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V. E. Schwab is the pseudonym for American #1 New York Times, USA, and Indie bestselling author Victoria Elizabeth Schwab. She uses the pen name when writing young adult fantasy.

Schwab has also published several works of young adult fantasy and children's fiction under the name Victoria Schwab.

Born in California and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, she attended Washington University in St. Louis, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Although her initial plan was to study Astrophysics, Schwab quickly changed course after taking art and literature courses.

By the time she was graduating, Schwab had already sold her debut novel, The Near Witch (2011) to Disney.

Her works, which have been featured by EW and The New York Times, have been translated into more than 12 languages, with some novels even optioned for film development.

Schwab has called many places home, including St. Louis, Brooklyn, Liverpool, and Edinburgh.

More about V. E. Schwab

Genres: Fantasy / SF, Young Adult

Born: 1987

United States

Pseudonym: V. E. Schwab

Non Series

  • The Near Witch (2011)
  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020)
  • Gallant (2022)

Threads of Power

  1. The Fragile Threads of Power (2023)

ExtraOrdinary

  1. ExtraOrdinary (2021)

Monsters of Verity

  1. This Savage Song (2016)
  2. Our Dark Duet (2017)

Omnibus Books

  1. The City of Ghosts Collection: Books 1-3 (2021)

Shades of Magic

  1. A Darker Shade of Magic (2015)
  2. A Gathering of Shadows (2016)
  3. A Conjuring of Light (2017)

Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince

  1. The Steel Prince (2018)
  2. Night of Knives (2019)
  3. The Rebel Army (2019)

Villains

  1. Warm Up: A Prequel (2013)
  2. Vicious (2013)
  3. Vengeful (2018)
ExtraOrdinary

Detailed book overview

Non Series

The Near Witch

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.

There are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger, a boy who seems to fade like smoke, appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi's need to know about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2011
ISBN: 978-1789091144
Publisher: Titan Books
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever―and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2020
ISBN: 978-0765387578
Publisher: Tor Books
Gallant

Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for Girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home; it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile, or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways.

Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant—but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.

Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2022
Ebook: B09689S4WN
Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Threads of Power

The Fragile Threads of Power

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 it 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.

These two royals from very different empires now face very similar struggles: how to keep their crowns—and their own heads.

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.

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2023
ISBN: 978-1803367392
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ExtraOrdinary

ExtraOrdinary

Set in the years between Vicious and Vengeful, ExtraOrdinary follows a teenage girl named Charlotte Tills who survives a bus crash and becomes EO – ExtraOrdinary – gaining the ability to see people’s deaths in reflective surfaces.

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2021
Ebook: B08VYJFNPX
Publisher: Titan Comics

Monsters of Verity

This Savage Song

There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from acclaimed author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music.

When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2016
ISBN: 978-0062983398
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Our Dark Duet

Kate Harker is a girl who isn’t afraid of the dark. She’s a girl who hunts monsters. And she’s good at it. August Flynn is a monster who can never be human. No matter how much he once yearned for it. He has a part to play. And he will play it, no matter the cost.

Nearly six months after Kate and August were first thrown together, the war between the monsters and the humans is a terrifying reality. In Verity, August has become the leader he never wished to be, and in Prosperity, Kate has become the ruthless hunter she knew she could be. When a new monster emerges from the shadows—one who feeds on chaos and brings out its victim’s inner demons—it lures Kate home, where she finds more than she bargained for. She’ll face a monster she thought she killed, a boy she thought she knew, and a demon all her own.

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2017
ISBN: 978-0062983404
Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Omnibus Books

The City of Ghosts Collection: Books 1-3

Three books. Three cities. One fearless heroine. And a host of ghosts you won't soon forget.

Ever since Cassidy Blake almost drowned (okay, she did drown, but she doesn't like to think about it), she can pull back the Veil that separates the living from the dead... and enter the world of spirits. Even her best friend, Jacob, is a ghost.

But Cass's life is about to get much stranger.

When her parents are tapped to host a show about the world's most haunted places, the family heads off to film around the world.

Book One takes them to Edinburgh, Scotland, where graveyards and castles teem with restless phantoms, one of whom has their sights set on capturing Cass. Can Cass, together with Jacob and a new friend who seems to share her gift, outsmart the Raven in Red?

