Frank Carlson Library

Decades after the worlds have come apart, Red London is peaceful and thriving under the Maresh Empire. Believing that one day the magic separating the different worlds would come undone, Prince Maxim is searching the land for powerful magicians who can travel between those realms. Frustrated by his son's negligence of their own kingdom, King Nokil banishes Maxim to Verose, also known as the Blood Coast, to redirect his focus. Upon his arrival, Maxim...

Hot-headed, arrogant, and untested, Maxim found himself in Verose, better known as the Blood Coast, and up to his neck in trouble. Determined to make a name for himself and assert the power of the crown in this insalubrious backwater, he fell in with the local garrison, and was taken under the wing of Isra, an experienced if battle weary soldier. Skilled in the illegal art of bone magic, Arisa rules the Verose with a violent fist. Isra is both her...

Three months ago, following his defeat at the hands of Prince Maxim Maresh, Rowan - the powerful Antari magician and mastermind behind the Night of Knives tournament - forcibly took control of a rag-tag pirate fleet known as the Rebel Army. Quickly he transformed it into a formidable and ruthless military machine and began attacking the settlements along the Blood Coast. Each town he landed at was offered a simple choice - join the Rebel Army or face...

Dive into the history of Maxim Maresh, the stern king and adoptive father of Kell from the Shades of Magic trilogy, from the pen of New York Times #1 bestselling author V.E. Schwab herself! Two hundred years have passed since the Worlds were magically sealed off from one another. Red London, the capital of Arnes, thrives under the rule of the Maresh Empire. But when King Nokil Maresh learns that his son, Prince Maxim, is fixated on other Londons...

Having vanquished the Pirate Queen, Prince Maxim Maresh has now been tasked with commanding the Verose military barracks. However, the young, headstrong prince finds it hard to be accepted by the regular soldiers billeted there who see him as nothing more than a spoiled royal playing at being a soldier, and he yearns to earn their respect and be judged for his skills as a warrior and leader and not because of the privilege of his royal title.

Through Isra's guidance, Prince Maxim Maresh has entered the Night of Knives, a mysterious magical tournament, to prove his mettle and win the respect of his soldiers. Under the gaze of the Verose garrison and its population, Maxim had successfully survived the first challenge – a blizzard of magical shards when, while walking along a tightrope of magic steel rope, he was struck by a deadly bolt and sent plunging into the abyss…

Following the defeat of the pirate queen Arisa, Prince Maxim Maresh has ignored his father's invitation to return home to London in order to prove to himself and the garrison at Verose that he is far more than just another spoilt prince. When Maxim learns of an annual magical tournament called the Night of Knives, a series of four trials of magic which prove bravery, honor and courage, he is determined to enter and win. Open to anyone, be they soldier,...

In the months following his defeat and unmasking by Prince Maxim Maresh at the climax of the Night of Knives Tournament, Rowan, its architect and Antari magician, has forcefully taken command of a ragtag pirate fleet known as the Rebel Army. Through a campaign of pillaging and conscription of Arnes coastal towns, Rowan has grown the Rebel Army into a force powerful enough to usurp a prince and destroy an empire. Now, all that stands between the...