#fragile threads of power spoilers

[ghoulorghost]

I have an inkling possession is going to make an appearance in the next two books. Specifically Kosika being possessed by Holland's supposed ghost.

Also the idea that she has his magic seems to be a lie to me, to keep her compliant with whatever comes next. If she was chosen that obviously means she was done a favor, so she's virtually indebted to him and White London, and she'll be obligated to follow, no matter what he asks of her. I feel like she's being manipulated, her belief in the Saint and the respect she has for him being weaponized against her.

That's why it seems to me that the apparition is just someone masquerading as the real Holland. And the piece of dialogue about bringing something back from Black London? I think she already did, just nothing solid.

And the mention of the pull the magic in the Inheritor has over Tesali, Osaron attempting to grab at people even when sealed away, makes me theorise Kosika might have pulled on that magic when she tried to grow the plants in the courtyard and consequently fell ill for a week. Some part of him might have latched onto her, and activated the moment she made contact with Black London. He is sealed away together with the magic Holland lost so maybe he cloaks himself in that? Pretends to be someone that he is not? Puppeteering what's left of Holland in this realm?

And rekindling the magic in Black London sounds like a trick.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

[adamsrcnan]

FRAGILE THREADS OF POWER WAS SO GOOD I AM ONCE AGAIN BLOWN AWAY AND READY TO SCREAM ABOUT IT

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Firstly seeing my babies after 6 years was so emotional omg i missed them all so much !!!

Lila naming the Alucard's ship after Barron???? kill me she's a little softie inside

Kell not being able to do magic was like HELL like i felt his pain so deeply my precious gum drop :(

The montage of him learning to fight with the swords was top tier though !

Kay is a sexy bastard

Lila going to find Kell at night when he passes out in his room at the palace and crawling into bed beside him??? Top tier ship let me tell you.

Kosika while i do like her, i felt her chapters were a little bit repetitive and kinda dragged a little for me in the middle, but the ending in black london..... my god

GHOST/SPIRIT HOLLAND???? I missed my husband so much like please i'm being tortured. He's there but he's not because they say it's him but something is definitely off there too???

Also i relate heavily to kosika because i too would do whatever Holland asked me too and worship him as a saint

URM RHY AND ALUCARD BEING MARRIED??? SHUT THE FUCK UP WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

I adore the whole dynamic between Rhy, Alucard and Nadiya i think it was so tastefully done and though i find Nadiya to be a little shady i like her whole inventor thing and i appreciate her loyalty towards her family

REN IS A PRECIOUS LITTLE CUTIE PIE

The fact that she's named Tieren and the way she adores animals and has a billion random pets, and the way she is fascinated by Lila and oblivious to any awkwardness Lila has around her. Just wonderful. Such a little sweetheart. If anything happens to her i will be banging on ms schwab's door !

Tes. I love her. I don't even know what else to say. I think she's brilliant. Her chapters were so entertaining to read. Her back story was intriguing. Her gift is so special. Her interactions with Lila were top tier and i definitely need them to work together again !

Delilah Bard. My wife!!! What can i say. She's a fucking icon. A legend. Never fails to disappoint.

"You came." "You called." URM I CANNOT BELIEVE SHE MADE LILA AND KELL DO THE THING???? SHE MADE THEM DO THE THING !!! THE WAY I SCREAMEDDD

KELL GETTING HIS MAGIC BACK !!!!!!!! HE'S BACK BABY!! I'M SO READY FOR HIM TO FUCK SHIT UP !!!

There's so much more i wanna say but like i'm trying to gather my thoughts. The book was so good. Everything i could hope for in a continuation of the series and more ! Victoria Schwab is a pure genius !!!

[unmaker-unmaker]

obsessed with the fact that even though kell and lila are literally partners he somehow has no idea she wears that ring around her neck for YEARS. no visibility during sexy times no slipping out during their hourly duels they literally sleep together and yet nothing

[melodywritesstuff]

Spoilers for Fragile Threads of Power!!!

I just finished reading and I have some thoughts and predictions about a certain character...

Major spoilers below!

Am I the only one who's not convinced that Kosika's Holland is, well, actually Holland?

When Holland dies at the end of ACOL, his hair is white and both his eyes are green.

Kosika's Holland has white hair, but still has the black Antari eye.

That makes sense if he's a figment of her imagination, because she wouldn't have known that his eye had changed, and that's how she would have pictured him. But if it were actually Holland from beyond the grave, he wouldn't have the black eye.

In ADSOM, if I remember correctly, Kell mentions that it would be easy to enter Black London, but likely impossible to leave, since the walls were designed to contain Black London, not to keep people out. Holland, I think, was only able to leave (in AGOS) because Osaron was lending him power. And yet, Kosika returns to White London without difficulty.

I think that Kosika did bring something back from Black London, and it's masquerading as Holland; adopting the appearance she would expect from her Saint, and manipulating her into rekindling the flame in Black London, which will instigate the main conflict for the remaining books in the series.

