A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians

core novel 2020 The Shadow Histories

Record

First published	2020
Original language	EN
Work type	novel
Canon status	core
Reader rating	3.74 (4,479 ratings, collected 2026-08-26)
First-edition ISBN	9780316459082

Synopsis

Set during the Age of Enlightenment, this alternate history imagines magic as a real force reshaping political events, with figures such as the necromancer Maximilien Robespierre calling for revolution in France, the weather mage Toussaint L'Ouverture leading Haiti's fight for freedom, and British Prime Minister William Pitt weighing whether to extend magical rights to commoners and abolish slavery in Britain's colonies. Alongside these historical figures, the story follows William Wilberforce, an abolitionist politician whose own magical gift threatens to expose him to political enemies, and his friend Pitt, as both navigate a Britain caught between revolutionary upheaval abroad and entrenched magical inequality at home. As France's revolution spirals and dark magic spreads, the characters' political and personal choices begin to determine the shape of the new magical order taking hold across Europe.

Where it sits

• Universe: The Shadow Histories
• Series: The Shadow Histories core; position 1 of 2 in the series' recorded order
• Author: H.G. Parry

Notes

• From the series record (The Shadow Histories): A completed duology.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.

• Publication order, within the series The Shadow Histories: position 1 of 2: next A Radical Act of Free Magic (2021)

Sources

• The Shadow Histories publisher series page (Hachette)
• https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/a-declaration-of-the-rights-of-magicians-the-shadow-histories-1/

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