Mark Lawrence Books in Order (Updated August 5, 2026)

Mark Lawrence is a British-American fantasy and science fiction writer whose books range from violent post-apocalyptic fantasy to time-travel adventures and stories built around an infinite library.

His bibliography is easier to navigate once it is divided by setting. The Broken Empire and The Red Queen’s War occupy the same world. Book of the Ancestor and Book of the Ice share the planet Abeth. Impossible Times, The Library Trilogy, and The Academy of Kindness begin separate storylines.

Most of Lawrence’s series are completed trilogies. The main exception is The Academy of Kindness, which began with Daughter of Crows in March 2026 and is planned to continue with two further novels.

Pick the Right Door

There is no single opening book required for everything Mark Lawrence has written.

Choose according to the kind of story you want:

1. Prince of Thorns (2011): Start here for Lawrence’s darkest work, following a ruthless young prince across the ruined world of the Broken Empire.
2. Red Sister (2017): Start here for a more sympathetic protagonist, a convent that trains warrior nuns, and the frozen world of Abeth.
3. One Word Kill (2019): Start here for a shorter science fiction trilogy involving 1980s London, mathematics, tabletop gaming, illness, and time travel.
4. The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (2023): Start here for a more cerebral fantasy built around an immense library, competing histories, romance, and the power of stories.
5. Daughter of Crows (2026): Start here for Lawrence’s newest dark fantasy series, centered on an older woman whose violent past returns to her quiet life.

For readers who want to move through Lawrence’s career in publication order, begin with Prince of Thorns.

Mark Lawrence Series at a Glance

Lawrence’s principal novel sequences are:

1. The Broken Empire Trilogy
2. The Red Queen’s War Trilogy
3. Book of the Ancestor
4. Impossible Times
5. Book of the Ice
6. The Library Trilogy
7. The Academy of Kindness

The first six trilogies are complete. The Academy of Kindness is ongoing.

The Broken Empire Books in Order

The Broken Empire takes place in a distant future built over the remains of our own civilization. Its people understand the world as medieval fantasy, while remnants of science, technology, and ancient destruction remain beneath that surface.

The trilogy follows Jorg Ancrath, a royal son who becomes the leader of a violent band while pursuing power, revenge, and an increasingly ambitious destiny.

1. Prince of Thorns (2011): Teenage prince Jorg Ancrath leads a band of outlaws across a fractured empire, using cruelty, intelligence, and old technology in his attempt to reclaim his family’s castle.
2. King of Thorns (2012): Jorg prepares to defend his small kingdom against an admired and vastly more powerful rival while memories reveal the bargains and betrayals that placed him on the throne.
3. Emperor of Thorns (2013): Jorg travels toward the imperial congress determined to claim the vacant throne, as the Dead King’s forces and the hidden machinery of the old world threaten everyone still living.

The books form one continuous character arc. Read them in publication order and expect later volumes to reinterpret events that Jorg initially presents incompletely.

The Red Queen’s War Books in Order

The Red Queen’s War takes place in the same world and broad period as The Broken Empire. It follows Prince Jalan Kendeth, a self-interested royal who is magically bound to the disciplined Viking warrior Snorri ver Snagason.

The trilogy overlaps with parts of Jorg’s story, but it is not a retelling. Jalan and Snorri follow a separate route through the empire and uncover different parts of its history.

1. Prince of Fools (2014): Cowardly prince Jalan is forced to leave his comfortable life after a spell binds him to Snorri, whose mission leads them north through war, undeath, and family tragedy.
2. The Liar’s Key (2015): Jalan and Snorri possess a key capable of opening any lock, including doors that should remain sealed, while competing powers pursue them across the empire.
3. The Wheel of Osheim (2016): Jalan races back toward Red March as the mechanisms sustaining reality begin to fail and the Red Queen’s long war reaches its decisive stage.

The Red Queen’s War contains appearances and consequences connected to The Broken Empire. Readers can understand either trilogy independently, but publication order provides the clearest progression.

