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The Shards of Magic #3
Warrior of the Shards
Not yet published
Expected 8 Dec 26From USA Today bestselling author Sarah Hawley comes the stunning conclusion to her darkly enchanting Shards of Magic series following Servant of Earth and Princess of Blood.
Princess Kenna of Blood House has decided who to support as the next ruler of Mistei, but one wrong move shatters the fragile truce of the Accord and plunges the kingdom into civil war. In the chaos, hundreds of faeries lie dead, and Kenna and the two rebel princes are captured.
With all other potential rulers imprisoned, two faeries crueler and more ambitious than even the late tyrant king claim the throne. Kenna is sure if they don’t kill her first, her guilt will. Her misstep could have lost the war.
But Kenna will never give up, no matter what horrors the enemy inflicts on her. Not when her house is looking to her for a brighter future. Not when she has finally found someone who loves her just as fiercely as she loves him. Yet with every blow she is dealt, the limits of how far she is willing to go to win the war get pushed further and further. In striving to transform Mistei for the better, Kenna risks losing her greatest strength—her humanity.
Princess Kenna of Blood House has decided who to support as the next ruler of Mistei, but one wrong move shatters the fragile truce of the Accord and plunges the kingdom into civil war. In the chaos, hundreds of faeries lie dead, and Kenna and the two rebel princes are captured.
With all other potential rulers imprisoned, two faeries crueler and more ambitious than even the late tyrant king claim the throne. Kenna is sure if they don’t kill her first, her guilt will. Her misstep could have lost the war.
But Kenna will never give up, no matter what horrors the enemy inflicts on her. Not when her house is looking to her for a brighter future. Not when she has finally found someone who loves her just as fiercely as she loves him. Yet with every blow she is dealt, the limits of how far she is willing to go to win the war get pushed further and further. In striving to transform Mistei for the better, Kenna risks losing her greatest strength—her humanity.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication December 8, 2026
About the author
Sarah Hawley
7 books2,785 followersSarah Hawley is the USA Today bestselling author of Servant of Earth and the Glimmer Falls series. She has an MA in archaeology and has excavated at an Inca site in Chile, a Bronze Age palace in Turkey, and a medieval abbey in England. When not dreaming up whimsical love stories, she can be found reading, dancing, or cuddling her two cats.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
tbreleased
February 6, 2026Sorry Sarah, December is too far. How’s tomorrow instead? 🥹
remind-me-once-out
May 10, 2026Am I just now reading book 1? Yes
Am I only halfway atm? Yes
Am I still going to be on the lookout for this one? Yes
Am I only halfway atm? Yes
Am I still going to be on the lookout for this one? Yes
Read
April 6, 2026THE SHARDS OF MAGIC series has everything I look for in my fantasy romance: a stabby, kick-ass heroine; a centuries-old turbo-virgin shadow daddy --and of course, that sweet, sweet, heavily-implied off-the-page angsturbation. Every book in this series leaves me in tears (because I want to go to Mistei; because I NEVER want to go to Mistei; and because above all, I'm worried as hell for the GOAT, that talking goat). Sarah Hawley is a literary master at the top of her game.
Want to Read
February 28, 2026I can't kill myself yet, I have to wait till this book comes out
tbr
February 6, 2026NEED
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Now I am done and this series is a fucking joke.
I have nothing better to do than be a hater, so let's just hope this review makes sense. Tl;dr version is that this entire series paints Kenna as a Mary Sue and, basically, double her pain and give it to the next person. There is very little I found likeable in this trilogy as a whole, and I could not be more disappointed.
I read all three books within the span of the week, so I suppose the only redeemable thing is that they're engaging enough to want to get through.
But now everything else. My first gripe is moreso just a me issue, and it being that this never felt like a fae series. I realise its fictional but these so supposed cruel fae have never read like that. One could argue its a more unique take on them—and sure, that could be the case. In my head, unfortunately, I went in expecting something much different from the side characters and its affected how I view the rest of the series.
Which brings me to my second issue, the fae themselves. None of them have had a reason to trust Kenna or even give her the time of day, yet since book 1, she's been treated differently from the getgo. Scenes with Osric depict how cruel they can be, yet nearly outside of him has been bland almost, and trusting of Kenna despite having no reason to be. Everyone treated her just fine despite being a human. Even after the events of book 2, ONLY the very obvious villains only looked down on her, and that just??? It makes no sense. How do you treat every other human like actual garbage but for whatever reason, Kenna is this miraculous exception to every rule?
And again, outside of the very obvious villains, none of the other fae acted how cruel and dangerous and unhinged as they supposedly are. Suddenly everyone is righteous and good instead of hedonistic and entertained by cruelty—of course, not the ones Kenna and her allies are against! Only those Light and Illusion faeries could find torture entertaining, the rest are just too good for that type of thing, aren't they?
