The Fragile Threads of Power

Content Warning: This section of the guide briefly mentions violence, torture, and anti-gay bias.

The novel opens in White London, seven years before the main narrative. Kosika is a young girl who lives with her neglectful mother and makes a living as a thief, even though she is only seven years old. Her only friend is Lark, a young boy who also steals things. Kosika’s mother tries to sell her to a man who collects children who have magic. Kosika manages to escape and runs out of the city into the Silver Forest, a forbidden place. She sees the corpse of a wealthy man lying beneath a tree.

In Red London, Tesali makes a living repairing magical objects. She runs a shop called Haskin’s, where she pretends to be an apprentice because she is only 15. There is no real Haskin, though she occasionally hires an older man to appear in the shop and pretend to be him. Tes has a rare gift for seeing the threads of magic that run through things and being able to manipulate those threads. This helps her repair almost anything but also places her in danger because of the talent’s rarity.