Jodi Meadows Books in Order (Updated March 7, 2026)

Jodi Meadows is one of those authors whose bibliography makes more sense once you divide it in half. One half is her solo fantasy and middle grade work. The other half is the coauthored Jane books with Cynthia Hand and Brodi Ashton. If you mix those together too early, the catalog looks more tangled than it really is.

For reading order purposes, there are six main buckets: the Newsoul Trilogy, the Orphan Queen Duology, the Fallen Isles Trilogy, the Salvation Cycle, the Deer Hill Anonymous middle grade books, and the coauthored Jane novels. Most readers should finish one bucket before moving to the next.

The first decision to make

• If you want Jodi Meadows as a solo fantasy author, start with Incarnate, The Orphan Queen, or Nightrender, depending on what kind of fantasy you want.
• If you want the collaborative, funny alt-history books, start with My Lady Jane.

That is the real fork in the road here. The Jane books are not a side sequel to her solo work, and her solo work does not need the Jane books for context.

Solo books by series

The Newsoul Trilogy

1. Incarnate (2012): Ana, the first new soul born in thousands of years, enters a world that treats her as a dangerous interruption and has to decide whether she belongs in it at all.
2. Asunder (2013): The second book widens the pressure on Ana by pushing harder on truth, unrest, and the hidden cost of the world’s seemingly ordered cycle.
3. Infinite (2014): The trilogy finale turns the series toward full-scale reckoning as Ana confronts both the system around her and the future it has denied her.

Optional novella

• Phoenix Overture: A digital novella tied to the trilogy, best treated as extra material rather than a required stop for first-time readers.

This trilogy should be read straight through. It is the clearest early Jodi Meadows sequence and the easiest place to start if you want her original YA fantasy first.

The Orphan Queen Duology

1. The Orphan Queen (2015): Wilhelmina, a displaced princess leading a network of orphan thieves, infiltrates the palace of the kingdom that stole her home.
2. The Mirror King (2017): The second book continues Wil’s rise from hidden claimant to active force in the fate of her kingdom.

Optional novellas

• The Hidden Prince: A pre-story novella centered on Tobiah, set before the main duology.
• The Glowing Knight: Another Tobiah novella set before the main books.
• The Burning Hand: A third Tobiah novella that also sits before the main duology.
• The Black Knife: An extra novella in the same story space, optional for completists.

For most readers, the right move is simple: read The Orphan Queen, then The Mirror King, and leave the novellas until later unless you already know you want every side piece.

The Fallen Isles Trilogy

1. Before She Ignites (2018): Mira, celebrated as the Hopebearer, is betrayed and imprisoned after uncovering secrets tied to dragons and the political structure of the Isles.
2. As She Ascends (2018): Mira’s escape from passivity continues as the series leans further into shifting loyalties, survival, and larger rebellion.
3. When She Reigns (2019): The trilogy closes by bringing Mira’s personal fight and the realm’s political conflict into one final confrontation.

This is a full trilogy and should be read in order. It is the best Jodi Meadows entry if you want dragons and a more openly political fantasy setup.

The Salvation Cycle

1. Nightrender (2024): On the Island of Salvation, three kingdoms, old wars, demon incursions, and an immortal weapon of the gods collide in a larger fantasy world than Meadows’s earlier series.
2. Dawnbreaker (2025): The second and final book picks up after the first novel’s rupture and pushes the duology toward its endgame.

This is one of the easiest continuity calls in her catalog. Read Nightrender first and Dawnbreaker second with no detours in between.

Deer Hill Anonymous

1. Bye Forever, I Guess (2024): Meadows’s middle grade debut turns wrong-number texting, gaming culture, and first real friendship into a warm contemporary story.
2. Confessions From the Group Chat (2025): The second middle grade romcom follows a new social mess built around online behavior, school reputation, and friendship repair.

These books are listed together on Meadows’s site under Deer Hill Anonymous, but they are contemporary middle grade rather than fantasy, so they sit in a very different reading lane from her YA worlds.

The coauthored Jane books

This is where readers can overcomplicate things. The Jane books are connected by tone and branding more than by one strict ongoing plot. The safest approach is still publication order, because the humor and shared style build naturally that way.

The Lady Janies

1. My Lady Jane (2016): A comic alternate-history fantasy about Lady Jane Grey, royal chaos, and history cheerfully refusing to behave as expected.
2. My Plain Jane (2018): A supernatural spin on Jane Eyre that keeps the team’s irreverent tone but shifts to a different literary and historical sandbox.
3. My Calamity Jane (2020): The series heads to the American West for a werewolf-flavored Calamity Jane adventure with the same playful alternate-history energy.

