Shades of Magic

I'm Brian Larson of At Brian Reads, and today's episode is so special.

My guest today is V.E. Schwab, the number one New York Times bestselling author of 28 books, including The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Fabulously Queer, Bury Your Bones in the Midnight Soil, The Shades of Magic Universe, and of course, the Villain series.

And today we're talking about something readers have waited a very long time for, including myself.

Vicious arrived in 2013, Vengeful arrived in 2018, and now 13 years after we first met Victor Vail and Eli Ever, and eight years after that extraordinary Vengeful ending, VE is back with the third and final installment, Victorious.

But the readers who come with me and let me try new things are the greatest gift of my career.

But I also have readers who have one fandom.

They're like, I'm here for shades of magic and threads of power.

Please do not bother me with anything else.

Also, don't forget to rate and review the podcast on your favorite podcast app and subscribe to the FanFi Addict YouTube channel, where this and every other episode of the show is available in full video.

And now welcoming back to the show V.E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, the Shades of Magic trilogy, and so many more, including her brand-new novel, Victorious.

Uh, great to have you back with us.

How are you doing?

It really depends on the book.

Like, in the "Villains" books, no.

In "Shades of Magic," yes, because, like, those books are about power on a societal level.

Those are books in which p- magic is the norm, and therefore, like, it has s- huge societal implications.

... had been aborted three book- or two books into three, and so I, I didn't, and so it just ended on a cliffhanger, and I never wanted to have my readers go through that experience unintentionally again.

Obviously, "Gathering of Shadows" would end on a, a brutal cliffhanger for the "Shades of Magic" trilogy.

But for me, it was really important that "Vicious," "Vengeful," and "Victorious," that they, at least the first two, could stand by themselves.

So people often think that I just like, I was like, came back around and I was like, "Wow, those book sales sure were nice.

So you knew that was a trilogy, like, and you were like, "Pedal to the metal, let's write these."

Yeah.

Um, I'm not sure if I knew that "Shades of Magic" was a tril- I'm not sure I ever am entirely convinced that a, a series is a series until I write the first book, because even-

Okay

And don't forget to rate and review the podcast on your favorite podcast app and subscribe to the FanFastic YouTube channel, where this and every other episode of the show is available in full video.

And now welcoming to SFF Addicts for the first time, the brilliant V.E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Bury Your Bones In The Midnight Soil, the Shades of Magic trilogy, and so much more, including her newest release, Victorious, the final book in the Villains trilogy.

Welcome to the show, Victoria.

How are you today?

Exactly

... oh, God.

And it's, like, where I live now, like, now, like, most of my fantasy books, you know, Shades of Magic is a departure from our world into a second world, but most of my fantasy these days is like, no, it's right here.

It's an art of noticing issue, not, not an art of existing issue.