Shaw’s Vestiges of Magic universe follows Vex, a college student whose life is shattered by a brutal attack that kills her boyfriend. On the edge of death, she accepts a demon’s offer of power in exchange for lifelong service, then sets out to hunt down those responsible. Her search pulls her into cults, monster hunters, and supernatural power struggles, while also forcing her to rethink who her boyfriend really was. The setup leans hard into revenge tragedy, filtered through urban fantasy and supernatural noir.

What makes the book interesting is how quickly it gives Vex power and asks her to live with the consequences. There’s no slow fantasy training arc. Just grief, rage, and an immediate moral mess. The demon bargain works as both plot engine and theme, raising questions about consent, exploitation, and what it costs to turn trauma into fuel. Vex’s changing relationship to her own body and violence keeps the story grounded, and the action-heavy approach suggests Shaw is more interested in sharp confrontations than long philosophical pauses.