Loreful
HomeDiscover
Search series, authors…⌘K
Loreful

Reading orders for SF/F series and shared universes — with your place kept in every one.

Explore

UniversesSeriesWorksAuthorsAtlas

Help

FAQAboutSite map

Account & legal

Sign inCreate accountPrivacyTerms

Data

Built on ISFDB, Wikipedia, Wikidata and Open Library. Curated reading orders carry their reasoning on the page; the rest follow publication order. Data sources & licenses

© Loreful · data: ISFDB · CC BY

More like Master

anchored on:fantasysecondary world

but

Mood

The mood the book leaves you in.

  • The reading experience is propelled by journeys, exploration, and physical risk; excitement and forward momentum dominate over dread or introspection.
  • Joy and loss are deliberately mixed; the resolution grants characters something real while taking something else away, leaving warmth and sorrow together.
  • The book demands work from the reader — dense prose, difficult structure, unfamiliar ideas, or morally uncomfortable material — as part of its intended effect.
  • Grim events, cruelty, or despair dominate the atmosphere, and the book does not soften them with comfort or comic relief.
  • The atmosphere is quietly unsettling — wrongness, unease, and the uncanny pervade the book without necessarily escalating into overt horror.
  • The book is built to move the reader; character feeling is foregrounded and major scenes aim at a strong emotional response.
  • Humor is a primary aim and the prose plays for laughs — comic situations, wit, or dialogue produce sustained comedy, not occasional levity.
  • The book insists that things can improve; effort and decency are shown to matter, and the arc bends toward better outcomes even through hardship.
  • The book teaches as it goes — real facts, history, science, or craft are conveyed in enough depth that learning is part of the reading experience.
  • The book is designed to uplift and motivate, presenting perseverance or achievement in a way that invites the reader to aspire or act.
  • The overall register is cheerful and easygoing; stakes are kept gentle and the book avoids dwelling on pain or dread.
  • Withheld information drives the experience; the book sustains enigmas and secrets the reader wants resolved, whatever its genre.
  • The book is contemplative and inward-looking, giving more weight to thought, memory, and meaning than to external events.
  • The book works as comfort reading — low tension, a soothing pace, and an atmosphere the reader can unwind in.
  • Grief, loss, or melancholy set the dominant register, and the book lets sorrow stand rather than resolving it into comfort.
  • Sustained suspense is the point; the book keeps the reader braced for what happens next through danger, pressure, or impending revelation.
  • Playful invention and charm define the register — fanciful conceits, light absurdity, and a narration that delights in its own oddity.

About

What the story runs on.

  • Stories centered on witches and the practice of witchcraft — covens, hedge magic, familiars, and the witch's place in her community.
  • Stories centered on wizards, mages, and other learned practitioners of magic as protagonists or masters.
  • Stories in which gods and deities act as characters — walking the world, meddling in mortal lives, or dying.
  • Stories structured as a quest — a journey undertaken to find, deliver, or destroy something of great import.
  • Stories in which staying alive against nature, catastrophe, or scarcity is the central problem.
  • Stories of lovers kept apart by law, family, faith, or station, where the obstacle to love is the plot.
  • Stories in which a friendship — its making, testing, or loss — is the emotional center.
  • Stories of growing up — a young protagonist crossing from childhood into adult knowledge and responsibility.
  • Stories about who a character truly is — self-discovery, doubled lives, and the search for a self.
  • Stories in which a buried family truth — hidden parentage, crimes, or shames — surfaces and reorders the present.
  • Stories driven by maneuvering for power — factions, conspiracies, and statecraft conducted in shadow.
  • Stories in which war itself is the subject — combat, occupation, and what warfare does to soldiers and civilians.

Shelf

Where it sits in the library.