Make it make sense. I'm struggling so hard to understand this. Yet, time and time again its proven to be the case. I'd understand if one or two fae can go against the prejudices you would expect a human to experience, but Hawley has depicted only specific houses as the villains from the very start instead of a nuanced and layered world these fae live in.
There also felt like a distinct lack of conflict in the series. As in, things were just tied up and fixed way too easily. I'm not talking about the general war that has been building since book 1, but for Kenna herself. Almost everything worked out for her and her problems are all conveniently fixed without any lasting issues.
Like being blackmailed by Kallen, being sent to die, her best friend not making it through the bog. Her gaining support in Princess of Blood, gaining more allies, just suddenly being an actual princess with magic at all, actually. This installment has even more, and it infuriates me to no fucking end. Conflict is necessary to further a character and their arc, and the lack of any significant consequences here (again, outside of the overall series plot! I am not overlooking her guilt for "starting" the war!), Kenna's character felt bland, stagnant, and incredibly hard to endure.
Because if everything just works out for her, what is the point?
She also becomes so goddamn self righteous and idealistic, it was INFURIATING. There was very little nuance to Kenna! Literally every other side character was 2000% more interesting, and personally, this series would have been better if it was told through Lara's lens—a character who actually HAD active growth throughout the series—rather than Kenna, who was basically just handed all this power and magic. Kenna's ideals made her seem like this holier than thou character, and almost like the "white savior" trope to the fae. This supposed half-feral human who is just so good and so different from how fae think can only be the change they need! Obviously not the ones that have been around for centuries and actually know fae history and culture.
Had my best friend not pointed that out to me, I wouldn't have had it click why Kenna bothered me so much. (Girl, I'm so sorry you suffered with me, but at least we did it together, Danielle 😭) Her importance was just so overly exaggerated and hard to swallow because it makes! No! Sense!
Also, poor Lara. She went through so much, and while her growth was admirable, her losses were awful. Every bad thing that happened to Kenna was indeed doubled and passed onto Lara.
The romance was predictable and the smut made no sense in this book. Kallen's character did a whole 180 and anything interesting about him eas reduced to being the sudden love of Kenna's life. Its also hard to care about that when there's such a dangerous war looming.
Overall, fuck this series. Ty to Danielle for buddy reading this mess with me, it would not have been the same without u. Please consider this my official and public apology 🥲
I have nothing better to do than be a hater, so let's just hope this review makes sense. Tl;dr version is that this entire series paints Kenna as a Mary Sue and, basically, double her pain and give it to the next person. There is very little I found likeable in this trilogy as a whole, and I could not be more disappointed.
I read all three books within the span of the week, so I suppose the only redeemable thing is that they're engaging enough to want to get through.
But now everything else. My first gripe is moreso just a me issue, and it being that this never felt like a fae series. I realise its fictional but these so supposed cruel fae have never read like that. One could argue its a more unique take on them—and sure, that could be the case. In my head, unfortunately, I went in expecting something much different from the side characters and its affected how I view the rest of the series.
Which brings me to my second issue, the fae themselves. None of them have had a reason to trust Kenna or even give her the time of day, yet since book 1, she's been treated differently from the getgo. Scenes with Osric depict how cruel they can be, yet nearly outside of him has been bland almost, and trusting of Kenna despite having no reason to be. Everyone treated her just fine despite being a human. Even after the events of book 2, ONLY the very obvious villains only looked down on her, and that just??? It makes no sense. How do you treat every other human like actual garbage but for whatever reason, Kenna is this miraculous exception to every rule?
And again, outside of the very obvious villains, none of the other fae acted how cruel and dangerous and unhinged as they supposedly are. Suddenly everyone is righteous and good instead of hedonistic and entertained by cruelty—of course, not the ones Kenna and her allies are against! Only those Light and Illusion faeries could find torture entertaining, the rest are just too good for that type of thing, aren't they?
Make it make sense. I'm struggling so hard to understand this. Yet, time and time again its proven to be the case. I'd understand if one or two fae can go against the prejudices you would expect a human to experience, but Hawley has depicted only specific houses as the villains from the very start instead of a nuanced and layered world these fae live in.
There also felt like a distinct lack of conflict in the series. As in, things were just tied up and fixed way too easily. I'm not talking about the general war that has been building since book 1, but for Kenna herself. Almost everything worked out for her and her problems are all conveniently fixed without any lasting issues.