[nerdy-girlramblings]

Spoilers for Fragile Threads of Power

"'Three months, and it meant nothing. It should have healed. It should have helped. But it's still broken.' He raked his hands through his hair. 'I'm still broken...I'm an Antari, Lila'. The words clawed as they came out. 'I am nothing without my power.'

She scowled. 'Was I nothing without mine?'"

Kell's whole identity, the reason he was raised as a prince, was because of his powers. Lila had an identity outside of magic once and her powers only enhanced who she was. Kell didn't so he feels a loss of self. He feels that he truly is nothing.

[brynnmclean]

I dropped everything on my to read list to get to the Fragile Threads of Power and lemme just say in no particular order,

- still obsessed with Kell/Lila and how fucking STUPID they are about each other, case in point: Kell trying to get them matching rings, Lila PANICKING about it, the two of them arguing, Kell stubbornly wearing his ring, Lila wearing hers as a necklace but not letting Kell know so he thinks it's likely she chucked it into the sea. Idiots in love. You both are so stupid (affectionate)!!!!!

- love Lila bullying Kell into getting good at using blades since he can't use magic without excruciating pain (don't talk to me, I hurt for him still)

- (I am also mildly obsessed with Kell having a whole new persona as Kay, both Kell and Lila give me such gender fluid feelings and this is not helping that situation, lmao)

- love how the narrative is like, Kell eventually got discouraged enough to give up on the hope of regaining his magic, but Lila still! Without telling him! Is looking for solutions and would have!!!!! Made another open ended deal!!!! With Maris!!!!!! When she HATES being in debt

- inability to communicate Feelings sometimes drives me up the fucking wall, but I am SAVED from this by Lila being unable to sleep until she finds the bed Kell is in and she just. Tucks herself in next to him.

I have MANY other feelings about stuff in this book and I'm a little over halfway through but I JUST. My babies are back and they are so GOOD.

[adarkermiserablecrow]

I just know Lila will be the best aunt and Kell will be picking out baby names in his head every time they're in the palace

[kennabeth]

nadiya: kell would be a good father

lila: [aimlessly walking away as fast as she can] wonder why I'm hyperfocusing on random shit rn. probably the weather.

[torpublishinggroup]

#1 NYT bestselling author V.E. Schwab returns to the dazzling worlds of Shades of Magic with a fantastical, perilous, and intrigue-tangled new series-starter: The Fragile Threads of Power, with commissioned artwork by lasq.draws.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

Once, the four worlds sat nestled like pages in a book, connected with fantastical power to a single city: London. But the magic pulsed. It grew too fast, and the doors between worlds were sealed in a desperate gamble at protection.

The few magicians able to open these doors grew rarer as time passed, and now only three are known in recent memory. Kell Maresh of Red London, Delilah Bard of Grey London, and Holland Vosijk of White London have hardly been glimpsed for the last seven years. A new magician rises to claim the throne of White London: She is Kosika, who burns with religious fervor and will feed her city with blood, including her own.

And back in Red London, King Rhy Maresh is threatened by a rising rebellion, one that promises to correct the power by razing the throne entirely.

These two royals from very different empires face mirror struggles: Keep their crowns. Keep their heads. And amidst a tapestry of old friends and new enemies, a girl with unusual magic comes into possession of a device that could change the fate of all four worlds.

Her name is Tes, and she will bring the worlds together, or unravel it all.

[fathommila]

Can’t stop smiling and kicking my feet

[teartra]

Rhy + Lila = In laws solidarity

Kell + Alucard = In laws hostility

[ghoulorghost]

I think the main difference between the Antari lies in the way they perceive both themselves as people and themselves in relation to their magical ability.

Delilah Bard found out she was Antari when she was 19 years old, a period of time in which her character had time to develop. She was her own person, with desires and a purpose, long before she made this discovery. She defined herself as a thief and wannabe pirate, before anything else, and this new talent certainly didn't make a difference , her choice being to wield it the same she would a blade.

Holland Vosijk acquired the title of Antari when he was 8 years old. At that point in time, in spite of or maybe because of the way he was brought up, he already viewed his existence as important, his conflict with both his brother Athos and later his first lover Talya proving that.

His encounters with Ros Vortalis strengthened the care he held for White London, but also gave him the purpose of bettering it's fate.

His time spent bound to the Danes did not diminish his sense of self and his desires, but actually fostered them.

And while Holland did seem to consider his position as an Antari a curse, due to the way others sought to use him, I feel like he did not intend to die, just favored it over the alternative.He also recognised the magic's usefulness as a means to an end.

Delilah and Holland are alike in that sense. Both of them view their magic as a component to what they perceive their own person to be.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have Kell, whose memories begin from the moment he was discovered as an Antari.

He didn't have the chance to separate himself from this label, he was essentially the label, first and foremost.

Kell was valued and forced into certain predicaments as a consequence of receiving it.

