized that it was the end. I NEED more!! This book is a page-turner and gave me anxiety (in a good way). Seriously, go pre-order it right now! You wont regret it!

I will be attending the book tour stop in Katy, and cannot wait to get my book so i can read it again!

I loved the Shade of Magic Trilogy when I read it last year, and this book did not disappoint. There is a lot of world building, but I understand why it's necessary as I feel like the author meant for the trilogy to be picked up by anybody with no knowledge of the original world.

Overall, I loved the story, there are lots of moving parts to it, so it keeps you on your toes. The characters from the original story have grown and I enjoyed seeing that growth as well as being introduced to a whole new set of characters. There are lots of layers to this story which makes it entertaining.

The only bad part is the cliff hanger it ends in. I knew something was coming but now I need part two to come out ASAP!

I'm setting this down for now. I'm 65 pages in and can't seem to get myself to pick it back up. Nothing wrong with the story or the writing. It's just too intricate of a reading experience for me to handle right now. It would be a disservice to the book to read it when I'm not capable of enjoying the pacing and plot. I will be picking up the audiobook the second it's available. I love this world and this magic system and the characters. I'm sure I will love all the newcomers we get to meet in this story. Schwab's writing it always superb. So take my 'put-aside-for-now' with a grain of salt. I know I'll love it. It just isn't the season for this story.

Phenomenal! This was an amazing follow up to one of my favorite series. There were a lot of moving pieces and different characters to keep track of, but by the last hundred pages I was holding my breath with anticipation. This book wrapped up well with only a minor cliffhanger and set up the rest of the series perfectly.

I am sad to say that I could not finish this book. I was so excited to get a copy of it from Netgalley and the publisher because I had heard so many great things about V.E. Schwab's books. There is a lot of world building in this book which can be boring for some readers. For me, I think it was because I was so ready to read it that I was impatient with the world building. I'm not giving up on reading this book. I may need to revisit it when a physical copy is available.

3 stars. I sadly did not love this continuation of the trilogy. For how big the book is I don't feel like it added much to the world.

I really liked this new novel from V. E. Schwab!! It had me hooked since the first few pages and once it started, it would not let me go! I was thoroughly entertained! I like that it was a continuation of the Shades of Magic series (even though it’ll be its own), but revisiting the universe was a great adventure! I really enjoyed the character development and I can’t wait to see what happens to them in the next book! Thoroughly recommend it!

4.5 stars!

Oh, how good it feels to be back in this magical world! There were high expectations for this book and V.E. Schwab absolutely CRUSHED them!!

I fell in love with the Shades of Magic series years ago and this book only made that love grow even more. It was such a pleasant surprise to see how involved Lila, Kell, Rhy, and Alucard were in this book. There were several moments that made my heart melt and I was SO extremely content reading this book. I love how Schwab ties in characters and events from Shades of Magic into this book while we explore new characters and new journeys; there was such a good balance between the old and the new. In The Fragile Threads of Power, there are multiple perspectives that tell each character's story. Admittedly, it was a little difficult at first to keep track of each separate story, especially with the new characters, but as the story progressed, it was easier to see how Schwab was threading everything together. It was very intriguing to see little glimpses of what the new characters were doing during the whole Shades of Magic timeline and they just complement the original characters so perfectly. It was also interesting to see how the characters all have some sort of ability that will obviously take a role in bringing them together in the future books. Schwab gives significant importance to each character and I'm very much looking forward to having them all together to see what kind of chaos unravels.

There's still so much development to be done for all of the characters and I can't wait to see how the author approaches this series. Much like Schwab's other books, the writing is very clever and detailed, and you can already see how everything is being set up to create an even more complex universe. I won't go into much detail regarding the plot or new characters, but I will say that this is an amazing start to a new series in this familiar world. It was filled with wholesome, funny, nerve-racking, and heartbreaking moments and I couldn't be any happier with it all. It's also definitely worth reading the Shades of Magic series first as it creates a whole deeper level of emotions when reading this book!

This book did not disappoint. It’s honestly everything you would expect from V. E. Schwab. This author has a great way of writing immersive stories that draws you in. Loved it!

I am obsessed with the Shades of Magic series, so a new series set in the same world. I am here for it! Keep it coming VE! Solid five stars for this first in what I’m sure will be another favorite series.

This is EASILY the best book in the Shades of Magic series.

(And yes, I know this is the start of a new series, but it is clearly Shades of Magic #4 and it irks me that this is advertised as a new series. It’s not even a spinoff. It’s a direct continuation of the story with the same characters after a time jump. Come on, now.)

Anyway, short rant over, this book is really good. So good that it’s honestly kind of a shame that it’s not a new series and readers will need to read the first three books in the Shades of Magic series to not be totally confused by this book.

But, oh well, let’s talk about why The Fragile Thread of Power is an adventurous, exhilarating, and an all-around-good-time read.

And I cannot stress this enough, I’m about to say all this as someone who felt extremely MEH about the original Darker Shades of Magic trilogy.

First of all, the new characters are FANTASTIC. Tes and Kosika in particular are very interesting, extremely layered, and easy to root for. I’m not sure what the plan is for either character moving forward, but I think she’s already got two great characters to hinge the new series on.

I also liked Alucard’s inclusion in this book, and I think this is a good example of taking an existing supporting character and giving him more screen time. He was already likable from the OG trilogy and that pretty much continues here. It’s also great to see him doing things independent from both Lila and Rhy because let’s be real, he’s a much better character than either of them.

I also think the world building feels even more legit in this book (and it already was quite good and one of the few elements from the OG trilogy that I really liked) and I appreciate that Schwab uses the other Londons a lot more than in the previous books. The world jumping is COOL. I never understood why Schwab insisted on setting most of A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light in affluent Red London.

The story is also pretty interesting and moves at a nice pace. I will say I think it wraps up a little too nicely for a series that is just starting, and this is exactly how I felt about the original A Darker Shade of Magic. There are still some loose ends to lead into the next book, but I hated that it felt like Tes’s story was pretty much done. I really hope not because I really like her, but I guess we will see.

One of the major issues with this book (and it was THE major issue I had with the OG trilogy) is that I really don’t like Kell and Lila. I honestly don’t know why Schwab included them in this story. They are both jerks and there’s nothing interesting about them. Kell is mopey in this without his magic, and Lila is a jerk who does almost everything perfectly.

I just really don’t like them.

Despite those flaws, I really enjoyed this read. I was wanting to know what happened next and got super excited to see when Tes or Kosika were the POV of the next chapter.

Fingers crossed that this continues to be an interesting series. Schwab has some really powerful prose, so I’m hopeful that the next book in this series will also be a fantastic read.

This book has ruined me. I finished it hours ago and I can't stop thinking about it. The ending was so wild, the cliffhanger got me so bad!
I'm sad there isn't more, so I can keep living in this world. I love these characters so much. I had no idea how much I’ve missed this world. Being back with my favorite characters? It’s the best feeling in the world! Kell and Lila and Alucard and Rhy… they’re as amazing as I remember. I love these four so much! Every time I’m reading from one of their POVs I tried to read as slowly as I could. Tried to savor every word as much as I could.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!