What order should I read the books in?
This question has come up frequently, more so as my world has grown and new series have been added. So I figured I’d lay out a guide for it.
First, I’ll make clear the chronology for newcomers. The books farthest back in the past in my universe, are the novels in the Embers of Illeniel Series: The Mountains Rise (1), The Silent Tempest (2), and Betrayer’s Bane (3). These books take place roughly two thousand years before my first series, Mageborn.
Then there’s Mageborn, which contains five books, starting with The Blacksmith’s Son (you can look up the rest).
Following that, is the Champions of the Dawning Dragons series, which has three books. It begins with Thornbear, followed by Centyr Dominance, and ending with Demonhome.
Last, but not least, comes my current work in progress, The Riven Gates, which is a sort of spiritual successor to Mageborn. It follows after Demonhome, but the main point of view is that of Mordecai (as it was in Mageborn). It begins with the first book, aptly named, ‘Mordecai’ and moves on with ‘The Severed Realm’ (which is what I’m writing now).
You could read them all in chronological order, but I don’t think that’s the best way. My preference, is to read them in the order I published them, because there are hints about the past and future in each book that can help flavor the others. I understand that looking up publishing dates is tedious, so I’ll list them in that order for you:
The Blacksmith’s Son (Mageborn 1)
The Line of Illeniel (Mageborn 2)
The Archmage Unbound (Mageborn 3)
The God-Stone War (Mageborn 4)
The Final Redemption (Mageborn 5)
The Mountains Rise (Embers 1)
Thornbear (Champions 1)
The Silent Tempest (Embers 2)
Centyr Dominance (Champions 2)
Betrayer’s Bane (Embers 3)
Demonhome (Champions 3)
Mordecai (Riven Gates 1)
The Severed Realm (Riven Gates 2)
That’s the order I would read them in, but there’s no reason you couldn’t read the series independently of each other, or in chronological order instead.
As a side note, I have one stand-alone book, ‘Thomas’. It’s completely unrelated. It’s an excellent book, but not part of the Mageborn universe.
Good luck,
Michael
First, I’ll make clear the chronology for newcomers. The books farthest back in the past in my universe, are the novels in the Embers of Illeniel Series: The Mountains Rise (1), The Silent Tempest (2), and Betrayer’s Bane (3). These books take place roughly two thousand years before my first series, Mageborn.
Then there’s Mageborn, which contains five books, starting with The Blacksmith’s Son (you can look up the rest).
Following that, is the Champions of the Dawning Dragons series, which has three books. It begins with Thornbear, followed by Centyr Dominance, and ending with Demonhome.
Last, but not least, comes my current work in progress, The Riven Gates, which is a sort of spiritual successor to Mageborn. It follows after Demonhome, but the main point of view is that of Mordecai (as it was in Mageborn). It begins with the first book, aptly named, ‘Mordecai’ and moves on with ‘The Severed Realm’ (which is what I’m writing now).
You could read them all in chronological order, but I don’t think that’s the best way. My preference, is to read them in the order I published them, because there are hints about the past and future in each book that can help flavor the others. I understand that looking up publishing dates is tedious, so I’ll list them in that order for you:
The Blacksmith’s Son (Mageborn 1)
The Line of Illeniel (Mageborn 2)
The Archmage Unbound (Mageborn 3)
The God-Stone War (Mageborn 4)
The Final Redemption (Mageborn 5)
The Mountains Rise (Embers 1)
Thornbear (Champions 1)
The Silent Tempest (Embers 2)
Centyr Dominance (Champions 2)
Betrayer’s Bane (Embers 3)
Demonhome (Champions 3)
Mordecai (Riven Gates 1)
The Severed Realm (Riven Gates 2)
That’s the order I would read them in, but there’s no reason you couldn’t read the series independently of each other, or in chronological order instead.
As a side note, I have one stand-alone book, ‘Thomas’. It’s completely unrelated. It’s an excellent book, but not part of the Mageborn universe.
Good luck,
Michael
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Whoops! I may not have been completely awake when I wrote it out. Thanks for catching that for me!
Michael wrote: "Thanks for catching that for me!"You can thank me by answering some unanswered questions about your books, here, on GoodReads (and for the love of all that is holy, I can't find a neat link to all the unanswered questions in one place; looks like you'd have to open the page for each book separately and look there...What a bother...).
