Madeleine Roux Books in Order (Updated March 10, 2026)

Madeleine Roux writes in several very different lanes: YA horror, adult science fiction, historical romance, middle grade fantasy, and franchise fiction. That means there is no single author-wide sequence that every reader needs.

The practical rule is simpler than the bibliography looks. Read each series in publication order, treat the standalones separately, and keep the licensed books in their own section instead of mixing them into her original-fiction continuity.

If you like this, start with this

If you like creepy YA horror, start with: Asylum
If you like gothic dark fantasy, start with: House of Furies
If you like adult sci-fi horror, start with: Salvaged
If you like metafictional YA horror, start with: The Book of Living Secrets
If you like dark fairy-tale horror, start with: A Girl Walks into the Forest
If you like Regency romance, start with: The Proposition
If you like franchise fantasy, start with: Critical Role: The Mighty Nein, The Nine Eyes of Lucien

Best reading order for most readers

If you want the clearest route through Roux’s original fiction, this is the smoothest path:

1. Asylum
2. Sanctum
3. Catacomb
4. Escape from Asylum
5. House of Furies
6. Court of Shadows
7. Tomb of Ancients
8. Salvaged
9. Reclaimed
10. The Book of Living Secrets
11. A Girl Walks into the Forest
12. Then move to the historical romances and licensed books if you want the full bibliography

That order keeps the two main original YA horror sequences together, then shifts into adult sci-fi and later standalones.

Madeleine Roux books in publication order

1. Allison Hewitt Is Trapped (2011): A zombie-apocalypse novel built around blog posts, survival pressure, and a heroine trying to keep people alive while the world collapses.
2. Sadie Walker Is Stranded (2012): A second zombie novel that returns to Roux’s apocalypse mode through a stranded narrator and another fight to stay alive.
3. Asylum (2013): Dan Crawford arrives for a summer program at a former psychiatric hospital and finds that the building’s past is not remotely finished with him.
4. Sanctum (2014): Dan, Abby, and Jordan try to move on, but the fallout from the first book follows them into a more psychological second act.
5. Catacomb (2015): A road trip to New Orleans becomes the closing movement of the original Asylum arc as old horrors resurface.
6. Escape from Asylum (2017): A prequel-style return to the Asylum world that works best after the original trilogy rather than before it.
7. House of Furies (2017): Louisa Ditton takes a job at a suspicious boardinghouse where gods, monsters, and dangerous bargains sit just under the surface.
8. Court of Shadows (2018): Louisa’s story expands into a darker and more openly mythic second volume.
9. Salvaged (2019): An adult science-fiction horror novel about a woman with a violent past, a dead ship, and an alien infection that refuses to stay contained.
10. Tomb of Ancients (2020): The House of Furies trilogy reaches its final battle as the mythic war fully breaks open.
11. Shadows Rising (2020): Roux’s World of Warcraft novel, set in Blizzard’s game universe rather than her own original continuity.
12. Reclaimed (2021): A second adult sci-fi novel about memory, technology, and a future that keeps trying to erase what made people human.
13. Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Academy: No Humans Allowed! (2021): A middle grade fantasy adventure that opens Roux’s original Dungeon Academy sequence.
14. The Book of Living Secrets (2022): Two girls are pulled into the pages of a sinister story and discover that becoming a heroine inside a book can be much worse than it sounds.
15. The Proposition (2022): Roux’s first Regency romance, built around a trapped engagement, revenge, and a sharper social-comedy tone than her horror fiction.
16. Critical Role: The Mighty Nein – The Nine Eyes of Lucien (2022): A licensed fantasy novel exploring Lucien’s backstory in the Critical Role setting.
17. Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Academy: Tourney of Terror (2022): The second main Dungeon Academy novel raises the scale of the school-and-monster chaos.
18. Much Ado About Margaret (2024): A Regency romance about a rebellious writer, a risky publishing scheme, and a wedding weekend full of confusion and sparks.
19. Marvel: What If…Loki Was Worthy? (2024): A Marvel prose novel that belongs with licensed tie-in fiction, not Roux’s original fantasy lines.
20. Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Academy: Last Best Hope (2024): The third main Dungeon Academy novel closes the core middle grade trilogy.
21. A Girl Walks into the Forest (2025): A dark YA horror fantasy about an arranged marriage, a deadly forest, and a heroine who has to survive becoming the hunted.
22. These Violet Delights (2025): Another Regency romance, this time built around scandal, art, family feud, and a star-crossed pairing.
23. Star Wars: Legacy (2026): Roux’s first Star Wars novel, set between Episodes VIII and IX and centered on Rey and Leia.

Original series in order

Zombie novels

1. Allison Hewitt Is Trapped (2011): Roux’s first published novel turns a blog-driven voice into a claustrophobic zombie survival story.
2. Sadie Walker Is Stranded (2012): A separate but related apocalypse novel for readers who want more of Roux’s early undead fiction.