    • Fiction built on magic or other supernatural elements that have no scientific explanation.
    • Secondary-world fantasy at large scale, where the fate of nations or the world turns on the protagonists' struggle.
    • Fantasy set in a recognizably modern city or contemporary world where the supernatural intrudes on everyday life.
    • Fantasy that blends in horror's atmosphere and imagery, keeping a fantastical frame around grim or frightening material.
    • Action-driven fantasy following warriors or rogues with personal stakes against sorcerous threats, rather than world-spanning conflicts.
    • Fantasy set in a real historical period or a close analogue of one, with magic woven into the era.
    • Fantasy in which protagonists cross from the ordinary world into another world through a portal or similar passage.
    • Fiction that retells or reworks a traditional fairy tale in a new form or setting.
    • Fantasy drawing directly on myths, legends, and folklore, retelling them or building on their figures and logic.
    • Fantasy of ghosts, vampires, shapeshifters, psychics, and similar phenomena, usually set in an otherwise ordinary world.
    • Fiction mixing science-fictional trappings with overtly magical or impossible elements in one setting.
    • Low-stakes fantasy emphasizing comfort, community, and everyday pleasures over conflict and peril.
    • Speculative fiction of pervasive moral ambiguity, violence, and cynicism that rejects heroic conventions — fantasy and SF alike.
      • Fiction that extrapolates from science and technology — future societies, space travel, or speculative inventions — within at least nominally natural laws.
      • Science fiction of interstellar scope — starships, galactic polities, and adventure across star systems.
      • Science fiction committed to scientific rigor, where technical plausibility constrains the story.
      • Science fiction centered on armed forces and warfare, told largely from a military point of view.
      • Science fiction of networked, corporate-dominated near futures, pairing high technology with social decay.
      • Science fiction styled on nineteenth-century steam-powered technology, often in a Victorian or pseudo-Victorian setting.
      • Fiction depicting an oppressive or catastrophic society, presented as a warning.
      • Fiction set after civilization's collapse, following survivors in the ruins of the old world.
      • Fiction in which characters move between past and future, and the mechanics or consequences of that travel drive the plot.
      • Fiction exploring a world where a historical event went differently and history diverged from ours.
      • Science fiction about humanity's first encounter and communication with an alien intelligence.
      • Science fiction in which extraterrestrial forces attack or occupy Earth and humanity resists.
      • Fiction whose primary aim is to frighten or unsettle the reader through dread, menace, or the monstrous.
      • Horror of vast, indifferent, incomprehensible entities before which humanity is insignificant, in the Lovecraft tradition.
      • Horror of decaying houses, buried family secrets, and oppressive atmosphere in the Gothic literary tradition.
      • Horror centered on hauntings and the returning dead.
      • Horror located in the mind — paranoia, obsession, and unreliable perception rather than external monsters.
      • Horror built around the reanimated dead and survival amid their outbreaks.
      • Horror defined by explicit, transgressive gore that refuses to cut away from violence.
      • Speculative fiction of the strange and uncanny that resists both natural explanation and standard genre categories.
      • Fiction organized around solving a crime or puzzle, typically following an investigator toward the identification of a culprit.
      • A puzzle-first mystery that lays out clues so the culprit's identity can be deduced before the reveal.
      • Crime fiction of moral ambiguity, fatalism, and hard-edged style, set among the corrupt and the doomed.
      • A mystery following the realistic routines of police work — forensics, interviews, and case-building.
      • A gentle mystery with an amateur sleuth, a small community, and violence kept off the page.
      • A mystery set in a past era, where the investigation works within that period's methods and society.
      • Fast-paced fiction driven by imminent danger, pursuit, or high-stakes conspiracy, built to sustain tension.
      • A thriller of espionage — agents, tradecraft, and intelligence services in conflict.
      • A thriller driven by detailed contemporary or near-future technology, often military or scientific.
      • A thriller whose tension comes from mental states and manipulation between characters rather than external action.
      • Fiction whose central plot is a romantic relationship and its development toward an emotionally satisfying resolution.
      • Romance in which one or both partners are supernatural beings, blending fantasy elements into the love story.
      • A fantasy-romance hybrid in which the romantic arc and the fantasy plot carry equal weight.
      • Romance set in a past era, with courtship shaped by the period's society and manners.
      • Romance set in the present day, without supernatural or historical elements.
      • Fiction set in a real past period, where the historical setting materially shapes characters and events.
        • General and literary fiction emphasizing prose style, character interiority, or formal ambition over genre plot conventions.
        • Fiction in a realistic world where magical events occur and are treated as ordinary, in the tradition of Latin American literature.
        • Fiction that ridicules people, institutions, or society in order to criticize them.
        • Fiction of dreamlike, irrational imagery and logic that breaks from realistic representation.
        • Fiction that plays with narrative convention through metafiction, fragmentation, and self-reference.
        • Fiction propelled by journeys, exploration, and physical peril, where action and survival carry the plot.
        • Adventure fiction of ships and seafaring — naval engagements, voyages, and life at sea.
        • Fiction of the American frontier West — gunmen, ranchers, and lawmen, typically in the late nineteenth century.
        • Fiction centered on soldiers, campaigns, and the experience of warfare, historical or imagined.
          • Fiction written primarily to amuse, using comedic situations, wit, or parody as its organizing principle.
            • Multi-generational fiction following a family or dynasty across decades, with inheritance and kinship as the through-line.
              • Fiction whose world runs on explicit game mechanics — levels, stats, and skills that characters can see and exploit.
                • Fiction about costumed or superpowered heroes and their conflicts with comparable villains.

