The Shadow of Phaedrus

Welcome to The Shadow of Phaedrus

Imagine a journey into a chaotic, magical world. Your sole companions are an owl mad for rodent snacks, a clairvoyant with raging ADHD, and a purple Shadow that comments on everything you do

Phaedrus is the only magician said to have mastered all eight magical lights. A long time ago, he disappeared from the surface of the earth

The Shadow of Phaedrus is a YA fantasy series. Imagine The Bartimaeus Trilogy meets The Colour of Magic meets Tolkien. It’s a world where magicians channel light through their magical Shadows to create powerful magic. It’s also a world where some people, the Earthlings, have no Shadows and no magic at all

Book 1 – THE DEAD SHADOW

The first book of the series, told from the humorous perspective of a magical Shadow, follows the quest of an inexperienced Earthling girl, who is determined to find the magician responsible for her brother’s death

Suddenly, screaming with some sort of nasal warrior howl, the skinny, green-clad figure of Rhode shot past me. Her long, brown hair buffeted in a tangled mess behind her. She hit the wooden door flat out and shouldered it with a bone-shuddering thump. It smashed open, swinging more quickly than the rusty hinges suggested it might. It rebounded and shot back towards her, nearly knocking her off her feet. So much for stealth

You can already pre-order the book from Waterstones, Foyles, Amazon, or your favourite local bookshop

Read more (potential spoilers)…

Across the world magical troubles are exploding out of control. Denied by the authorities, they are destroying cities and lives. Suddenly, a Nekros magician and his magical Shadow, investigating the troubles, disappear without a trace

Hiding from the authorities in the mountains a clairvoyant, guided by a Shadow, paints the portrait of a young girl she’s never met. Meanwhile the girl, an Earthling with no magical education, is being tortured in a prison reserved for magicians. How is she related to the troubles? Why is she being held there? What do cute rats have to do with all this?

When the clairvoyant and the Shadow eventually meet her, they follow in the steps of the missing magician deep into one of the eight magical lands. Together they will uncover the mysteries of The Ever Burning Fire Of Nekros. For the girl, it’s an opportunity to avenge her brother. For the Shadow, it’s a dangerous mission in to enemy territory. For the clairvoyant, it’s probably got something to do with saucepans. Or maybe flowers. Or maybe… oh… squirrel… sorry, were we talking about something?

Meet the characters

Who is Rhode? Is Helena a magician? What are Shadows?

The legend of Phaedrus

Children all around the world love singing his song. But what does it mean?

Book 2 – IN PROGRESS

We’re busy working on this. If you want to learn more, make sure you sign up for our newslatter, follow us on social media, or check back here regularly. Stay tuned so you don’t miss our fantasy writing news!

Listen to us talking about it on teen girl talk!

We were lucky enough to be invited onto the awesome Teen Girl Talk podcast, recently. Listen to our episode below (or via your favourite podcast outlet)

Come and meet us on TikTok

That sounds fun. Where do I buy the book?

You can already pre-order the book from Waterstones, Foyles, Amazon, or your favourite local bookshop. You can also read some more on our publisher’s website. In the meantime, help us make some noise by reading and sharing the blog. You can find out more about the characters and the magical world here