Publication Order Is Not Always Reading Order
Most reading order pages are copied from Goodreads. They list the books by number and stop there.
That is fine for a series with five books and no complications. It is useless for Crowns of Nyaxia, where two standalones sit between the main novels and one of them makes book two land considerably harder. It is worse than useless for Crave, where book five takes place between books one and two.
Every order below is checked against the publisher’s numbering and the authors’ own guidance. Where the official numbering works, we say so and move on. Where it does not, we say what to do instead.
Forty four books, nine sagas. Jump to the one you need.
The Twilight Saga
Stephenie Meyer · 5 books · 2005 to 2020
| # | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Twilight | 2005 |
| 2 | New Moon | 2006 |
| 3 | Eclipse | 2007 |
| 4 | Breaking Dawn | 2008 |
| 5 | Midnight Sun | 2020 |
Straightforward, with one note. Midnight Sun retells the first book from Edward's perspective and was published twelve years after the saga ended. Read it fifth, not first. It works as a companion and not as an entry point, and reading it last changes how you remember all four books before it.
The Vampire Chronicles
Anne Rice · 3 core books · 1976 to 1988
| # | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Interview with the Vampire | 1976 |
| 2 | The Vampire Lestat | 1985 |
| 3 | The Queen of the Damned | 1988 |
The series runs to thirteen volumes. These three are the ones that matter.
Interview is a confession. The Vampire Lestat is the correction, told by the man Louis called a monster. Queen of the Damned resolves the mythology both books were building toward.
After the third, the series becomes considerably more uneven and the reading order stops mattering much. Stop here unless something specific pulls you further.
Vampire Academy
Richelle Mead · 6 books · 2007 to 2010
| # | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vampire Academy | 2007 |
| 2 | Frostbite | 2008 |
| 3 | Shadow Kiss | 2008 |
| 4 | Blood Promise | 2009 |
| 5 | Spirit Bound | 2010 |
| 6 | Last Sacrifice | 2010 |
Read in order, no exceptions. This is a series where each book depends entirely on the emotional state the previous one left you in, and book three is the reason people are still recommending it two decades on.
The Bloodlines spin-off follows, six more books, picking up characters introduced here.
Black Dagger Brotherhood
J.R. Ward · Core five of twenty plus · 2005 to 2007
| # | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dark Lover | 2005 |
| 2 | Lover Eternal | 2006 |
| 3 | Lover Awakened | 2006 |
| 4 | Lover Revealed | 2007 |
| 5 | Lover Unbound | 2007 |
One book per Brother, in order, and the order matters more than the structure suggests. Each novel focuses on a new couple, but the ongoing war and the surrounding cast accumulate continuously. Reading out of sequence spoils several arcs.
The series continues past twenty books. The first five are where it became a phenomenon, and Lover Awakened is the best of them by a distance.
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Sarah J. Maas · 5 books · 2015 to 2021
| # | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Court of Thorns and Roses | 2015 |
| 2 | A Court of Mist and Fury | 2016 |
| 3 | A Court of Wings and Ruin | 2017 |
| 3.5 | A Court of Frost and Starlight | 2018 |
| 5 | A Court of Silver Flames | 2021 |
The numbering is odd and it is not a mistake. A Court of Frost and Starlight is a 229 page companion novella, published between books three and five, and officially numbered 3.5.
Do not skip it. It looks skippable and it is the setup for everything A Court of Silver Flames does. Nesta's state at the start of book five makes no sense without it.
Book one is the weakest and book five is the best, which is an unusual shape. Everyone will tell you to push through to A Court of Mist and Fury. They are right.
Blood and Ash
Jennifer L. Armentrout · Core five of eleven plus · 2020 to 2023
| # | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | From Blood and Ash | 2020 |
| 2 | A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire | 2020 |
| 3 | The Crown of Gilded Bones | 2021 |
| 4 | The War of Two Queens | 2022 |
| 5 | A Soul of Ash and Blood | 2023 |
A Soul of Ash and Blood retells book one from Casteel's perspective. Read it fifth, not first, and not second either.
The captivity chapters mean considerably more when you already know what they cost him, and the dramatic irony only works if you have read the original version.
The universe extends further: books six and seven continue the main arc, and the Flesh and Fire prequel series covers a different couple entirely. The five above are the complete Poppy and Casteel story.
Crowns of Nyaxia
Carissa Broadbent · 5 novels plus 2 standalones · 2022 to 2026
| # | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Serpent and the Wings of Night | 2022 |
| 1.5 | Six Scorched Roses (standalone) | 2023 |
| 2 | The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King | 2023 |
| 2.5 | Slaying the Vampire Conqueror (standalone) | 2023 |
| 3 | The Songbird and the Heart of Stone | 2024 |
| 4 | The Fallen and the Kiss of Dusk | 2025 |
| 5 | The Lion and the Deathless Dark | 2026 |
The most confusing order on this page and the one worth getting right.
The series is three duets: Nightborn, Shadowborn, Bloodborn. The two standalones sit outside the main sequence and Broadbent has said they can be read at any point or skipped.
Our recommendation: do not skip them, and read Six Scorched Roses second. It is 204 pages, it introduces characters who appear in book two, and that encounter lands differently when you know their history.
Slaying the Vampire Conqueror is a full length standalone in a completely separate corner of the world. It can genuinely go anywhere, including first if you want to test the author before committing.
Crave
Tracy Wolff · 6 books · 2020 to 2023
| # | Title | Year | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crave | 2020 | |
| 2 | Crush | 2020 | |
| 3 | Covet | 2021 | |
| 4 | Court | 2022 | |
| 5 | Charm | 2022 | Set between books 1 and 2 |
| 6 | Cherish | 2023 |
The strangest structure on this page.
Charm was published fifth and takes place second. It covers the four months Grace spent in the Shadow Realm, which the series has been referring to since book two without ever showing.
Read in publication order the first time. That is what the author recommends and the reveal in book three depends on not having read Charm yet.
On a reread, slot Charm into position two and watch the entire series transform. It is one of the best arguments for rereading anything in this coven.
Cat and Mouse Duet
H.D. Carlton · 2 books · 2021 to 2022
| # | Title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Haunting Adeline | 2021 |
| 2 | Hunting Adeline | 2022 |
Two books, one story, and book two is substantially heavier than book one.
This is the only entry on this page where the reading order note is a warning rather than a sequence. Haunting Adeline tests limits. Hunting Adeline exceeds them.
Read the author's full content warning list before starting either. We are serious about that.
If You Are Starting From Nothing
Nine sagas is a lot. If you want one:
Twilight, if you want the one that built the genre and you want it chaste.
Vampire Academy, if you want a friendship that matters more than the romance.
Crowns of Nyaxia, if you want the best-built vampire world of the decade.
Black Dagger Brotherhood, if you want the most explicit and you have a year to spare.
There is also a full beginner's guide, which covers five standalone entry points rather than sagas.
Everything Else
Every book listed here is scored on the Fantasy Index, sorted by intensity.
If you would rather be told than choose, take the quiz.
And if you want to know how spicy a book is before you commit to a six volume saga, the spice guide rates every one of them.
