Vol.1 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...
Vol. 2 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.
Vol. 3 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 Rebel Army 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 Versoe, where Maxim, Isra, and the royal guard are waiting.
REVIEW: These three graphic novels were an incredible prequel to the Darker Shades of Magic trilogy. I love getting to see King Maxim in another light and Isra too. Seeing him take control of the band of misfits that becomes his army is incredible. He never sees himself as better, only an equal. Arisa the pirate queen is an incredible character and would love to see a whole book about her. Then in volume two The Night of Knives, we see how powerful The Steel Prince really is. We see and meet a powerful threat. In volume three we see King Maxim lead a Rebel Army against a powerful Antari. This was so incredibly exciting, I devoured every word. The graphics are stunning, of course, and is that Holland we see at the end? I would love to see more from this world in the future.
Publication Date: March 2019-May 2020