Robespierre meant to change the world, and he did with his death. The Concord has been broken and magic is once again unleashed on the battlefields of Europe. Commoners are now allowed to wield their powers, so long as it is in the service of England. In France they have a new savior, a young Corsican, Napoleon Bonaparte. He relies on men of flesh and blood and his animal magnetism instead of reanimated corpses, but like Robespierre before him he has a secret benefactor, enhancing his mesmeric abilities. Unlike Robespierre, he knows that when the time comes he will not be a victim. His benefactor will never see him on a scaffold. The day they break will be the greatest battle of Napoleon's life, but until that time they will tentatively work together. The British pride themselves on their navy, therefore that will be their first strike. Napoleon summons a kraken from the deep. They haven't been seen in hundreds of years but they reduce ships to kindling in an instant and send fear through the British fleet. Though this isn't the only magical creature that the French plan to utilize. Napoleon has always dreamed of Egypt, whether this was planted there by his benefactor or not makes no difference, because either way that's how he gets a dragon. Another creature out of the depths of time to decimate their enemies. And their enemies are at a loss. Because while Napoleon is gobbling up Europe Pitt knows that the real enemy is in the shadows. Pitt's health is failing, much as he views he is failing the British people. As his friend Wilberforce acknowledges; "This conflict has become less and less a war between nations and more and more a war between two vampire kings." The enemy is in their dreams and in the heads of British politicians. He is steering the government away from abolition. But the question remains why. Why put so much effort into something unless it's somehow more important than krakens and dragons? The trade in human souls seems to matter to this vampire and Pitt realizes that for too long he's been letting the enemy dictate the battlefield. Therefore he does what must be done. All vampire wars end in a duel. Let that duel be now.

A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians had one major stumbling block and that was Robespierre. I didn't realize how big this stumbling block was until it was removed. His death has freed the narrative as well as broken The Concord. Some of the underlining problems of Robespierre still crop up from time to time, in that H.G. Parry seems to want to absolve villains for their acts of villainy claiming they're "driven to it by circumstances." Yeah. Sure. Sometimes evil is evil even if you are seduced by it or like Wilberforce have some great need to forgive. In other words, I think H.G. Parry is pro Darkling. But moving beyond Robespierre is the best thing this series could have done because it brought us Napoleon. Now aside from the Darkling, I am not a fan of despots, but Napoleon is so fascinating. Right off the mark I fell for this version of Napoleon because he knew that he could take on a vampire and win. He didn't know it was a vampire, but he still knew he could win. He exudes a confidence. No more sniveling and begging that was exhibited again and again with Robespierre. Here we have confidence, here we have animal magnetism. I have always been drawn to the Regency period, which means one has to acquaint oneself with Napoleon. It's a given. That and the fact I had relatives who were his allies, but that's another story. There are so many "versions" of Napoleon out there, in fact I just recently watched the fascinating miniseries Napoleon and Love from 1974 where Ian Holm played Napoleon for the first time, he would reprise the role two more times in Time Bandits and The Emperor's New Clothes. So while I might always see Napoleon as Ian Holm there's one thing that all these portrayals have in common and that's this animal magnetism. You are drawn to Napoleon and I adored the fact that H.G. Parry used this commonly held belief about him to have him summon a kraken. It was just too too perfect. And that kraken, well, when it dies, that is when you get to the heart of what H.G. Parry is capable of. Time and time again she writes about grief and loss and death and each time she destroyed me. I was a sobbing wreck. "The force of that bewilderment broke her heart; somewhere distant, her own eyes filled with tears. It didn't understand." I am broken. In the best possible way.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book. Unfortunately, I was motivated to read this long after it was released and only after reading and enjoying The Magician's Daughter. However, at the time of starting this and requesting it, I was not aware that this book was NOT the first in the series. I've also discovered recently that I am not the biggest fan of historical settings and events in my fantasy books. Due to this fact, I will not be continuing this book or starting over in the series. Because I did enjoy other woks by this author, I am interested in picking up other books in the future.

A book including magic, vampires, the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, a kraken and a dragon should have been more exciting than this. The story skips around among members of the British government (one of whom, William Pitt, is a vampire fighting his urges), Napoleon Bonaparte (under the sway of another vampire), the slave uprising in Haiti and a pair of magical commoners in England.

