Since Trial of Magic has launched, you Champions have been eager to hear what’s in store for the rest of the series, so I thought we should take a post to discuss what’s happening!
Fairy Tale Enchantress will be a six book series total. Book #5 is titled–drumroll please–Blade of Magic! (Three guesses what the blade is referring to! 😉 )
I’m happy to report that Book #5 will probably have the most humor of the series due to some of the events and–the best news yet–IT WON’T BE SO STINKIN’ LONG like Reign of Magic and Trial of Magic were! (I cannot tell you how happy that makes me!)
I’m also all done with the crossover timelines of Timeless Fairy Tales, so if you were waiting to read that series, now is your chance! But what I’m sure you’re all wondering is what kind of release timeline are we looking at? Annnnddd that’s the bad news. The earliest release date is likely summer 2024. I have Retha book #4, and the final of Elves of Lessa book I want to complete before I start it, and of course I will release one Magiford trilogy per year.
This date could possibly change, but a lot of it depends on things like how long Retha #4 will be, and how long Accidental Enchantment (that final Elves of Lessa book) ends up being. Basically, there’s too many outside variables for me to accurately pinpoint anything, which is why I’m projecting such a far out release date.
Heck, even Blade of Magic’s length will impact this date. Trial of Magic took me about eight months total to write and edit–between the time I spent on it in 2020 and 2021–because it was so. LONG! (It was 193,000 words. For reference, the entire Hall of Blood and Mercy trilogy is approximately 220,000 words.) While I’m estimating Blade will be shorter, I have proven to be a very poor judge of my book lengths in the past, so we shouldn’t hold our breath.
In other words, prepare yourself for the worst, and maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised! The big thing to know is that I’m dedicated to releasing Retha #4 in summer of 2022, and I want to wrap up Elves of Lessa in 2023.
Hopefully everything will go smoothly, but I don’t have a great track record with lengths for any of my series right now, sooooo…yeah! 😉 Thanks for reading, Champions, and have a lovely day!
While totally understanding that of kitty’s books are masterpieces, and as such take time to write and perfect. I must admit that I am deeply saddened to have to wait approximately three years for the next book. However I know the end product will be worth the wait.
Thank you kitty for writing your incredible masterpieces
As someone who just got into the Fairy Tale Enchantress series i absolutely can’t wait for book 5 and 6. The wait kills me though! This has been my favorite series and I cannot express my appreciation to you for even creating this! It’s insane and so creative! The wait will be so worth it in the end though! I know it will be great. I’ll be able to go through all the Snow Queen, Fairy Tales and The Fairy Tale Enchantress books during the wait!
EEEEEEEE YESSSS BOOK 4 OF RETHAAAAA!!!!!!!! Retha is probably my second fav series after Fairy Tale Enchantress, I CAN’T WAIT! Also really excited for Elves of Lessa 4, but really hope FTE 5 comes out sooner tho. I hope you don’t exert yourself and please stay healthy!!! I love your books! Thank you so much!!!! <333
I love you, Ms.Shea! And your books! You can write as long as you need, because the book will be great anyway.
Yay! Retha book 4! I’m sooo excited!!!
When she said “blade” I immediately thought: Robber Maiden, Phile, ugliest dagger to EVER exist: FOEDUS!!! 😂😆🗡
😉 😉 😉
When she said “blade” I immediately thought: Robber Maided, Phil, ugliest dagger to EVER exist: FOEDUS!!! 😂😆🗡
When she said “blade” I immediately thought: Robber Maided, Phil, ugliest dagger to EVER exist: FOEDUS!!! 😂😆🗡
I did think that also. I think it would be hilarious to see Angelique with Foedus. It seems so unlike her personality to have such a hideous dagger, but so perfect with her magic. The combo would be amazingly entertaining!
I know right! Also, thinking back to Snow Queen and when they were trying to destroy the mirror, Foedus was the ONLY thing that was able to even nick the mirror (she also stole a piece of it using the dagger, if I recall correctly 😃). So if Angelique combines it with her magic, there’s a good chance that she’ll be able to destroy the mirror permanently! I just can’t wait for the next book to come out! 🤩
Yeah that’s true, but I can’t imagine the price someone would have to pay to pull that off. (We all remember what happened to Rakel).