Like being blackmailed by Kallen, being sent to die, her best friend not making it through the bog. Her gaining support in Princess of Blood, gaining more allies, just suddenly being an actual princess with magic at all, actually. This installment has even more, and it infuriates me to no fucking end. Conflict is necessary to further a character and their arc, and the lack of any significant consequences here (again, outside of the overall series plot! I am not overlooking her guilt for "starting" the war!), Kenna's character felt bland, stagnant, and incredibly hard to endure.
Because if everything just works out for her, what is the point?
She also becomes so goddamn self righteous and idealistic, it was INFURIATING. There was very little nuance to Kenna! Literally every other side character was 2000% more interesting, and personally, this series would have been better if it was told through Lara's lens—a character who actually HAD active growth throughout the series—rather than Kenna, who was basically just handed all this power and magic. Kenna's ideals made her seem like this holier than thou character, and almost like the "white savior" trope to the fae. This supposed half-feral human who is just so good and so different from how fae think can only be the change they need! Obviously not the ones that have been around for centuries and actually know fae history and culture.
Had my best friend not pointed that out to me, I wouldn't have had it click why Kenna bothered me so much. (Girl, I'm so sorry you suffered with me, but at least we did it together, Danielle 😭) Her importance was just so overly exaggerated and hard to swallow because it makes! No! Sense!
Also, poor Lara. She went through so much, and while her growth was admirable, her losses were awful. Every bad thing that happened to Kenna was indeed doubled and passed onto Lara.
The romance was predictable and the smut made no sense in this book. Kallen's character did a whole 180 and anything interesting about him eas reduced to being the sudden love of Kenna's life. Its also hard to care about that when there's such a dangerous war looming.
Overall, fuck this series. Ty to Danielle for buddy reading this mess with me, it would not have been the same without u. Please consider this my official and public apology 🥲
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the eARC!
**4.25 Stars** This was a great conclusion to the trilogy! The world-building and characters that I grew to love in the first two books were at their best in this final installment. Kenna has fully grown into her strength, and who she is as a leader really shines here. I loved seeing her relationship with a certain someone fully bloom. Also, her relationships with her friends continued to be a highlight. I flew through this book, and it kept me engaged the whole time. My only small critique, however, would be with the overall pacing of the book. It felt a bit rushed at times, and like a lot of new plot points were being introduced, which was a bit disconcerting. With it being the final book, all those new things and the main story had to be wrapped up a bit quickly. Also, I wish some of the problems Kenna faced had taken a bit more effort to resolve; she seemed to get out of trouble pretty easily, all things considered. But overall, I felt like this ended things in a really satisfying way, and I loved reading Kenna’s story!
**4.25 Stars** This was a great conclusion to the trilogy! The world-building and characters that I grew to love in the first two books were at their best in this final installment. Kenna has fully grown into her strength, and who she is as a leader really shines here. I loved seeing her relationship with a certain someone fully bloom. Also, her relationships with her friends continued to be a highlight. I flew through this book, and it kept me engaged the whole time. My only small critique, however, would be with the overall pacing of the book. It felt a bit rushed at times, and like a lot of new plot points were being introduced, which was a bit disconcerting. With it being the final book, all those new things and the main story had to be wrapped up a bit quickly. Also, I wish some of the problems Kenna faced had taken a bit more effort to resolve; she seemed to get out of trouble pretty easily, all things considered. But overall, I felt like this ended things in a really satisfying way, and I loved reading Kenna’s story!
May 14, 2026
Once again, big thanks to Berkley for allowing me early access to this!!
This was a great final chapter to this series! Going in, after the cliffhanger in book 2, I was worried about our characters. But overall this was great.
My only thing is that I wish it was longer. I know there are a lot of books that tend to get long winded but I feel like in this case we could have used just a bit more time to fully explore some of the key aspects.
But I loved this series! I’m ever so grateful to have early access to this. I definitely need to have physical copies of this series.
This was a great final chapter to this series! Going in, after the cliffhanger in book 2, I was worried about our characters. But overall this was great.
My only thing is that I wish it was longer. I know there are a lot of books that tend to get long winded but I feel like in this case we could have used just a bit more time to fully explore some of the key aspects.
But I loved this series! I’m ever so grateful to have early access to this. I definitely need to have physical copies of this series.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Loved this, a great end to the trilogy! Kenna was a fantastic, strong heroine and I loved seeing her new relationship thrive. The romance was lovely, sweet, and grounded. The writing was engaging and the ending was beautifully tragic, but hopeful. The plotlines were tied up nicely. The only gripe I had was I felt the middle dragged just a tad. Kallen in particular took more of a backseat, lover-boy role than in the previous books. But on the whole- a wonderful read and a great addition to the romantasy genre!
unreleased
May 14, 2026These book covers are unmatched!!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews