Legacy of Newts
Legacy of Newts is volume two of The Book of Newts, which follows the adventures and trials of a witch that owns a magical book detailing many secrets of science, engineering, magic and most particularly, space travel.
Amelia Blackwell’s sisters were kidnapped by an ancient, undead witch known as the Dead Queen and Amelia attacked the pirate’s mountain-sized star ship out of pure desperation. She never expected to actually rescue her sisters, let alone defeat the pirate on her own ship. Nonetheless, she pulled it off, got her sisters back and left the pirate queen’s ship helplessly listing through space.Unfortunately for the Blackwell sisters, that’s only the beginning, because the Dead Queen survived and she’s absolutely livid. She seeks revenge, because the sisters made her look weak, forcing her to save face by killing them, lest her own lieutenants kill her.
Worse, the soul of Amelia’s oldest sister, Marta, has been intertwined with that of the Dead Queen, who was using necromancy to consume it, to extend her own life. That leaves them both stumbling through the thoughts of the other, each looking for some advantage in a battle of soul vs. soul, winner take all – even though Marta has no desire to steal the undead witch’s soul.
Iris, the middle sister, fares no better. Since she managed to resist interrogation by torture, the Dead Queen instead forced an addiction on her, offering hits of a pleasure spell for information, until she broke. Her brain chemistry is so screwed up, she’s unlikely to survive withdrawal.
The Queen soon gets her ship moving and the chase is on! Will the Blackwells find refuge and allies to fight off the Queen’s massive ship, or will everyone shun them, unwilling to take the risk of standing up to the queen of the pirates, who terrifies even the rulers of the star system?
Legacy of Newts covers the aftermath of the climax of Starwitch, in which Amelia forcefully boarded the Dead Queen’s ship, rescued her sisters, disabled the ship, then flew off.
Bonus Content: Rowley’s Roar
Rowley’s Roar is a musical album based on this series, telling parts of the story in song, from the perspective of the pirate, “Roaring” Rowley.
The songs that are most relevant to this volume are Snake in the Grass, Blood in the Water, Cherry Bombard and Nothing to Mourn, which are tracks 9-12.
Snake in the Grass makes direct reference to the events of chapter 17. Blood in the Water covers events from chapters 17-21. Cherry Bombard is somewhat relevant to chapter 15, but is more relevant to chapter 19, when Captain Sakura Grim first uses a Cherry Bombard. Nothing to Mourn loosely covers chapters 34-47 and includes spoilers for the climax that you may wish to avoid, if you haven’t read the book.
Release Schedule and Details
The first chapter was published to Royal Road on Friday, April 11, 2025 and the last on August 1, 2025.
Looking For More?
The next volume in The Book of Newts is The Next Horizon.