The Marys

4. My Contrary Mary (2021): Mary, Queen of Scots, gets the same remix treatment in a story full of court danger, shapeshifting trouble, and romantic chaos.
5. My Imaginary Mary (2022): Mary Shelley becomes the center of an eccentric, electrically charged historical fantasy.
6. My Salty Mary (2024): Mary Read and mermaid mythology collide in a swashbuckling fantasy that continues the group’s revisionist historical style.

You do not need to read the Jane books to understand Jodi Meadows’s solo fantasy, and you do not need her solo fantasy to understand the Jane books. Treat these as a separate coauthor shelf.

Publication order across the main books

If you want the broad bibliography view, this is the cleanest path through the main novels:

1. Incarnate (2012): A new soul appears in a world built on reincarnated old ones.
2. Asunder (2013): The cracks in that world deepen fast.
3. Infinite (2014): The Newsoul trilogy reaches its ending.
4. The Orphan Queen (2015): A hidden princess begins taking back a stolen kingdom.
5. My Lady Jane (2016): Meadows’s coauthored alt-history comedy line begins.
6. The Mirror King (2017): The Orphan Queen story resolves.
7. Before She Ignites (2018): Dragons, prison, betrayal, and political fantasy open the Fallen Isles.
8. My Plain Jane (2018): The Jane books move into gothic territory.
9. As She Ascends (2018): Fallen Isles continues.
10. When She Reigns (2019): Fallen Isles concludes.
11. My Calamity Jane (2020): The coauthored series heads West.
12. My Contrary Mary (2021): The Mary branch begins.
13. My Imaginary Mary (2022): Mary Shelley gets her turn.
14. Nightrender (2024): Meadows returns to large-scale fantasy in a new duology.
15. My Salty Mary (2024): Pirate-and-mermaid chaos joins the coauthored shelf.
16. Bye Forever, I Guess (2024): Meadows launches her middle grade contemporary line.
17. Dawnbreaker (2025): The Salvation Cycle finishes.
18. Confessions From the Group Chat (2025): Deer Hill Anonymous continues.

The most useful recommended reading orders

Best path for fantasy readers

1. Incarnate
2. Asunder
3. Infinite
4. The Orphan Queen
5. The Mirror King
6. Before She Ignites
7. As She Ascends
8. When She Reigns
9. Nightrender
10. Dawnbreaker

This route keeps the solo fantasy work intact and moves from her earliest trilogy through her later fantasy worlds without interruption from the coauthored books.

Best path for readers who mainly want one completed arc

1. The Orphan Queen
2. The Mirror King

This is probably the cleanest short entry if you want a finished solo fantasy from Meadows without committing to three books.

Best path for readers who want the collaborative books

1. My Lady Jane
2. My Plain Jane
3. My Calamity Jane
4. My Contrary Mary
5. My Imaginary Mary
6. My Salty Mary

Publication order is still the best choice here, even though these are more companion-like than one continuous saga.

Best path for younger readers

1. Bye Forever, I Guess
2. Confessions From the Group Chat

That is the simplest lane if you are not here for YA fantasy at all.

Where order matters most

Order matters most inside the Newsoul Trilogy, Orphan Queen Duology, Fallen Isles Trilogy, Salvation Cycle, and the Deer Hill Anonymous pair.

Order matters less across the coauthored Jane books, but publication order is still the smoothest way in.

The novellas around The Orphan Queen are the least essential part of the bibliography. They are extras, not barriers to entry.

Latest release status

The latest confirmed Jodi Meadows book currently released is Confessions From the Group Chat. It was published in October 2025, after Dawnbreaker and after her 2024 middle grade debut.

I did not find a newer officially listed Jodi Meadows book beyond that in the sources checked, so this is the safest current “latest release” answer.

FAQs

What Jodi Meadows book should I read first?

For solo fantasy, start with Incarnate or The Orphan Queen. For the coauthored historical-fantasy comedies, start with My Lady Jane.

Do I need to read the Jane books in order?

Not as strictly as her solo fantasy series, but publication order is still the best first-read path.

Are the Orphan Queen novellas required?

No. They are optional extras and work better after the main duology for most readers.

Is Dawnbreaker the end of the Salvation Cycle?

Yes. It is the second and final book of that duology.

Are the Deer Hill Anonymous books fantasy?

No. They are contemporary middle grade books, so they belong in a different reading lane from most of Meadows’s earlier catalog.

Final recommendation

If you want one decisive answer for Jodi Meadows as a solo author, begin with Incarnate if you want her earliest fantasy, or The Orphan Queen if you want the neatest short completed entry. If you want the coauthored books, begin with My Lady Jane and read the Jane shelf in publication order.