The mysterious House of Shadows sits at the edge of the Unseen World's awareness: Dark happenings and nefarious schemes slowly come clear, especially regarding the role of children growing into adulthood in Shadows, suffering greatly as prisoners with almost no way out. Sydney, the reader comes to find out, has her own agenda regarding The Turning, but is also under the thrall of the House of Shadows, and faces a harsh dilemma how to work out her conflicting paths. Laurent hires an unknown magician named Sydney to represent him in the tournament. When a new Turning is announced only ten years after the last, the magical world is clued in to the fact that something might be awry. But Gray Prospero, a privileged son of one of the oldest Houses, takes Laurent under his wing and teaches him magic. Laurent Beauchamps is a newcomer to the Unseen world, unusual in many ways: He is Black, and comes from a mundane background. For many years now, House Merlin has stood at the head of the Unseen World.

At the base of the magical world's social structure, is The Turning: Once every generation or so, a magical tournament is held to determine the magical pecking order who can establish or maintain a House, who must relinquish theirs, and who shall lead them.

This all-White, old-moneyed community of privilege works by its own rules, unknown and unseen by the mundane residents of the city. The magical Houses of New York, or as they term themselves – the Unseen World – are linked by social and familial connections, by old feuds, and by old betrayals. The book was selected as the NPR Best Book of 2017 and won the 2018 Alex Award. 2017 fantasy novel by Kat Howard An Unkindness of MagiciansĪn Unkindness of Magicians is a 2017 urban fantasy novel by Kat Howard.

An unkindness of magicians