He's grown up learning to associate his worth to his magic, all the while resenting what he was given as a result of it, which he perceived as unfair. I'm convinced he also subconsciously resented the people who viewed him this way and taught him to view himself this way. He felt and was told he was being ungrateful, and ended up feeling guilty and resenting himself for even thinking such thoughts and experiencing such emotions in the first place.

Instead of it being a talent he could make use of, it became something he was used because of, feared because of and coveted because of. It's become his defining trait.

Both his biological mother and father elected to give him up in exchange for his mother's freedom and a sum of money.  They didn't value him as a person, they saw value in this specific characteristic he had, and used it to their advantage.

His adoptive parents, the king and queen, viewed him as means to keep their enemies at a safe distance, as a method of communication with other Londons, and as prince Rhy's protector.

Rhy must've been the only person who saw Kell as something else, as a brother, as an individual, and even he had his flaws, not willing to recognise what the people he loved did.

The times Kell did attempt to exteriorize other attributes and desires, ended with him being punished. He desires to have more to himself than his magic.

Feeling stuck is what caused him to act recklessly, to do things he wasn't supposed to, and to keep them to himself.

The arrogance he displayed seemed like a front, a way to feel less inadequate.

He won both the coat and a multitude of baubles through gambling, and while it's not specified for how long he'd been doing this, he was wearing a red coat, the coat?, the first time Holland met him, at 13 years old.

He smuggled, traded and collected trinkets, to feel like he had something of his own for once, something he wasn't offered just because of his status, his magic. He'd tried to define himself through the objects he gathered.

This habit of his, which frankly sounds more like an addiction, was the cause of his encounter with the Black Stone. The Black Night, Rhy's death, Holland's death and consequent return, and Osaron, all occurrences that followed.

This series of events ended with him shattering his magic beyond repair, losing what he and most others thought of as himself. Suddenly he became nothing, useless, and everything attributed to him because of it didn't fit anymore.

He's displayed a carelessness in regard to his life, multiple times across the years, his tie to Rhy being the main thing keeping him alive.

He'd have been willing to go to Black London, was resigned to the idea for most of the first book, but his binding to Rhy made him reconsider. I think he also really believed Holland so close to death he wouldn't have survived the trip and wouldn't have suffered.

The same could be said about him planning to offer himself as bait to Osaron. If Holland hadn't taken over the role and his brother wasn't in danger of dying, he wouldn't have thought twice about doing it.

Kell confirmed he would have taken his life the moment he came to the conclusion that his magic wasn't coming back, had he not considered Rhy's life more important than this inclination.

He doesn't see value his life beyond it benefiting others.

It also seems as if he becomes someone else everytime he's redefined. He's been Kastion Laros, K.L., Kell Maresh, Kell, Kamerov Loste, Kay, and multiple other people over the course of his life. I do think they're all sides of him.

Now, with his magic mostly healed, he's back to playing Kell Maresh.

But I'm not convinced he's learned to value himself yet, just reverted to a state he views himself valuable in. Though I hope by the end of the series he'll figure himself out.

[adamsrcnan]

Hiiii, random person on the internet trying to survive the pain of Kell's POV chapters in threads of power begging for a morsel of hope here: I saw you read it so.....does he get his magic back by the end of the book? (I'm trying to avoid spoilers on anything else or I would skim the end to find out like civilized people instead if annoying you, sorry)

*FRAGILE THREADS OF POWER SPOILERS BELOW*

Helloooo

I understand your pain!! Reading his chapters was so difficult bc he's my favourite character in the series and i hated to see him suffer. :((

But alas!!! To answer your question.. He DOES !!!

Hope that brings you some solace that there is light at the end of the tunnel !!

Enjoy the rest of the read !!

[unmaker-unmaker]

i am so absurdly delighted by what utter freaks kell and lila have become (particularly with regards to each other) over the years

[melodywritesstuff]

More thoughts about Holland 🙃

Spoilers ahead!

I know I've said the exact opposite before, but what if Holland in the Fragile Threads of Power actually is Holland?

It absolutely destroyed me that he died without knowing that his death would wake the magic in White London. And his ending was beautiful and painful and poetic and horribly tragic, and I know lots of people wish he hadn't come back because of that, but hear me out.

If it really is Holland, he gets to know that he healed White London- that his death was meaningful. He gets to guide Kosika so she can finish what he started. And hopefully, by the end of the series, he gets to see his lifelong dream through to conclusion. And only then does he finally, finally, get to rest.

Honestly, I still kinda doubt it's actually him, but I'm starting to hope I'm wrong because I think it could be a really beautiful ending for him.

[nerdy-girlramblings]

Spoilers for Fragile Threads of Power

"He hated Aluchard for not hating himself".

Berras and Aluchard's father was obviously abusive. I always find it interesting in depictions of abusive families, there's the child that tries as much as possible to emulate the abuser out of fear and then there is the child that acts in rebellion to the abuser out of hate.

I think Berras hates Aluchard because he has the personal freedom and peace of mind to present himself and act how he wants. I don't think Berras was brave enough to do that and he's jealous of Aluchard because of it.