Broken Empire or Red Queen’s War First?

Mark Lawrence has stated that the two trilogies can be read in either order. Neither requires complete knowledge of the other.

The stronger first-time sequence is:

1. Prince of Thorns
2. King of Thorns
3. Emperor of Thorns
4. Prince of Fools
5. The Liar’s Key
6. The Wheel of Osheim

This order introduces the world through the books published first and lets later encounters with familiar characters carry their intended context.

Readers who dislike Jorg’s cruelty may begin with Prince of Fools. Jalan is deeply flawed, but his narration is more comic and his partnership with Snorri provides a different emotional center.

Broken Empire Short Fiction

Road Brothers

Road Brothers (2017): This collection brings together stories about Jorg, his road brothers, and other figures from the Broken Empire, filling in episodes from before and around the trilogy.

The collection is best read after Emperor of Thorns. Several stories assume that readers already know who survives, who dies, and how particular relationships develop.

Its contents include character-focused pieces such as “Bad Seed,” “The Secret,” “Know Thyself,” “The Dream-Taker’s Apprentice,” and “No Second Troy.” The stories expand the cast rather than forming a fourth Broken Empire novel.

Status: Optional, but recommended after the trilogy.

The New World

The New World (2023): This Red Queen’s War novella follows Jalan and Snorri on a sea journey that carries them beyond the lands explored in the main trilogy.

Read it after The Wheel of Osheim. Although its events relate to the Red Queen’s War period, familiarity with the completed trilogy gives the characters and their relationship the necessary weight.

Status: Optional continuation or side adventure.

A Thousand Years

A Thousand Years (2019): This short story returns to the world of The Red Queen’s War and examines characters or consequences across a much wider span of time than an ordinary adventure.

It was originally published in the anthology Unfettered III. Availability outside that collection may vary.

Status: Optional, best after both Broken Empire trilogies.

The Complete Broken Empire World Order

For the smoothest route through this shared setting, use:

1. Prince of Thorns (2011): Jorg begins his campaign to reclaim power and punish those responsible for his family’s destruction.
2. King of Thorns (2012): Jorg defends his throne while his earlier decisions are revealed through a second timeline.
3. Emperor of Thorns (2013): His pursuit of the imperial throne brings the trilogy’s political and supernatural conflicts together.
4. Road Brothers (2017): The collection revisits Jorg’s companions and adds stories surrounding the original journey.
5. Prince of Fools (2014): Jalan and Snorri begin a separate journey through the same fractured empire.
6. The Liar’s Key (2015): Their possession of Loki’s key places them at the center of a struggle over death, power, and forbidden doors.
7. The Wheel of Osheim (2016): The Red Queen’s War concludes as the world’s instability becomes impossible to ignore.
8. The New World (2023): Jalan and Snorri return for an additional expedition beyond the trilogy’s principal route.
9. A Thousand Years (2019): This optional story provides another perspective on the setting and its long history.

Road Brothers can also be saved until both trilogies are finished. The important rule is not to interrupt either trilogy between its three novels.

Book of the Ancestor Books in Order

Book of the Ancestor takes place on Abeth, a planet where most of the surface has frozen and humanity survives in a narrow corridor kept open by an artificial moon.

The trilogy follows Nona Grey, a dangerous child taken into the Convent of Sweet Mercy. There she studies combat, magic, religion, history, and the complex loyalties of the women around her.

1. Red Sister (2017): Nona is rescued from execution and brought to Sweet Mercy, where her unusual abilities attract friendship, suspicion, and enemies inside and beyond the convent.
2. Grey Sister (2018): Nona’s training becomes more dangerous as political powers hunt her, secrets within the convent emerge, and Abbess Glass pursues a plan few people fully understand.
3. Holy Sister (2019): War closes around the narrowing Corridor while Nona and her allies attempt to survive the assault and determine whether Abeth’s ancient systems can still save its people.