                Practical

                How long a commitment, whether it stands alone, and whether it has finished.

                Tap a chip to ask for it · tap again to rule it out · once more to clear. Numbers show what would be left.

                • Cover of Earthsea Cycle
                  Earthsea Cycle

                  series · 18 books · 1964

                  completed

                  part of Earthsea

                  similar byfantasysecondary world

                  The Earthsea Cycle, also known as Earthsea, is a series of high fantasy books written by American author Ursula K. Le Guin. Beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), The Tombs of Atuan (1970), and The Farthest Shore (1972), the series was continued in Tehanu (1990), and Tales from Earthsea and The Other Wind. In 2018, all the novels and short stories were published in a single volume, The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, with artwork by Charles Vess.

                • Cover of The Well at the World's End
                  The Well at the World's End

                  William Morris · standalone novel · 1896

                  similar byfantasysecondary world+1 more

                  The Well at the World's End is a high fantasy novel by the British textile designer, poet, and author William Morris. It was first published in 1896 and has been reprinted repeatedly since, most notably in two parts as the 20th and 21st volumes of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, in August and September 1970.

                • C
                  Corum

                  series · 6 books · 1971

                  part of Moorcock's Multiverse

                  similar byfantasysecondary world

                • Cover of Flesh & False Gods
                  Flesh & False Gods

                  series · 3 books · 2023

                  similar byfantasysecondary world+1 more

                  Immortal Longings, the opener of Chloe Gong's Flesh & False Gods trilogy, draws on Antony and Cleopatra and the history of Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City for a story of body-hopping combatants fighting for survival inside a deadly competition, against a backdrop of court intrigue between rival cousins for the throne. Vilest Things and the forthcoming Eyes of Kings continue the trilogy's blend of romantasy and political scheming.

                • Cover of Monster Blood Tattoo milieu
                  Monster Blood Tattoo milieu

                  series · 6 books · 2006

                  similar byfantasysecondary world

                • WS
                  World of Septimus Heap

                  series · 12 books · 2005

                  similar byfantasysecondary world

                • Cover of The Story of the Glittering Plain Which Has Been Also Called the Land of Living Men or the Acre of the Undying
                  The Story of the Glittering Plain Which Has Been Also Called the Land of Living Men or the Acre of the Undying

                  William Morris · standalone novel · 1891

                  similar byfantasysecondary world

                • Cover of The Immortal Brothers
                  The Immortal Brothers

                  series · 4 books · 2015

                  similar byimmortalityfantasysecondary world

                  Jacquelyn Frank's The Immortal Brothers is a paranormal romance quartet -- Cursed by Fire, Cursed by Ice, Bound by Sin, and Bound in Darkness -- all published by Ballantine Books in 2015, following different brothers across linked romantic storylines.

                • Cover of Celestial Kingdom
                  Celestial Kingdom

                  series · 4 books · 2022

                  similar byfantasysecondary world

                  Sue Lynn Tan's Celestial Kingdom duology reimagines the Chinese legend of the moon goddess Chang'e, following her daughter Xingyin as she seeks to free her mother from an enchantment binding her to the moon. It opens with Daughter of the Moon Goddess (2022) and concludes with Heart of the Sun Warrior, with the companion collection Tales of the Celestial Kingdom and the further novel Immortal extending the same mythic world.

                • Cover of Kane
                  Kane

                  series · 25 books · 1970

                  completed

                  similar byfantasysecondary world+1 more

                  Kane is a fictional character created by American author Karl Edward Wagner, who is the protagonist of three novels and about 20 short stories published between 1970 and 1985. Most Kane tales are sword and sorcery with strong elements of gothic horror and set in a grim, pre-medieval world which is nonetheless ancient and rich in history. In some of Wagner's later stories, Kane appears in the present day—for example, as a drug dealer in "Lacunae" and as a somewhat suspect publishing magnate in "At First Just Ghostly".

                • Cover of Green Star Rises
                  Green Star Rises

                  series · 5 books · 1972

                  completed

                  similar byfantasysecondary world

                  Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin. In the 1970s he was editor of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, which introduced readers to many overlooked classics of the fantasy genre.

                • Cover of A Nameless Witch
                  A Nameless Witch

                  A. Lee Martinez · standalone novel · 2007

                  similar byimmortalityfantasysecondary world

                  Hiding her inherent beauty while hunting for men to consume, an immortal witch enters a reluctant partnership with the pure-hearted White Knight in order to counter the efforts of an insane sorcerer who is threatening their world.

