A Radical Act of Free Magic
core novel 2021 The Shadow Histories
Record
| First published | 2021 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.33 (1,676 ratings, collected 2026-08-26) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780356514710 |
Synopsis
A Radical Act of Free Magic, concluding the Shadow Histories duology, finds Napoleon Bonaparte, having seized power in France, commanding an army of the reanimated dead and conquering much of Europe through magic as much as force of arms. In Britain, William Wilberforce continues pressing for free magic and the abolition of slavery against fierce government resistance, while in Saint-Domingue, the healer Fina supports Toussaint Louverture's fight to liberate the country from colonial rule amid these wider conflicts. Beneath the surface of the Napoleonic Wars lies a darker, largely unseen struggle: the first vampire war in centuries, secretly set in motion by a blood magician who orchestrated Robespierre's downfall and now seeks to exploit the chaos of revolution to restore dark magic to the world, a threat only a handful of people fully understand.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Shadow Histories
- Series: The Shadow Histories core; position 2 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 2 of 2: previous A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians (2020)
Sources
- The Shadow Histories publisher series page (Hachette)
- https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/h-g-parry/a-radical-act-of-free-magic/9780316459112/
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