Read the trilogy consecutively. Holy Sister completes Nona’s central story and resolves the principal war surrounding the convent.

Tales of Abeth and Bound

Bound

Bound (2018): This Book of the Ancestor short story follows Nona and companions during their convent years, adding another dangerous episode without changing the trilogy’s main plot.

The story fits between Grey Sister and Holy Sister. It can be read there, although saving it until after the trilogy avoids interrupting the main escalation.

Status: Optional.

Tales of Abeth

Tales of Abeth (2022): This collection gathers three short works set on Abeth, including “Bound,” “The Devil You Know,” and “Thaw.”

Each story provides a smaller view of the planet, its people, or figures connected to the larger novels. The collection is not a fourth Book of the Ancestor novel.

Read it after Holy Sister for the least disruptive experience.

Status: Optional collection.

Book of the Ice Books in Order

Book of the Ice is also set on Abeth, but it begins far from the Corridor among tribes living on the frozen surface. Its protagonist, Yaz, is cast into a pit where her people abandon children considered unable to survive.

1. The Girl and the Stars (2020): Yaz is thrown into the Pit of the Missing and discovers a hidden society beneath the ice, where ancient powers, broken machines, and dangerous creatures challenge everything her tribe taught her.
2. The Girl and the Mountain (2021): Yaz leaves the depths and begins a journey across hostile ice, pursuing those she has lost while learning more about the forces shaping Abeth.
3. The Girl and the Moon (2022): Yaz’s path reaches the Corridor and intersects with people, institutions, and unresolved dangers connected to Book of the Ancestor.

The trilogy becomes increasingly connected to Nona’s world. Those links are especially important in the final volume.

Should Book of the Ancestor or Book of the Ice Come First?

Either trilogy can introduce Abeth, and the author has described them as readable in either order.

Publication order remains the safer recommendation:

1. Red Sister
2. Grey Sister
3. Holy Sister
4. The Girl and the Stars
5. The Girl and the Mountain
6. The Girl and the Moon

Book of the Ice gradually approaches characters and information established in Book of the Ancestor. Reading Nona’s trilogy first allows those connections to function as recognition rather than unexplained background.

Reading Book of the Ice first creates a more geographical progression, beginning in the extreme cold and moving toward the Corridor. It is viable, but some later encounters will lack their original context.

The Complete Abeth Reading Order

1. Red Sister (2017): Nona enters the Convent of Sweet Mercy and begins training among warriors, mystics, scholars, and spies.
2. Grey Sister (2018): Her abilities and loyalties are tested as the conflict around Abbess Glass’s plans intensifies.
3. Holy Sister (2019): The struggle for the Corridor and Abeth’s future brings Nona’s trilogy to its conclusion.
4. Tales of Abeth (2022): Three optional shorter stories revisit the world and some of its people.
5. The Girl and the Stars (2020): Yaz discovers the hidden world beneath the ice after being rejected by her tribe.
6. The Girl and the Mountain (2021): Her search continues across the frozen surface toward the more populated regions of Abeth.
7. The Girl and the Moon (2022): The two Abeth storylines draw closer together as the planet faces another major crisis.

Readers who prefer the shortest route need only complete the six novels. Tales of Abeth adds context but is not required.

Impossible Times Books in Order

Impossible Times is a science fiction trilogy set primarily in 1980s London. It follows Nick Hayes, a mathematically gifted teenager who plays Dungeons & Dragons with his friends while undergoing treatment for leukemia.

The books use time travel, probability, alternate outcomes, and questions about whether knowledge of the future allows anyone to change it.

1. One Word Kill (2019): Fifteen-year-old Nick receives a cancer diagnosis, meets a new member of his gaming group, and encounters a mysterious man who appears to know his future.
2. Limited Wish (2019): Nick begins studying mathematics at Cambridge, where a scientific experiment and a dangerous new adversary deepen the time-travel problem surrounding him.
3. Dispel Illusion (2019): Different periods of Nick’s life collide as he attempts to protect the people he loves and resolve the consequences created by earlier interference.

