9 V. E. Schwab Books To Read If You Loved First Kill

V.E. Schwab’s debut novel, The Near Witch, was initially published in 2011 under the name Victoria Schwab, but more recently was republished in 2019 under her now-ubiquitous V. E. Schwab moniker. The story centers around the myth of the Near Witch, which tells children if a witch calls at night not to answer. But when children start disappearing, it seems a witch might be calling after all. Schwab’s short story, “The Ash-Born Boy,” is the story’s prequel.

Schwab’s follow-up series in 2013 was The Archive, a story centered on an otherworldly library, which contains the bodies of everyone who has ever died. Young keeper Mackenzie Bishop discovers the library has been compromised by a traitor inside the walls and must determine who it is before the violent histories from the bodies escape into our world. In the follow-up novel, 2014’s The Unbound, Mackenzie’s junior year is interrupted by people disappearing, with her at the center of the mess.

The series continues in the 2015 short story “Leave the Window Open,” which functions as an epilogue to the two books. There is a conclusion to the trilogy, The Returned, but it’s not out yet.

Schwab’s first series published under the V.E. moniker began with the 2013 short story “Warm-Up,” which was the prelude to her first major bestseller, Vicious. A breakdown of superhero archetypes, Vicious centers around college roommates Victor and Eli, who discover superhuman abilities are created via near-death experiences. Fast forward a decade, and the two have become arch enemies, hellbent on taking the other down. The 2018 follow-up, Vengeful, finds a reanimated Victor still out for revenge. There’s also an in-between story, ExtraOrdinary, published as a graphic novel in 2021.

Following her hit Vicious, Schwab debuted three novels in a middle-grade trilogy called the Everyday Angel series. The first installment, New Beginnings, introduces Aria, who might pass for an average 12-year-old girl, but is a guardian angel who can dream things into existence and change small things that affect the whole world. The series’ other titles are Second Chances and Last Wishes, and all three are perfect for introducing younger siblings and middle schoolers to Schwab’s work.

Back to adult fiction, Schwab began the Shades of Magic series in 2015 with the bestselling A Darker Shade of Magic, a story about the Antari, magicians able to travel between three multiverses in London, known as Red, Grey, and White. After an exchange goes wrong, the Red London ambassador (in reality, a smuggler), Kell, escapes to Grey London and is saved by a cut-purse, Delilah. Over the trilogy, which includes 2016’s A Gathering of Shadows and 2017’s A Conjuring of Light, the two find they must team up to save all three worlds.

Schwab followed the books with a trilogy of graphic novels set in the same world: The Steel Prince, Night of Knives, and The Rebel Army. The Shades of London series is in development to be made into movies, adapted by Derek Kolstad, the man behind the John Wick franchise, so this is one for the TBR pile for sure.

The Cassidy Blake series is Schwab’s second middle-grade trilogy, about a family of ghost hunters, the Blakes. Mama and Papa Blake are inept, but their daughter, Cassidy, not only can see ghosts, but she’s also BFFs with one, a boy by the name of Jacob. In the first novel, 2018’s City of Ghosts, Cassidy has to decide if she wants to use her gifts for ghost hunting or to help ghosts pass on to the next world. The follow-up, 2019’s Tunnel of Bones, takes the family to Paris, while 2021’s Bridge of Souls heads to New Orleans, where Cassidy meets all new spirits in need of help.

The Monsters of Verity series is a duology Schwab wrote from 2016 to 2017. The first novel, This Savage Song, introduces Verity, a city where acts of violence create real-life monsters. Kate Harker is a monster hunter and heir to the human half of the city, while monster August Flynn is destined to rule the other half. The first book follows their tumultuous relationship. The follow-up, Our Dark Duet, brings the two together again when a chaos monster threatens the city.

Schwab’s most recent release is a new graphic novel, Gallant, aimed more at YA readers. It’s a standalone story of the orphaned Olivia Prior, who is invited to return home to Gallant only to discover her home is a gateway to another universe that ruined her family and could destroy her.

Schwab’s only standalone novel so far, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, was nominated for the 2020 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. It’s one part historical fantasy set in 1710s France, one part urban fantasy set in present-day NYC. The titular Addie LaRue, readers learn in flashbacks, was blessed with eternal life by a god of the night, Luc, for as long as she wanted. There’s just one caveat: She can never meet people more than once, and they will not remember her after.