These characters talk nearly all the time. When they aren’t conversing, they are debating. I knew what to expect after reading the first book in this duology, but I wanted to know how the story turned out, so I read this book even though I wasn’t really looking forward to it. The story should have been told in a single book, but I think the author was being paid by the word. The second book just treads the same ground as the first and it as very repetitive. If I had to read one more time how pale and tired William Pitt looked I would have screamed. The conflicts with the kraken and dragon manage to be extremely anticlimactic. <spoiler>They are just talked into going home. </spoiler>

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

A Radical Act of Free Magic is an immersive and beautifully rendered alternate history fantasy and the second volume of The Shadow Histories by H.G. Parry. Released 20th July 2021 by Hatchette on their Redhook imprint, it's 528 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

I love well written alternate history speculative fiction, and this is a good one. The characters are three dimensional and believable, the background settings are immersive and complete, and the dialogue is a joy. The Napoleonic wars time period is a personal favorite and the magical aspects, dark blood magic, magical beasts, and campaigns, are so well intertwined around a framework of real history that it's not always clear where one begins and the other ends.

Pitt's relationship with Wilberforce is a centrepiece of the novel and the author manages to convey the complexity and subtlety of their friendship without bogging the reader down in minutiae. There will be inevitable comparisons to Naomi Novik's Temeraire books, and whilst they're very different in both scope and content, I think there will be a large overlap in the readership and I would recommend this series to the fan of Novik's excellent novels. This is the second book in the series and although this book can be understood without any background, I believe it would work best read in order.

This would make a nice series for fans of historical fantasy, alternate history worlds, political history, and fans of the Napoleonic era. I was blown away by the depth of verisimilitude and world building.

Four and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Sequel to "A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians".

A continuation of the slow burn of well written historical fantasy. A conclusion well worth the read, and one that will emotionally take you for a RIDE. I did not think I would enjoy this as much as I did, but if you enjoyed the first book in this series I would highly recommend you finish the series out with the sequel.

I can't wait to read whatever story H. G. Parry publishes next.

I tried several times to get into this book, but I don't think it's the right time. Setting as DNF/3 stars for now, will update this if I read it later. Thank you Orbit for a copy of this book in exchange for honest thoughts!

This book is everything that a Historical Fantasy should be. And more.

HG Parry’s sweeping, epic conclusion to one of the genre’s best duologies was exceptional.

This series was an incredibly ambitious undertaking, and Parry wove her fantastical world so seamlessly into the real world history of the era that you almost want to ask yourself while reading: IS this what really happened?

The world building (both in terms of historical atmosphere and fantastical creativity) was outstanding, but it’s the character-driven nature of the story that really made this series so immersive and wonderful.

The way that Parry brought together the characters from the three separate geographic locations in the first novel was perfectly done and felt natural instead of forced, a common issue with these types of plots.

Pitt and Wilberorce’s friendship is the duology’s single greatest component, and I loved that Fina eventually becomes a partner to them as well.

Lengthy though these two books were, I found myself very sad when I reached the conclusion and wished to spend more time in this world.

** spoiler alert ** My thanks to NetGalley.com for an advanced reading copy of Parry's book. I am so happy to say that this book is exponentially better than the first book in the duology. Parry managed to capture so much more the awe and grandeur possible in magic, as well as the strength of will of her characters. As I said in my review of Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, the first novel sufferes from extensive exposition. Since the novels both imagine the events of the late eighteenth century and earliest twentieth century, they rely on historical texts for their background, and too much of the expository tone of history books seeped into the first book. This second novel is much more character-driven, and no character is more compellingly drawn than Fina, a woman who escapes slavery in Jamaica and fights alongside the heroes of the Battle of Trafalgar.

Ut she is not the only compelling character. Napoleon's will-to-power motivates the action of the first 2/3 of the novel. He is thoroughly charming, and even though representes as a magician, it is his courage ans skill at battlefield strategy that still come through. This novel is a beautiful synthesis of novels like Horatio Hornblower and Shadow and Bones.

A Radical Act of Free Magic is the second book in the Shadows History Duology. Where book one, A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, was mostly slow-paced with a focus on the dialog between the different political parties, book two picked up in pace and added a more prevalent supernatural element to it.