All three books were published in 2019 and form one compact story. Read them in order because later volumes depend directly on the rules, identities, and altered events established earlier.

Impossible Times is separate from Lawrence’s fantasy worlds. Readers do not need the Broken Empire or Abeth books before starting it.

The Library Trilogy Books in Order

The Library Trilogy centers on the Library, a seemingly endless institution containing books and histories from innumerable worlds. The story combines fantasy, science fiction, romance, memory, and conflicts over who controls knowledge.

Livira grows up outside the centers of power. Evar has spent his life trapped inside a vast chamber in the Library. Their stories begin separately before revealing a much larger relationship between worlds and timelines.

1. The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (2023): Livira earns a place in the great Library while Evar searches for a way beyond the chamber that has confined him, drawing both into a mystery crossing time and reality.
2. The Book That Broke the World (2024): The consequences of the first novel spread through different peoples and histories as the struggle over the Library becomes more destructive.
3. The Book That Held Her Heart (2025): Livira, Evar, and the forces competing for the Library confront the final consequences of altered histories, divided identities, and their attempts to reach one another.

The trilogy is complete. Its chronology is intentionally layered, so publication order is the only useful first-reading sequence.

Missing Pages and the Library Short Stories

Four shorter works accompany The Library Trilogy:

1. Overdue (2023): A story from the Library setting examines another encounter with its books, rules, and hidden dangers.
2. Returns (2024): This companion piece adds a new perspective on returning, memory, and the consequences of contact with the Library.
3. About Pain (2024): A character-focused story explores suffering and the ways people interpret or carry it within the Library’s wider reality.
4. Tabula Rasa (2024): Written for the collected edition, this story completes the group with another examination of memory, identity, and erased or rewritten experience.

All four appear in:

Missing Pages (2024): This collection gathers “Overdue,” “Returns,” “About Pain,” and “Tabula Rasa” in one volume.

The stories are optional. Read Missing Pages after The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, or save it until the entire trilogy is complete.

Because the Library novels depend on controlled revelations, reading the collection after The Book That Held Her Heart is the most cautious choice.

The Bookshop Book

The Bookshop Book: Mark Lawrence has discussed a standalone work associated with The Library Trilogy, but its final publication details were not firmly established by August 5, 2026.

It should not yet be inserted into the published reading order. Until an official edition and release date are confirmed, treat it as a planned related work rather than an available installment.

The Academy of Kindness Books in Order

The Academy of Kindness marks Lawrence’s return to a darker form of fantasy. The series centers on an institution where girls are trained to become agents of vengeance, with only a small fraction surviving the process.

1. Daughter of Crows (2026): Rue, an elderly former assassin living quietly in an isolated community, is forced to confront the brutal academy that shaped her when violence and buried history reach her home.

The novel was published on March 24, 2026, and begins a planned trilogy.

Lawrence has stated that the second and third Academy of Kindness books are intended for 2027 and 2028. Their final titles and exact publication dates had not been reliably confirmed by August 5, 2026.

This series is separate from the Broken Empire, Abeth, Impossible Times, and the Library continuity.

Latest Mark Lawrence Book

Daughter of Crows (2026): The first Academy of Kindness novel is Mark Lawrence’s latest published novel as of August 5, 2026.

It follows The Book That Held Her Heart, which completed The Library Trilogy in 2025.

Two additional Academy of Kindness novels are planned, with annual releases expected in 2027 and 2028. Since confirmed titles were not yet available, they should not be added to the numbered bibliography.

Mark Lawrence Books in Publication Order

Readers interested in following the progression of Lawrence’s career can use the main novel publication sequence below.

