A Darker Shade of Magic - Illustrated Deluxe Edition
Created by Wraithmarked Creative
Book one of V. E. Schwab's New York Times Bestselling 'Shades of Magic' series, brought to you as an illustrated deluxe hardcover!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Clarifying what's been improved in the new books with a quick 1-to-1 comparison!
12 days ago
– Tue, Mar 24, 2026 at 10:10:19 AM
Hey all! Bryce here! We had some requests to clarify what had been changed in this new batch of books that made them worth the wait, so I thought I'd write that up briefly for you! Video shows it all in 3min!
First, the gilding chip that was on 90% of the book's but foreedge corner isn't there anymore! It was caused by the machine knife used to insert the ribbon bookmark, and that was fixed by hand-placing them.
Second and third, the signed sheets were properly cut and properly glued in, so that you can't see the binding marks or the page behind them. Looks MUCH better.
Lastly, the binding is much tighter, getting ride of the lose, ugly spacing and loose page bundles.
Super quick, in case you missed it in the last quick Update: The pre-launch page for the A GATHERING OF SHADOWS campaign is live! If you'd like to sign up for a launch reminder, head over there and hit the "Notify me at launch!"
Fulfillment for this book will be exponentially faster, barring another printing disaster, which would be... insane. We understand that some of you will not come back for Book 2, which is completely understandable, but we hope the quality of Book 1, once you have it in hand, might convince most of you to check out A GATHERING OF SHADOWS!
THE ULTIMATE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY OMNIBUS
This one seemed like something a lot of you guys might like to be aware of!
On May 5th, Wraithmarked will be releasing what we believe could be considered the most ambitious omnibus edition of Douglas Adam's THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY series ever produced.
As in not only is it a full-color book, but it's going to include 42 full-color illustrations. And that's JUST the interior art. So add in the Smyth-sewn binding. And acid-free paper. And custom covers. And end sheets. And cloth wrapping. And... Well... You get the picture.
There's more detail and a LOT more art revealed on the pre-launch page, so take a look if it interests any of you guys! As always, this will be a single-print run with campaign exclusive discounts, so Kickstarter is the only place you can guarantee your copy and get it at a discount!
ALL Backers: Locking Addresses in 48hrs! AND... That Means Book 2 is Coming Soon!
19 days ago
– Tue, Mar 17, 2026 at 06:29:28 AM
Howdy, all!
We hope this update finds you well! Thanks for sticking with us through thick and thin, through delays, printing mishaps, the works. Finally, your patience has paid off - the books are officially in our hands! WOOHOO!
We've inspected them and have confirmed that all errors from the first run have been fixed!
FINALLY!
Packed BEAUTIFULLY. No warping from books supporting the weight of other books!
I warned Bryce I was taking a picture. He did not move. Enjoy!
That being said, this is your official 48 hour address lock warning! To ensure we can get these books out to y'all as soon as we can, we're going to be locking addresses for ALL BACKERS by Thursday March 19th! You can expect an email from Backerkit today informing you of a 48-hour window to make final changes before they lock.
If you are expecting a change of address in the next few weeks, either provide your new address or a different permanent address that's close enough for you to pick them up.
When this window expires, we cannot guarantee that we'll be able to change the address before your pledge ships.
Once addresses lock, we'll begin packing and shipping from Wraithmarked HQ as well as provide our international fulfillment partner with the shipping list for this campaign. They will generally begin fulfillment within a day of receipt; however, depending on their workload, it may take up to two weeks for them to begin fulfillment (though this is rare). Please be aware that Wraithmarked as well as our fulfillment partner packs and ships pledges in an order that maximizes efficiency.
When your order ships you will get an email with tracking information. Please be aware that it may take a day or two for the tracking information to update.
If you have questions at any point in this process, please send us a message here on Kickstarter or via email at [email protected]. Even though it is rare, it may take between 3-5 business days to respond (though usually faster) and we do not work on holidays or weekends. We appreciate your patience.
A Note for Backers in the UAE...
To avoid excessive delays in shipping, please make sure to supply a PO Box number in addition to your address information. We have had repeated issues delivering pledges without them.
Just in case you don't receive an email...
...We do recommend that you take this opportunity to verify your shipping address now. If you're not sure how to check that, go to the link below and enter your email address!
First of all, let me again apologize for the enormous and excessive wait you were put through getting A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC. It was a stressful and frustrating ordeal, and I'm so, so grateful for those of you who stuck this out with us.
While I completely understand that the delay of Book 1 was unacceptable, Wraithmarked was absolutely not sitting idle while it was happening. While we were waiting, the team leading the development of the SHADES OF MAGIC series forged ahead, completing the development of Book 2, as well as getting well into Book 3.
This means that we will be ready to take A GATHERING OF SHADOWS to the printers within 6 weeks of the Kickstarter ending.