Ooh! Angel wielding it via her magic makes so much sense!!
Much more than my previous idea of Quinn (who’s kind of Angel’s Phile) ending up with it.
…Does this mean the Verglas Assassin’s Guild shows up & presents her with it?
While continuing the thread of speculation, in her interview Ms. Kitty said that we can’t ship Finnr and Sybilla for any reason, do you guys think it’s plausible that Evariste, Finnr, and Sybilla are related? Some of Sybilla’s comments toward Finnr and the way the three interact at the end of ToM seem like a kind of sibling-y relationship.
I mean, it’s possible they’re just close friends, but Finnr’s physical appearance is never really described aside from being tall, and their three names are very unique with their spellings. I don’t know.
Any thoughts?
Finnr and Sybilla are significantly older than Evariste, so there’s a very slight chance of the three of them being siblings. But they could be relatives, or they found him and brought him to the veneno conclave just like Evariste did for Stil.
I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT RETHA!!!!! Don’t get me wrong, I love The Fairytale Enchantress series, and I am really looking forward to Blade of Magic already, but Retha is probably my favorite series so far and I can’t wait to find out what Kit is going to do next! Getting that one is definitely going to make the wait for Blade of Magic worth it.
Yeah, I’m pretty stoked, too. There’s two NPCs I’ve been wanting to bring into the story for a while, and now it’s finally their time! 😀
Love your stories. Have my granddaughter reading them now, she loves them. Hopefully I will still be around when you finish the series 😋
Kitty, I know you said your best length for a book is around 85,000, but I have to say that I have never felt like any of your books lacked momentum. You might not like the longer books, but I sure couldn’t tell by reading them. You do a fabulous job writing each book and that (from my perspective) makes it look easy, which I’m told is what the true virtuoso does; makes difficult things look easy. With that said, I kind of already braced myself with a longer than expected book for Blade of Magic, and I’m kind of steeling myself for the same thing for that last one too. I’m never disappointed that there is more to the story and only find myself grateful for such a well told story. I guess what I’m trying to get at is; don’t worry about the length. We’ll love it because you are a phenomenal story teller. I love that you “cleaned up” the fairytales so that they are much healthier stories. I love sharing them with my family and talking about them. They bring us together, which is so good, since my family is scatter all over the US, from coast to coast and from north to south! So, just take care of you, and we’ll enjoy whatever you send our way!
I have to echo the comment that, while I would love to have the fifth book come out sooner, having the 5th Retha book and the 4th Elves of Lessa book come out first just gives me an excuse to reread/reanalyze each series which I love to do! So thank you!
Awww, thanks, Arletta!
I’m hoping still hoping everything will be faster than I am estimating, but even if the next Retha and the next Angelique book are shorter…as you said, those last books in the series could be doozies.
But! In the meantime you’ll hopefully enjoy the next Retha book, and the ending to this Elves of Lessa arc! (Personally, I think the last Elves of Lessa book is going to be SO FUN!)
Knowing you, I know they will be! Can’t wait to read them. I’m also really looking forward to the Magiford series this winter. I just might have to re-read HoBaM and CoMaD again to get ready for it. 😉
Yes! Retha!!!
Three years!!! You’re killing me smalls! While in real life, 3 years flies by and is absolutely nothing, 3 years waiting for your favorite book series to release is FOREVER. Though, I suppose, you can’t rush genius and it will be worth the wait, and all the other platitudes… On the bright side, since there will be so much time between books, I’ll get to re-read the entire series again in preparation for Blade of Magic (I like going back through and finding foreshadowing that you cleverly hide in your books).
On a side note, when will you release Trial of Magic in paper copy? My daughters don’t have kindles and they are DYING to read it since they heard me squealing through the last 1/4 of the book.
Trial of Magic will be out in paperback in time for Christmas! (Aka, mid November.) We’re collecting errors right now, that way the paperback is a cleaner and prettier copy, but the collection and fixing takes a couple months. 😀
And thank you so much for understanding! I’m honestly hoping to get it out sooner, but I figure I’d rather deliver it early than end up having to push the deadline back.
Thank you!! My girls are eagerly awaiting it…and November is perfect since it will be my then 16 year old’s birthday present (her 17 year old sister is already frustrated she doesn’t get to read it first! 🤪)