1. Prince of Thorns (2011): Jorg Ancrath begins his violent pursuit of revenge and royal power in the Broken Empire.
2. King of Thorns (2012): Jorg defends his throne while earlier decisions and hidden plans reshape the conflict.
3. Emperor of Thorns (2013): Jorg moves toward the imperial throne as supernatural and technological threats converge.
4. Prince of Fools (2014): Jalan and Snorri are bound together and driven north by the Red Queen’s hidden war.
5. The Liar’s Key (2015): Their possession of a key capable of opening any lock attracts enemies across the empire.
6. The Wheel of Osheim (2016): Jalan’s journey concludes as the world’s ancient machinery destabilizes reality.
7. Red Sister (2017): Nona enters Sweet Mercy and begins training in combat, magic, and survival.
8. Grey Sister (2018): Nona and Abbess Glass face political and personal threats beyond the convent.
9. One Word Kill (2019): Nick Hayes confronts cancer, time travel, and a stranger connected to his future.
10. Holy Sister (2019): Nona’s trilogy ends amid war for the Corridor and the survival of Abeth.
11. Limited Wish (2019): Nick’s mathematical studies lead him deeper into the consequences of altered time.
12. Dispel Illusion (2019): Multiple stages of Nick’s life intersect in the trilogy’s final conflict.
13. The Girl and the Stars (2020): Yaz is cast beneath the ice and discovers a hidden population and ancient technology.
14. The Girl and the Mountain (2021): Yaz crosses the frozen world while pursuing her people and searching for answers.
15. The Girl and the Moon (2022): Her journey reaches the Corridor and draws the Abeth storylines together.
16. The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (2023): Livira and Evar approach the infinite Library from different worlds and times.
17. The Book That Broke the World (2024): Conflict over the Library spreads as histories and identities fracture.
18. The Book That Held Her Heart (2025): The Library Trilogy concludes with the final struggle over memory, connection, and competing realities.
19. Daughter of Crows (2026): A retired assassin’s past returns in the opening novel of The Academy of Kindness.

This list covers the principal novels. Collections and novellas belong beside their relevant series rather than between every novel by release date.

A Recommended Order for Reading Everything

A full reading plan should preserve each trilogy’s momentum and keep shared worlds together.

Begin with the Broken Empire World

1. Prince of Thorns (2011): Meet Jorg and learn what kind of world lies beneath the story’s medieval surface.
2. King of Thorns (2012): Continue through Jorg’s defense of his kingdom and the hidden history behind his rise.
3. Emperor of Thorns (2013): Complete his pursuit of the imperial throne.
4. Road Brothers (2017): Revisit Jorg’s companions through stories set around the trilogy.
5. Prince of Fools (2014): Return to the same world through Jalan and Snorri.
6. The Liar’s Key (2015): Follow their increasingly dangerous journey through war, death, and old technology.
7. The Wheel of Osheim (2016): Complete the Red Queen’s War.
8. The New World (2023): Read the optional Jalan and Snorri novella after their trilogy.

Continue to Abeth

9. Red Sister (2017): Enter Sweet Mercy through Nona’s arrival.
10. Grey Sister (2018): Follow the widening political and magical conflict.
11. Holy Sister (2019): Complete Nona’s story before moving to Abeth’s ice tribes.
12. Tales of Abeth (2022): Read the optional short fiction once the convent and planet are familiar.
13. The Girl and the Stars (2020): Begin Yaz’s journey beneath the ice.
14. The Girl and the Mountain (2021): Follow her movement toward the Corridor.
15. The Girl and the Moon (2022): Complete the second Abeth trilogy and its links to the first.

Change Pace with Science Fiction

16. One Word Kill (2019): Begin Nick’s time-travel story in 1986.
17. Limited Wish (2019): Continue as his studies and altered future create new dangers.
18. Dispel Illusion (2019): Finish the trilogy’s intersecting timelines.

Enter the Library

19. The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (2023): Meet Livira, Evar, and the institution connecting countless worlds.
20. The Book That Broke the World (2024): Continue through the expanding conflict over history and access to knowledge.
21. The Book That Held Her Heart (2025): Complete the trilogy before exploring its supplemental fiction.
22. Missing Pages (2024): Read the four Library stories with the full trilogy’s revelations already understood.