                • Cover of Ever
                  Ever

                  Gail Carson Levine · standalone novel · 2008

                  similar byimmortalityfantasysecondary world

                  Fourteen-year-old Kezi and Olus, Akkan god of the winds, fall in love and together try to change her fate--to be sacrificed to a Hyte god because of a rash promise her father made--through a series of quests that might make her immortal.

                • Cover of The Secret Texts
                  The Secret Texts

                  series · 4 books · 1998

                  completed

                  similar byfantasysecondary world

                  Holly Lisle was an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, paranormal romance and romantic suspense novels. She was also known for her work in educating writers, including her e-book Mugging the Muse: Writing Fiction for Love And Money, starting the Forward Motion Writers' Community web site, and her novel-writing and revision courses How to Think Sideways.

                • Cover of Tide Lords
                  Tide Lords

                  series · 4 books · 2007

                  similar byimmortalityfantasysecondary world

                • Cover of The Eternal Warrior
                  The Eternal Warrior

                  Ari Marmell · standalone novel · 2025

                  similar byfantasysecondary world

                • Cover of The History of Middle Earth
                  The History of Middle Earth

                  series · 14 books · 1983

                  completed

                  part of Tolkien's legendarium

                  similar byfantasysecondary world

                  The History of Middle-earth is a 12-volume series of books published between 1983 and 1996 by George Allen & Unwin in the UK and by Houghton Mifflin in the US. They collect and analyse much of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, compiled and edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. The series shows the development over time of Tolkien's conception of Middle-earth as a fictional place with its own peoples, languages, and history, from his earliest notions of "a mythology for England" through to the development of the stories that make up The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. It is not a "history of Middle-earth" in the sense of being a chronicle of events in Middle-earth written from an in-universe perspective; it is instead an out-of-universe history of Tolkien's creative process. In 2000, the twelve volumes were republished in three limited edition omnibus volumes.

                • Cover of The Hobbit
                  The Hobbit

                  series · 2 books · 1937

                  completed

                  part of Tolkien's legendarium

                  similar byfantasysecondary world

                  The Hobbit (1937) is J. R. R. Tolkien's children's fantasy novel following the reluctant burglar Bilbo Baggins, who joins a company of dwarves and the wizard Gandalf on a journey to reclaim treasure guarded by the dragon Smaug. It stands as a complete adventure on its own, but shares its setting with the rest of Tolkien's legendarium and leads into the events of The Lord of the Rings.

                • Cover of Millennium's Rule
                  Millennium's Rule

                  series · 4 books · 2014

                  similar bysecondary world+1 more

                  Millennium's Rule is set across multiple worlds that only certain travelers can cross between, opening with Tyen, an archaeology student who unearths a sentient, centuries-old book named Vella, and Rielle, a dyer's daughter hiding forbidden magical talent in a society ruled by priests who forbid it. Trudi Canavan follows both of them as their discoveries chip away at what their worlds have taught them about magic, history, and who holds power. The series runs Thief's Magic, Angel of Storms, and Successor's Promise.

                • Cover of Dragon's Disciple
                  Dragon's Disciple

                  series · 2 books · 1997

                  similar byfantasysecondary world+1 more

                • Cover of Shattered Goddess
                  Shattered Goddess

                  series · 2 books · 1983

                  similar byfantasysecondary world

                • Cover of The Book Without Words
                  The Book Without Words

                  Avi · standalone novel · 2005

                  similar byimmortalityfantasysecondary world

                  The Book Without Words appears to be a volume of blank parchment pages. But for a green-eyed reader filled with great desire, it may reveal the forgotten magical arts of making gold and achieving immortality. For generations, its magic has been protected from those who would exploit it. But on a terrible day of death and destruction, the Book Without Words falls into the hands of a desperate boy

                • Cover of The Lords of Dus
                  The Lords of Dus

                  series · 4 books · 1980

                  similar bysecondary worldfantasy

                  The Lords of Dus is Lawrence Watt-Evans' debut fantasy quartet, opening with The Lure of the Basilisk (1980) and continuing through The Seven Altars of Dusarra, The Sword of Bheleu, and The Book of Silence, all set in the same fantasy world.

                • Cover of Grimus
                  Grimus

                  Salman Rushdie · standalone novel · 1975

                  similar byimmortalityfantasy

                  After drinking a mysterious fluid that grants him immortality, the young Axona man Flapping Eagle sets out on a centuries-long search for his vanished sister, drifting through identities and eras as the decades pass without aging him. The trail eventually leads him to a hidden dimension reachable through the Mediterranean, and to Calf Island, a refuge for immortals who have grown weary of endless life but cannot bring themselves to give it up, ruled by a strange and rigid order all its own. Salman Rushdie's first novel, an early, genre-inflected departure from the realism of his later, more famous work.