These are best read in publication order, though they are not the same kind of tight direct sequence as Asylum.

Asylum series

1. Asylum (2013): The correct starting point for Roux’s best-known YA horror series.
2. Sanctum (2014): The second book builds directly on the first novel’s trauma and mystery.
3. Catacomb (2015): The original trilogy finale.
4. Escape from Asylum (2017): A later return to the same world that works best after the core trilogy.

Best order: publication order. Even though Escape from Asylum reaches backward, it is not the best place to begin.

House of Furies trilogy

1. House of Furies (2017): The gothic opening, with Louisa entering a house that is much more than a boardinghouse.
2. Court of Shadows (2018): The second book pushes further into the gods-and-monsters conflict.
3. Tomb of Ancients (2020): The trilogy finale, where the series’ larger mythic war comes fully into view.

Best order: read straight through in order. This is one continuous dark-fantasy arc.

Adult science fiction

1. Salvaged (2019): The grimmer, more horror-leaning of Roux’s adult sci-fi novels, with isolation and contamination at the center.
2. Reclaimed (2021): A separate adult sci-fi novel focused more on memory, identity, and technological loss.

These are not a direct series. They are better treated as separate adult novels.

Standalone original novels

1. The Book of Living Secrets (2022): A YA horror-fantasy standalone about girls trapped inside a story that does not care whether they survive it.
2. A Girl Walks into the Forest (2025): A darker fairy-tale survival novel with horror elements and no prior-reading requirement.

These can be read in either order.

Historical romance novels

1. The Proposition (2022): A trapped-engagement Regency romance with revenge and social maneuvering at its core.
2. Much Ado About Margaret (2024): A witty Regency built around a writer heroine and a man willing to risk a great deal for her work.
3. These Violet Delights (2025): A later Regency romance centered on scandal, art, and a feud-driven attraction.

These books are connected more by mode and setting than by one strict ongoing plot, so publication order is the neatest way to read them.

Licensed and franchise fiction

These are real Madeleine Roux books, but they should not be mixed into her original-fiction continuity.

World of Warcraft

• Shadows Rising (2020): A Warcraft novel set inside Blizzard’s established universe.

Critical Role

• Critical Role: The Mighty Nein – The Nine Eyes of Lucien (2022): A character-focused tie-in novel for readers already interested in Lucien and Campaign Two.

Marvel

• Marvel: What If…Loki Was Worthy? (2024): A Marvel prose novel built for readers who want an alternate-timeline Loki story.

Star Wars

• Star Wars: Legacy (2026): A Star Wars novel set between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

Dungeons & Dragons books

Roux has one main middle grade Dungeons & Dragons line, plus shorter companion books published under the name Diane Walker.

Main Dungeon Academy novels by Madeleine Roux

1. No Humans Allowed! (2021): The series opener and the best place to start the school-and-monsters story.
2. Tourney of Terror (2022): The second main novel raises the danger and expands the academy setting.
3. Last Best Hope (2024): The third main novel continues the same line and belongs after the first two.

Companion chapter books by Diane Walker

• A Goblin Problem! (2022): A shorter companion title in the same branded line.
• Goreball Scrimmage (2023): Another side adventure in the Dungeon Academy setup.
• Clubhouse Chaos (2024): A later companion entry.

Important note: those Diane Walker books sit beside the Madeleine Roux trilogy rather than replacing it.

Where to start with Madeleine Roux

Start with Asylum if you want the book most associated with her name.

Start with House of Furies if you want gothic fantasy rather than photo-driven YA horror.

Start with Salvaged if you want adult Roux first.

Start with The Proposition if you are here for her romance work and not her horror.

Latest release status

The most recent original novel in Roux’s own bibliography is A Girl Walks into the Forest from 2025 if you are looking only at original YA fiction, while These Violet Delights is her later 2025 Regency release. The next clearly confirmed upcoming title is Star Wars: Legacy, scheduled for July 28, 2026.

FAQs

Do Madeleine Roux’s books need to be read in order?

Only within the clear series. Asylum and House of Furies should be read in order, while many of the adult and romance books can be read independently.

Is Escape from Asylum the first Asylum book?

No. It is better treated as a later return to that world, not as the starting point.

Are Salvaged and Reclaimed a series?

No. They are separate adult sci-fi novels, not book one and book two of a single ongoing sequence.

Are the Dungeons & Dragons books all by Madeleine Roux?

Not all of them. The main trilogy is by Madeleine Roux, while the shorter companion books are credited to Diane Walker.

What is the best first Madeleine Roux book?

For most readers, Asylum. For adult readers who do not want YA, Salvaged is the cleaner entry point.

Final recommendation

If you want the safest all-purpose starting point, begin with Asylum. If you want Roux at her most gothic, choose House of Furies. If you want to avoid YA altogether, go straight to Salvaged.