I saw one of these books on Amazon for my kindle and thought it would be a good meatier read than the light lunches the usual urban fantasies have felt like lately. But i wanted to check if Mountains Rise had a preluding series (been caught out before and was bitterly dissapointing). But it all sounds so complicated, chronical etc can it just be done from reading one series then another as i hate having to switch between series etc in between series? Or would things be disjointed and plots given away etc
Read "Mageborn" 1-5 (contemporary), then "Embers of Illeniel" 1-3 (set 2000 years before Mageborn, but with a contemporary framing story set immediately after Mageborn), then "Champions of the Dawning Dragons" 1-3 (contemporary, a some years after Mageborn), then "Riven Gates" 1-3 (contemporary, soon after Champions). There will be some minor spoilers if you read Embers 3 before Champions 2, but that's all.Alternatively, you can skip Embers completely and just read the summary somewhere: i.e. Tyrion is a violent asshole that committed genocide against She'Har (they had it coming, though), then was promptly backstabbed by his own children, because he's a violent asshole. Embers are pretty dark and violent, as fantasy books go.
The plot elements from Embers influence Champions plotline (characters make references to She'Har, Illeniels and their plans and actions, all of which happen in Embers; and the ultimate Big Bad in Champions is an entity the existence of which was strongly hinted at in Embers), and Tyrion's personal plotline has disproportionately large influence on Riven Gates (you won't completely understand the motivations of one of the characters in Riven Gates, unless you know what happened in Embers).
The issue with the order really puts me off this series, I started with Mordecai (Riven Gates 1), didn't understand what was going on so I looked up where to start and found that some people believe I should have started with The Mountains Rise (Embers 1). I'm quite happy to continue from here but I just feel like it is a bit of a mess. Can you not advise at the beginning of the audiobook where we should start.
The series is finished. All audiobooks are recorded and published. No one is going to add anything to anything, so your request is unreasonable, regardless of how much sense it makes.Also, the author isn't keeping up with anything posted on Goodreads and hasn't answered any questions here for some time now. You are complaining in vain.
I completely disagree with the comment about Tyrion being a "violent asshole". His actions were a response to the almost complete genocide of the human race which was to wipe the SheHar from the planet they had invaded, trying to save as many humans as possible. I think it was a bit of a knee jerk reaction, but the SheHar were still manipulating him. How could he trust them not to continue with their enslavement of the human race? Anyway, I started with Illenials, then went to Mageborn & on from there & it's all flowing nicely.
Teresa wrote: "I completely disagree with the comment about Tyrion being a "violent asshole". Let's agree to disagree. That said, he was kind of an asshole (mass rapist, to be specific) even before he met any of the She'Har. And even his children (who helped him wipe out the She'Har) didn't like him. At all.
Whether it would have been possible to avoid a genocide, I don't know. She'Har were not evil per se, more like a case of Blue and Orange Morality. Centyrs certainly would have been a problem either way, that's for sure. Whereas Mr. T, for all of his antagonistic tendencies later on, was pretty mellow, which, I guess, was kind of the point. Which leads me to...
Teresa wrote: "Anyway, I started with Illenials, then went to Mageborn & on from there & it's all flowing nicely."
I would again strongly recommend anyone reading this to start with Mageborn 1-5, then Embers of Illeniel 1-3, not the other way around, no matter what the chronology says. Because: 1) The author intended it this way. 2) The framing story doesn't make sense if you read Embers before Mageborn. 3) Embers 1-3 contain lots of spoilers for Mageborn 1-5. Granted, I didn't read these books the way you did (if nothing else, simply because when I started with the series the Embers books weren't published yet), so I cannot fully appreciate the impact these spoilers would or wouldn't have on a reader. But I still stand by my advice.
Also, in "The Final Redemption" he tells Lyra that two thousands years have passed, give or take, and then that number gets repeated throughout the book whenever the age of things that date back to the fall of She'Har (the island, Tryrion's tree, etc) is mentioned.
Therefore, "Embers" were roughly 2000 years before "Mageborn", not 4000 years. I have no idea how you came up with a figure of four thousand.
For reference (this is not related to the matter at hand), The Sundering (that whole thing with Balinthor) happened roughly 1000 years before "Mageborn" (as explicitly stated by Moira and Gareth).