The Shadow Histories Duology is a retelling of the French Revolution and the Haiti slave uprising. But with a magical twist to it. I'm no expert of that time, but from what I've researched, H.G. Parry's book is very closely aligned with the actual happening (besides the magic part, of course), including most (if not all) of the characters. The story continues where book one left off but picks up the pace and goes into more detail about the uprising in Haiti and the war in Europe. We see more battle scenes, although it's pretty light compared to other Fantasy books I've read. We get to know more about the characters, see how their motivations enfold when confronted with dire situations, and still see tremendous character growth.

What truly got me excited about this book is how H.G. Parry wrote the dialog between all the different parties, how she explained the history using mainly political dialog, the banter between friends, etc. In addition, she was able to capture the fear of war and slavery in a very captivating way. There is one scene in the second half where a mage reads the thoughts and feelings of an enemy and it brought me to tears.

Besides a fantastic glimpse into the history of Europe and more detail about one of the first slave uprisings and the abolition of slavery in Britain, H.G. Parry was able to weave in magic and supernatural elements as if they have always been there. It felt so natural.

An absolutely stunning end of the duology. I truly hope H.G. Parry will write more books based on historical events.

A Radical Act of Free Magic is the second novel in H.G. Parry's The Shadow Histories, an alternate historical fantasy like I've never seen before. I confess that I got so excited by this one that I didn't stop reading the first novel in the series first (bad me, I know), but I still really enjoyed everything I found within these pages.

Napoleon Bonaparte is a dangerous and brilliant battle-mage, and he's commanding an Army of the Dead as part of his plans for domination. He's taken down most of Europe, and yet some still resist. There will always be those that resist.

Yet the war against Napoleon is masking a hidden war, one that is infinitely more dangerous and should never risk being left unchecked.

"Are you smiling?"
"It's a serious frown, but I put it on backward."
"Well, straighten it."

Wow. What? Vampires and Napoleon in the same book? This is something that I never knew I needed, but now I'm not sure how I lived my whole life without it. A Radical Act of Free Magic is an intense and brilliantly unique novel; I can't believe more people aren't talking about it!

I know that to some, the concept might sound a bit...out there, but trust me – H.G. Parry is rocking it, bringing this alternate historical world to life in ways that I would never have even dreamed of.

It's more than enough to keep readers interested from start to finish; I can tell you that much. Better yet, this series is surprisingly approachable for new readers. I didn't read the first book in this series, A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians (I know, shame on me), but I didn't struggle at all. In fact, I was quickly sucked into the world.

I'm obviously going to go back and read the first novel at my earliest convenience because this series is worth a deep dive into!

Another amazing book in this series. The dialogue, the character development, and the imaginative historical fiction is amazing. This book is long but never lulls. It also has very strong female characters that serve important roles in the history making. Parry’s work is creative and dynamic and you really connect and root for her historical interpretation of the characters.

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. I found myself enjoying A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians - however, I wasn't sure I would love the series as much as I do now. A Radical Act of Free Magic is truly a masterclass in storytelling and taking your time to set up a plot, characters, and war.

This book had Napoleon battling a vampire, wielding a Kraken and a dragon against the British and I got to see Fina and a new female POV take down both monsters. It was exceptional, I loved this novel, I am obsessed I will probably reread these once I can get my hands on a physical copy as well.

I listened to the audio for this series while reading the e-ARC and I think that really helped me. I love Wilberforce, Pitt, Fina, Kate, and all the others who exist within this world.

H.G. Parry draws her sprawling historical fantasy to an abrupt close in A Radical Act of Free Magic. The first half of the duology, A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, created a world of suppressed magic that erupted into the French and Haitian Revolutions. Now we see a magically boosted Napoleon attempting to steamroll across Europe. With a kraken. And a dragon.

Where A Declaration had plots running in tandem, connected by a character it would be a spoiler to talk too much about, the plots coalesce geographically in A Radical Act. Fina makes the long journey from Haiti to Great Britain so that most of the action takes place in London or William Pitt’s various residences. There are some amazing set pieces in Egypt and Trafalgar that people who know Regency history will know the significance of. (Sadly, there isn’t one for Waterloo.)