For comparison, it was months before Book 1 completed development after the campaign ended that we were able to start talking to printers, and even then we still had to wait for some art to wrap. As things stand now, we haven't just cut down on the production timelines, we've pounded this into the ground compared to Book 1.
If you decide to support our Book 2 campaign, we are positioned to get the books to you with a much tighter turnaround. While we are setting the estimated delivery a little further out, it's our genuine hope being to get them out in time for Christmas of 2026. We can't strictly promise that, but (barring another hack and printing disaster combo), it's within the realm of possibility.
Regardless of whether you decide to give us another chance onA GATHERING OF SHADOWS, I have to thank you again for sticking with us until we got the Book 1s in-hand. We hope you enjoy them, and we're grateful that you rode along with us on this bumpy journey over the last 2 years.
Addressing the new (potential) tariffs. No, we will not be charging anyone any additional fees.
about 1 month ago
– Tue, Feb 24, 2026 at 06:50:05 AM
IN REGARDS TO THE POTENTIAL TARIFFS
Hey all, Bryce here. This is a quick one.
As with the last time we went through this situation in 2025, I wanted to let our buyers and Kickstarter Backers who are still awaiting their products know that Wraithmarked Creative will not be instituting any additional fees to cover potential tariff costs.
At this time, it's unclear if there will be new global tariffs, much less what they'll be if they come into being. Regardless, in the event that they happen, please rest assured there will be no surprise fees put in place to cover those costs if you have already purchased a book from Wraithmarked Creative or are awaiting a product from one of our campaigns. We'll manage the additional cost one way or the other.
Here's to hoping these tariffs don't come to fruition, period.
All the best, and thank you, everyone, for your patience while we've navigated the complexities of publishing in 2025/26.
Bryce O'Connor, CEO
Fulfillment Update! And... a Wraithmarked Update!
about 2 months ago
– Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 09:08:19 AM
Hi there everyone!
We hope the week is treating you all well wherever you are! We wanted to let you know that as of Monday, we've received our sample of the new printed books and they look awesome! The rest have been printed and are being packed up as we speak! Currently, we're just awaiting confirmation from the shipping company and then they'll be sent to their respective fulfillment locations!
That being said, we'll post another official update when the books have been confirmed packed and shipped, letting everyone know of the 48-hour address lock. Until then, it never hurts to remind everyone again how you can access your pledge. It's never a bad idea to hop in to make sure your shipping information is up-to-date! Using the following link, enter the email address that's attached to your Kickstarter account and you should be able to pull your pledge right up!
If you have any questions, please check out the campaign FAQs and if you need additional help, feel free to email us at [email protected]. We're open Monday-Friday 8am-4pm (excluding US holidays)!
A look behind the curtain...
Typically, we like to show you guys behind the scenes goings on when it comes to book production such as quote requests, a look at the interior art and merch goodies offered during the campaign, maybe even an author signing - that kind of stuff! However, when we can, we also like to let you folks know that we are still a small, independent company with a handful of dedicated employees wanting to make waves in the publishing world. We've come a long way from when we ran our very first campaign, which brings us to today...
We are officially moving into our first warehouse! No more garages or storage units! WOOHOO!
This may not be the most exciting news for some, but for us, it was a looong time coming. We are so excited to begin this new journey in a new location, and we've already started moving our things over! We now have a loading dock! (Like I said, very exciting for us)
That being said, during this process, our support and responses will be a little longer than normal as it's all-hands-on-deck for the move. We're anticipating things to return to normal later next week, but keep in mind, we may have a slight backlog to get through. If you have questions at any point in this process, check out the campaign FAQs and if you need additional help, please send an email to [email protected].
See you in the next one!
An Update to Fulfillment! And... Special Apology "V" Pins Have Been Sent (To Those Who Wanted Them Early)!
3 months ago
– Tue, Jan 13, 2026 at 01:23:10 PM
Hi there everyone!
We hope your holiday season went well and you're enjoying yourself and/or your friends and family wherever you are! 2026 here we come!
We wanted to stop by quick and let you all know that we've received an updated printing completion date! Please keep in mind this is still an estimate, and with everything that has gone on this past year, please take this estimate with a grain of salt.
Currently, this reprint is scheduled to be completed at the end of January. Meaning, if everything goes as planned and there are no more hiccups (knock on wood), these would leave the printing facility and be on boats between then and the first two weeks in February!
From there, we'll await their arrival and once again, do a thorough quality check. For those of you who stopped by our booth at Dragonsteel Nexus, you've seen firsthand the numerous issues we were presented with. We will absolutely be checking every detail and making sure these books meet our Wraithmarked standard - you guys deserve nothing less for deluxe editions especially after all this time patiently waiting.
(Us inspecting the reprint)
To those who requested their apology pins early...
The Apology "V" Pins have officially been sent out; everyone else will be receiving them with their orders once we get the books in-hand! We just wanted to give you guys an update on that, so for the few who this applies for, expect a package in the coming weeks!