Finish with the Current Series

23. Daughter of Crows (2026): Begin the Academy of Kindness with Rue’s return to the violence she thought she had escaped.

This route is organized by continuity rather than strict publication date. It prevents a trilogy from being interrupted whenever Lawrence published a short work from another world.

Mark Lawrence Standalone and Uncollected Fiction

Lawrence has also published stories outside his major novel sequences. Some appeared in charity collections, magazines, online publications, or limited formats.

1. Dark Tide (2012): Published in the anthology Fading Light, this independent short story places its characters against a dark speculative threat.
2. Quick (2013): Released in the charity anthology Triumph Over Tragedy, this brief work stands outside Lawrence’s principal series.
3. During the Dance (2014): This standalone story focuses on memory, family, and loss rather than the violent political scale of his major fantasy novels.
4. The Dream-Taker’s Apprentice (2015): A young apprentice becomes involved with dangerous dreams in a story later included among Lawrence’s shorter fantasy work.
5. A Rescue (2015): Published in a collection honoring David Gemmell, this fantasy story centers on an attempted rescue and the risks attached to heroic action.
6. Bulletproof (2016): This speculative story appeared in Unfettered II and explores survival under extraordinary conditions.
7. The Hero of Aral Pass (2017): Published in the charity anthology Art of War, the story examines conflict and the meaning assigned to heroism.

These works are optional and have no required collective order. Availability varies, and some may be easier to find in their original anthologies than as individual editions.

Unpublished and Online Works

Lawrence has shared or serialized additional fiction, including projects such as Gunlaw and Blood of the Red. These works have not entered his standard commercial novel bibliography in the same way as the published trilogies.

They should not be inserted into the main reading order unless a final, officially published edition becomes available.

Patreon access, online serialization, or an early manuscript does not necessarily establish a book’s final title, continuity, or publication status.

Which Mark Lawrence Series Are Connected?

The Broken Empire and The Red Queen’s War

Connected: Both trilogies occupy the same world and overlapping historical period.

Characters cross between them, and each trilogy reveals information about the world that affects the other.

Book of the Ancestor and Book of the Ice

Connected: Both take place on Abeth.

Book of the Ice moves increasingly close to people and events associated with Book of the Ancestor.

Impossible Times

Separate continuity: Nick Hayes’s time-travel story takes place in a version of the modern world.

Any thematic echoes or small references should not be treated as proof that it shares the direct narrative continuity of Lawrence’s fantasy series.

The Library Trilogy

Separate principal storyline: The Library books involve many worlds and realities, creating room for echoes and connections.

They should still be approached as their own trilogy rather than as a required sequel to Broken Empire, Abeth, or Impossible Times.

The Academy of Kindness

Separate continuity: Daughter of Crows begins a new fantasy setting and does not require another Lawrence series.

Which Series Should You Not Skip?

No series is required before every other series. The key obligations exist only within shared worlds.

Do not read The Girl and the Moon as a standalone. It completes Book of the Ice and has stronger meaning after Book of the Ancestor.

Do not begin the Broken Empire world with Emperor of Thorns or The Wheel of Osheim. Both conclude long-running character and political arcs.

Do not start The Library Trilogy with its short stories. The novels establish the Library’s rules, timelines, and central relationships.

Do not treat Daughter of Crows as a completed standalone. It opens an ongoing trilogy even though its first novel has its own central conflict.

Series Completion Status

The Broken Empire

Complete: Three novels, ending with Emperor of Thorns.

The Red Queen’s War

Complete: Three novels, ending with The Wheel of Osheim.

Book of the Ancestor

Complete: Three novels, ending with Holy Sister.

Impossible Times

Complete: Three novels, ending with Dispel Illusion.

Book of the Ice

Complete: Three novels, ending with The Girl and the Moon.