The battles liven up an awful lot of dialogue about what kind of world the various characters want to create. William Wilberforce and Fina cross verbal swords with Pitt about abolition, who keeps putting it off to focus on fighting a war and maintaining power against idiots who would muck it all up. Meanwhile, Napoleon and his (supposed) magical ally are sparring over who will eventually rule over continental Europe. Will there ever be meaningful progress? Or will Fina and Wilberforce have to grudgingly content themselves with gradualism? Will their enemies win and push Great Britain and Europe back into the dark ages? How on earth will our heroes defeat that dragon?

A Declaration gave me high hopes for this duology. I love a solid historical fantasy that blends magic with actual historical events. A Radical Act of Free Magic, however, felt more like a middle book than the second half of a two-book series. Characters are shuffled around so that they’ll be in place for showdowns or whatever the plot cooks up for them. Plans are discussed. Philosophies are delved into. It happens at a fairly leisurely pace that made me think that there was going to be another book after this one for a great big resolution. Also, who brings Napoleon into a book and doesn’t include the Battle of Waterloo? I had fun during parts of this book, but the rushed ending killed a lot of my enjoyment of this book.

While I wasn't a fan of the first book, I think this sequel builds on the good foundation of said first book. This further develops plotlines in this alternate universe and is intriguing enough for me to read through. I think fans of the first book will love this while those, like me, who are hesitant should take a chance.

When I read the first Shadow Histories book last year, I instantly fell in love with Parry’s writing, so much so that even though I wasn’t very familiar with the history of the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, or Britain’s abolitionist movement, the book captivated me all the same. As for A Radical Act of Free Magic, while I didn’t quite love it as much as its predecessor, this book was still one of the best works of historical fantasy I’ve ever come across.

I’ve tried my best to keep this review spoiler-free, but if you haven’t read the first book yet and do plan to read it, it’d probably be best if you refrained from reading my review!

In A Radical Act of Free Magic, Parry once again brilliantly blends together intense political intrigue with magic. The narrative constantly jumps between England and France and Saint-Domingue and Egypt, and the switches are seamless every time. In my review of A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, I mentioned how we didn’t get to see all the different kinds of magic in action much. But in this book we do witness some magical battles, and they were as stunning as I’d hoped they’d be! The final conflict with the French vampire king came about in a very unexpected fashion, even though I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Instead of being action-packed like one would expect a final battle to be, it was laden with emotion, and it struck a chord with me. I’ll admit that even though I was aware of how it all ends, I cried anyway.

Most of the characters in A Radical Act of Free Magic are ones we have already met in A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, aside from a few like Napoleon Bonaparte, the commoner weather mage Kate Dove- one of the first women to join the navy, and Lady Hester Stanhope. Wilberforce and Pitt retained their positions as two of the three major POV characters in A Radical Act of Free Magic. In book one, we saw them as extreme idealists, as were most of the other cast members. All of them with their black and white notions of good and evil, and all of them justifying their actions and believing them to be for the greater good, all the while still working against each other. With book two, however, Parry unflinchingly portrays the limits of idealism. As a few years have passed by, the characters are now more mature, and they are finally recognizing what they did wrong. I especially liked that Parry didn’t try to change characters like Pitt in any way to make them seem more agreeable to her readers; in fact, one of my favourite scenes would be the part where Fina confronts Pitt and holds him accountable for how Britain has treated her people, and even though Pitt does acknowledge the role he played in her people’s torment and shoulders the blame, Fina makes it clear that he doesn’t deserve their forgiveness.

Speaking of Pitt and Wilberforce, the relationship between the two remains my favourite thing about this duology, and it’s definitely one of the best written platonic relationships I’ve read. As they went through a lot of personal development in the time between the events of books one and two, their friendship changed a lot, which was equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming. Even though he was somewhat eclipsed by Pitt in book one, Wilberforce really shines in A Radical Act of Free Magic. The way Parry writes Wilberforce with his heart on his sleeve and his endearing, slightly baffled but delighted demeanour, it’s all too easy to fall in love with him, which I did.

As for the other significant members of the cast, personally I didn’t feel Napoleon as a character was as impactful in the story as I’d hoped he’d be, and he was majorly overshadowed by the vampire king, who also was sort of underwhelming. However, one of my primary issues with book one was the fact that Fina, despite being a POV character, didn’t really stand out. This time though, I loved how Parry handled Fina’s arc. Hester became another favourite of mine, and I absolutely adored her and Fina’s friendship!

