#the fragile threads of power spoilers

[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.

[evenstarfalls]

So my first guess was wrong about Nadiya...

SHE'S FUCKING AROACE HOLY SHIT THIS IS SUCH A WIN

I knew V.E. Schwab wouldn't let us down like I figured she'd be some flavor of queer. And while lesbian was my first (clearly wrong now dkdjdjabfb) guess, aroace was my second and boy did she deliver!! Seeing her find a family and a place to belong and even thrive while being very clearly aroace (she may have lacked the words for it for it's obvious she's aware of it) was so wonderful. And as an asexual who is not sex averse, it was really lovely getting some representation in that regard.

Also the Loreni colors being purple and gray... I see you!! I see what this is!! 💜🩶

And like even beyond representation, she's such an interesting character! Her relationship with Alucard is really nice, and I'm excited to see where her and Lila's relationship goes, especially after Lila was hurt by the stolen invention. I think they're actually quite similar characters, which is definitely part of what makes them clash. And her inventing is probably also going to be important. I hope she continues to cook up dangerous shit I...hope she has fun :) I'm also curious about her and Rhy's relationship—I mean they're married of course, but we didn't actually get a lot of them together and I'm quite interested in that dynamic.

In short: all hail our aroace slightly unethical science queen

[untolduttering]

No. Fucking. Way.

She sighed in relief. “You came.”

Kell stepped into the room, the black ring’s cord swinging from his fingers. “You called.” He smiled a little as he said it. That smile felt nice.

Oh she wrote it, she did it, no fucking way. I love them. I love them so so much.

[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.

[christophernolan]

I cried, I laughed I fell in love with all the new characters and fell even more in love with the old characters and I can’t wait for more!!

[purplebass]

Kell and Lila practicing or better roleplaying or better foreplaying? in the hold of the Grey Barron. One bottle of wine spilled dead, one man injured down, his cheeks turning red like his hair at the proposal of having a tumble in front of the wines. I missed them

[teartra]

I freaking dropped my phone

[fenixburned]

every time alucard is called either my heart by rhy or luca by ren my heart just melts instantly 🥹🥹🥹

[ramblings-of-lola]

Spoilers for Fragile Threads of Power

"... if she told the truth, her father would not love her.

He would sell her."

This broke my heart. After reading FTOP, Tes is now my child and no one is allowed to hurt her. She is so precious and sweet and I love her so much. I wish her father the most painful death possible.

[fathommila]

Can’t stop smiling and kicking my feet

[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.

[shrews-art]

Pain reminds us that we are alive or something I guess

[untolduttering]

The merchant’s son frowned. But then, he reminded himself, numbers were often symbolic. In the stories he had read, things often came in threes, and when they did, the third was always the one that mattered. The same must be true of people.

Ohhhhh Schwab, the truth you speak. The One Piece brain rot strikes again, wiggles it’s way into other narratives, and specifically that of Sanji Vinsmoke. Yes, yes, the third one always is the one that matters.

[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.

[happygirl2oo2]

My fandom aesthetic boards - an organized ongoing list

📖 The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

📖 The Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare

📖 Shades Of Magic (including the additions in the Threads of Power books) by V.E. Schwab

📖 Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan

📖 The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan

📖 Written In The Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

📖 The Inheritance Games & The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

📖 The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

📖 Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

📖 The Montague Siblings series by Mackenzi Lee

📖 Fortunate Misfortune (Clear Lake Quartet Book 1) by Miah Onsha

📖 Those Who Wait by Haley Cass

📖 When You Least Expect It by Haley Cass

📖 The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

📖 Spoiler Alert interconnected book series by Olivia Dade

📖 Fence comic series (and the tie-in novels by Sarah Rees Brennan) by C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad

📖 Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

📖 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

📺 Fitzsimmons (from the TV show Agents of Shield)

📺 Elementary

📺 Dr. Maura Isles (from the TV show Rizzoli & Isles)

📺 Bull

[christophernolan]

I howled..