The Library Trilogy

Complete: Three novels, ending with The Book That Held Her Heart.

The Academy of Kindness

Ongoing: Daughter of Crows is published, with two more novels planned.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Mark Lawrence book should I read first?

Choose Prince of Thorns to follow publication order and begin with the work that established Lawrence’s career.

Choose Red Sister when you want a less hostile central character and a school-based fantasy with a strong ensemble.

Is Prince of Thorns suitable for every fantasy reader?

No. Jorg commits and describes severe violence, and the trilogy intentionally centers a cruel, manipulative protagonist.

Readers who do not enjoy following an antihero should begin with Red Sister, One Word Kill, or The Book That Wouldn’t Burn.

Are Prince of Thorns and Prince of Fools connected?

Yes. They begin two trilogies in the same setting.

Jorg leads The Broken Empire, while Jalan leads The Red Queen’s War. Their lives and political circumstances overlap without making the two trilogies one six-volume narrative.

Can The Red Queen’s War be read before The Broken Empire?

Yes. The author has identified either trilogy as a possible starting point.

The Broken Empire first remains preferable because it was published first and gives greater context to returning figures.

Is Road Brothers a fourth Broken Empire novel?

No. It is a collection of short stories about Jorg, his companions, and other characters from that world.

Read it as supplementary material after the trilogy.

Is The New World part of The Red Queen’s War?

Yes. It is a novella featuring Jalan and Snorri rather than a fourth full-length trilogy novel.

Read it after The Wheel of Osheim.

Are Red Sister and The Girl and the Stars connected?

Yes. Both take place on Abeth.

They begin separate trilogies with different protagonists and regions, but the connection becomes increasingly important as Book of the Ice progresses.

Should I read Red Sister before The Girl and the Stars?

Yes, for the publication-order experience. Complete Red Sister, Grey Sister, and Holy Sister before beginning Yaz’s trilogy.

Starting with The Girl and the Stars is possible, but later crossover material will carry less context.

Where does Bound fit?

“Bound” belongs to the Book of the Ancestor period and can be placed between Grey Sister and Holy Sister.

It is also included in Tales of Abeth, so readers do not need to buy both versions merely to obtain that story.

Is Impossible Times connected to Mark Lawrence’s fantasy books?

It is best treated as separate continuity. The trilogy takes place primarily in 1980s England and uses science-fictional time travel rather than the worldbuilding of the Broken Empire or Abeth.

No previous Lawrence book is required.

Is The Library Trilogy complete?

Yes. It begins with The Book That Wouldn’t Burn and concludes with The Book That Held Her Heart.

Missing Pages adds four short stories but does not extend the trilogy into a fourth novel.

When should I read Missing Pages?

The safest placement is after The Book That Held Her Heart.

Readers eager for additional Library material can read it after the first novel, but completing the trilogy first avoids accidental loss of mystery.

What is Mark Lawrence’s newest book?

Daughter of Crows, published on March 24, 2026, is his newest novel as of August 5, 2026.

It is the first volume of The Academy of Kindness.

When is the next Academy of Kindness book coming out?

A second novel is planned for 2027 and a third for 2028.

Their final titles and exact release dates had not been reliably confirmed by August 5, 2026.

The Most Reliable Reading Plan

Start with one complete trilogy rather than attempting to merge every Mark Lawrence book into a single timeline.

For publication-order readers, begin with Prince of Thorns, finish The Broken Empire, then continue through The Red Queen’s War. Follow those books with Book of the Ancestor, Book of the Ice, Impossible Times, and The Library Trilogy.

For a gentler introduction to Lawrence’s work, begin with Red Sister. For the shortest commitment, choose One Word Kill. For his current series, begin with Daughter of Crows, but remember that The Academy of Kindness is not yet complete.

The two continuity rules that matter most are simple: keep The Broken Empire beside The Red Queen’s War, and read Book of the Ancestor before Book of the Ice when you want the strongest first-time experience.