To sum it up, despite some small objections, A Radical Act of Free Magic is still the best finale to the Shadow Histories duology I could ask for. If you’re a history nerd and politics-heavy fantasy books appeal to you, you should definitely check this series out! And if you’re a fantasy fan but aren’t so sure about the historical part, I’ll leave you with this: this book has a dragon.

This is a nice follow-up to the first book in the series, though it does also suffer some of the same faults. Fina is better-used in this book, as her story intertwines more thoroughly with the rest, but the female characters still fall a little flat in comparison to Wilberforce and Pitt. The introduction of a new female POV, Catherine Dove, is under-used (as is, and it's hard to believe I'm saying this, the dragon introduced partway through the plot), and Hester Stanhope, though a thoroughly fascinating figure both in real life and in this fictional portrayal, never gets to be a POV (though I hold out hope for another book perhaps documenting her adventures!). It really does often feel like Parry mostly wanted to write conversations between Wilberforce and Pitt, but had to be reminded to include other perspectives. Those conversations, though, absolutely sparkle! Their friendship is beautiful to behold, as they are simultaneously witty and utterly comfortable with each other.

What a great sequel! I loved every moment of this book. The characters were fleshed out, the plot was beautifully crafted, and I adored the interweaving of history and magic,

"He didn't create war-and he certainly didn't create slavery. He's only a man. And when he's gone, there will be plenty of men left to fight."

I wasn't sure I was going to rate this any higher than the first book in the series until I got about halfway through. As soon as Fina reaches England and the three protagonists of the series finally had the chance to interact with each other in person, the story felt much more whole and engaging. One of the main criticisms I saw from the prequel was that it mainly consisted of people sitting around and talking about things happening elsewhere, and, while I personally enjoy that kind of narration, I could see why others might find it boring. That is absolutely not the case with the second installment. The conflicts introduced and meticulously set up in the first novel are brought to a head, and the plot moves along at breakneck speed.

Parry is able to give enough attention to the plot to ensure all of the different story lines and lore make sense, while still being able to fully flesh out her characters and their relationships. I loved Wilberforce in A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, but I somehow grew to like him even more here. He provides such a pleasant haven from the at times overwhelming feeling of dread that seeps through the rest of the story. Additionally, I really enjoyed seeing Fina interact with him and Pitt, seeing the efforts of an abolitionist and a prime minister through the eyes of someone enslaved by their country and actively fighting in a violent rebellion. The relationship between freed slave and two white men, even though these particular men fought against slavery, is so complex and I don't think it could have been represented as well without all three of them interacting in person. Moreover, it would have been easy to bend the narrative to redeem the two Williams and free them of all blame simply because of their past efforts, but I though Parry did a fantastic job really fleshing out the dynamic between Fina, Wilberforce, and Pitt. I think it is pretty well summarized in this quote, from when they are discussing the influence of the Stranger on the slaves in Jamaica:

"He can make them obey and believe they want to."
"How? They're not his to control."
"No," she agreed bitterly. "They're yours."

Beautifully written, Parry takes the world she introduced so meticulously in the first book and delivers a phenomenal ending to the series. I was amazed by the prose, intrigued by the lore, and absolutely demolished emotionally by the ending.

H.G. Parry’s magical sequel, A Radical Act of Free Magic, is the conclusion of the Shadow Histories, which started with A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians. The two together form a sweeping, sprawling, magic-infused political epic that relates one of the more dramatic segments of history, revolutions in France, wars with England, the fight for abolition of the slave trade, and the Haitian Revolution, through a fantastical lens. This is a world where magic is restricted to aristocrats’ use, where enslaved people are bound as much by spells as by chains, where society is turned upside down and revolutions fought both because of and through the use of magic. Also Napoleon has a kraken. I mean, come ON. Who doesn't want to read that??

For fans of Declaration, you’ll be pleased to know A Radical Act feels just like stepping right back into the story, with a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. For those who haven’t read it yet, you’re in for a treat!

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for the advance review copy!

Did somebody say magic? I absolutely adore dark academia novels along with novels that touch on magical realism and a dysfunctional world and A Radical Act of Free Magic checks all of those boxes!

An absolutely fabulous read!