In Book Two, Cass comes to Paris, where she discovers that the City of Light hides scary poltergeists in its dark underbelly. 

And Book Three brings Cass to New Orleans, where Cass and her friends will have to face off with a servant of Death itself.

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2021
Ebook: B09FG3KXZ5
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Shades of Magic

A Darker Shade of Magic

Kell is one of the last Antari―magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes―Red London―and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2015
ISBN: 978-0765376466
Publisher: Tor Books
A Gathering of Shadows

Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift, and into Black London.

In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games-an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries-a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again-and so to keep magic's balance, another London must fall..

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2016
ISBN: 978-0765376480
Publisher: Tor Books
A Conjuring of Light

As darkness sweeps the Maresh Empire, the once precarious balance of power among the four Londons has reached its breaking point.

In the wake of tragedy, Kell―once assumed to be the last surviving Antari―begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. Lila Bard, once a commonplace―but never common―thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry.

An ancient enemy returns to claim a city while a fallen hero tries to save a kingdom in decay. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery of the Night Spire collects his crew, attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible.

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2017
ISBN: 978-0765387479
Publisher: Tor Books

Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince

The Steel Prince

As V.E. Schwab says, "the comics are going to bridge the space between Shades of Magic and Threads of Power." Delve into the thrilling, epic tale of the young and arrogant prince Maxim Maresh, long before he became the king of Red London and adoptive father to Kell, the lead of A Darker Shade of Magic!

The youthful Maresh is sent to a violent and unmanageable port city on the Blood Coast of Verose, on strict orders from his father, King Nokil Maresh, to cut his military teeth in this lawless landscape.

There, he encounters an unruly band of soldiers, a lawless landscape, and the intoxicatingly deadly presence of the newly returned pirate queen, Arisa...

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2018
ISBN: 978-1785865879
Publisher: Titan Comics
Night of Knives

The young and arrogant prince Maxim Maresh, having faced the terror of the Pirate Queen, now aims to capture the respect of the combative port town of Verose - by taking the impossible challenges of the Night of Knives...and surviving, where none has survived before!

These are the hidden, secret adventures of Maxim, from long before he became the king of Red London and adoptive father to Kell, the lead of A Darker Shade of Magic!

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2019
ISBN: 978-1782762119
Publisher: Titan Comics
The Rebel Army

Once just a single ship, now the pirate fleet of the Rebel Army numbers in its thousands. Made up of traitors from each of the three empires, the fleet, who once made the open waters of the Blood Coast their home, have set their sights on establishing their own land based empire with London as their capital.

The Rebel Army is a battalion made up of traitors to each of the three empires, who've claimed the open waters of the Blood Coast as their territory. Led by a Faroan, a Veskan, and an Arnesian (Rowan, the Antari from the Night of Knives), the RA started as a rag-tag gang, a single ship, but in the last few months, they've gained momentum. Once content to claim the open water as their empire, they've grown in ambition, and scope, and now they're claiming ports, creeping toward a full-on land assault. Their goal? London. But first, they'll have to cross Verose, where Maxim, Isra, and the royal guard are waiting.

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2019
ISBN: 978-1787731158
Publisher: Titan Comics

Villains

Warm Up: A Prequel

It's been 297 days since David died--and came back. He may have survived the avalanche, but the aftermath has been far worse. His wife moved out, taking his son with her, and a devastated David hasn't left his house since, terrified of the mysterious new power that followed him home from the ill-fated expedition. After months in seclusion, David's ready for a fresh start, and ventures out, determined to keep his power in check.

But David's power isn't the one he needs to worry about.

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2013
Ebook: B00E70Z8Y2
Publisher: Tor Books
Vicious

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates―brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find―aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge―but who will be left alive at the end?

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2013
ISBN: 978-1250183507
Publisher: Tor Books
Vengeful

Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Victor Vale and Eli Ever.

Great partnerships―now soured on the vine.

But Marcella Riggins needs no one.

Flush from her brush with death, she’s gained the control she always sought―and will use her newfound power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She’ll do whatever it takes, from taking over the mob to collecting her own sidekicks, and even leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

With Marcella's rise, new enmities create surprising opportunity―and the stage of Merit will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.

Author: V. E. Schwab
First Release: 2018
ISBN: 978-0765387530
Publisher: Tor Books