Caroline Peckham Books in Order (Updated April 21, 2026)

Caroline Peckham’s books are easiest to navigate if you split them by world first. Her best-known reading path is the Solaria universe, which includes Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, Zodiac Academy, Darkmore Penitentiary, and Sins of the Zodiac. Outside that, most of her other series can be treated as separate continuities.

For most readers, the best place to begin is Zodiac Academy: The Awakening. If you want the earlier in-world timeline instead of the most common entry point, start with Dark Fae.

Where to start

Start with Zodiac Academy if you want the cleanest introduction, the biggest series first, and the most natural on-ramp to the wider fandom. Start with Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac if you care more about internal timeline order and want to meet some Solaria characters and institutions earlier. Publication order is still the safer recommendation for preserving reveals.

Recommended Caroline Peckham reading order

1. Zodiac Academy
2. Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac
3. Darkmore Penitentiary
4. Sins of the Zodiac
5. Then move to separate series such as The Harlequin Crew, Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep, Age of Vampires, V Games, or The Rise of Isaac depending on your taste.

If you prefer strict Solaria chronology instead, use this order:

1. Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac
2. Zodiac Academy
3. Darkmore Penitentiary
4. Sins of the Zodiac

Solaria books in order

Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac

1. Dark Fae (2019): Elise Callisto arrives at Aurora Academy to investigate her brother’s death, opening the earlier Solaria storyline and establishing the world before Zodiac Academy.
2. Savage Fae (2019): Elise’s hunt for answers deepens as the academy’s power structure, rivalries, and romantic entanglements all become more dangerous.
3. Vicious Fae (2020): The central mystery widens, the emotional stakes harden, and the series pushes beyond school politics into broader conflict.
4. Broken Fae (2020): Consequences hit harder as loyalties split, enemies close in, and the story turns toward its most painful turning points.
5. Warrior Fae (2021): The series concludes by resolving its murder mystery and relationship arcs while linking this prequel branch back to the wider Solaria world.

Zodiac Academy

1. Origins of an Academy Bully (2019): An optional prequel novella that adds background on the academy’s bully dynamics before the main series begins.
2. The Awakening (2019): Tory and Darcy Vega learn they are Fae heirs and are thrown into a brutal magical academy built on status, cruelty, and power.
3. Ruthless Fae (2019): The sisters start pushing back, and the series moves from introduction into open conflict with the academy’s ruling circle.
4. The Reckoning (2019): Trials, politics, and inheritance pressure rise together as the contest over the sisters’ place in Solaria becomes sharper.
5. Shadow Princess (2020): The scope expands beyond academy hostility as relationships, prophecy, and long-term power struggles grow more tangled.
6. Cursed Fates (2020): The story turns darker and more volatile, with bigger magical consequences and less room for the characters to recover.
7. The Big A.S.S. Party (2020): An optional novella that adds character material and bonus scenes without replacing a core series installment.
8. Fated Throne (2020): The battle for power becomes more public and more dangerous, pushing the series closer to war than school rivalry.
9. The Awakening as Told by the Boys (2021): An alternate-POV companion to book one that works better as bonus reading than as a first-time entry point.
10. Heartless Sky (2021): The academy frame gives way to a broader, more desperate conflict as the main cast faces harsher losses and higher stakes.
11. Sorrow and Starlight (2022): After heavy reversals, the series shifts into regrouping, grief, and the long fight to regain control.
12. Beyond the Veil (2023): A later companion installment that adds emotional and world-building context and is best read deep into the series.
13. Restless Stars (2024): The main long-running conflict reaches its biggest payoff and closes the core numbered arc.
14. Live and Let Lionel (2024): A bonus entry that revisits the world from a side angle and belongs after the main arc, not near the start.
15. On the Cursed Day of Christmas (2026): An announced holiday return to Zodiac Academy that is clearly positioned as extra material rather than a new entry point.

Darkmore Penitentiary

1. Caged Wolf (2020): This prison-set Solaria spinoff opens five years after Zodiac Academy and shifts the tone from academy politics to confinement, survival, and escape.
2. Alpha Wolf (2020): Rivalries intensify inside Darkmore as the prison hierarchy and character loyalties become more unstable.
3. Feral Wolf (2021): The struggle for freedom and control grows more violent as this later Solaria branch builds toward its endgame.
4. Wild Wolf (2024): The final book resolves the prison arc and completes Darkmore as a finished connected series.

Sins of the Zodiac

1. Never Keep (2024): This newer Solaria-world series opens a fresh arc in the same broader setting with a new cast and a distinct story line.
2. Echo Fort (2025): The second book expands the scale and confirms that Sins of the Zodiac is an ongoing branch rather than a one-book detour.
3. Cinder Vale (2026): The third installment deepens the newer storyline and is the most recent published main entry in this sequence.
4. Oracle Bay (2027): An announced future installment set to continue the series beyond Cinder Vale.

Other co-authored series with Susanne Valenti

The Harlequin Crew

1. Devil’s Pass (2020): An optional prequel novella that sets up the tone and backstory before the main crew books begin.
2. Sinners’ Playground (2020): The series opens with revenge, gang conflict, and a volatile found-family dynamic at the center.
3. Dead Man’s Isle (2021): Enemies, history, and emotional leverage all tighten around the crew as the stakes keep rising.
4. Carnival Hill (2021): The series grows messier and more dangerous as loyalties and territory fights turn more personal.
5. Paradise Lagoon (2021): The long-running conflict pushes toward payoff, with the cast facing harder consequences and fewer exits.
6. Gallows Bridge (2022): The final book closes the crew’s war and completes the series.

Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep

1. Kings of Quarantine (2020): A dark academy opener built on isolation, social punishment, and a heroine dropped into an openly hostile school order.
2. Kings of Lockdown (2020): The internal power struggle intensifies as control, retaliation, and shifting loyalties become even more severe.
3. Kings of Anarchy (2020): The series breaks wider as the school conflict turns into something larger and harder to contain.
4. Queen of Quarantine (2021): The final volume settles the academy war and completes the main arc.

Dead Men Walking

1. The Death Club (2021): A very dark contemporary opener that establishes the duet’s extreme tone, unstable relationships, and club-centered setting.
2. Society of Psychos (2022): The sequel expands the damage and fallout, bringing the duet to its conclusion.

The Boys of Sinners Bay / Dark Empire

1. Beautiful Carnage (2020): This mafia-style dark romance opens with violence, status battles, and attraction colliding inside a dangerous hierarchy.
2. Beautiful Savage (2020): The second book continues that conflict and finishes the immediate arc.

Age of Vampires

1. Eternal Reign (2019): The series opens with a darker paranormal-romance setup centered on vampires, survival, and power.
2. Immortal Prince / Eternal Shade (2019): The second book deepens the immortal politics and continues the central romantic conflict.
3. Infernal Creatures / Eternal Curse (2019): The mythology and danger both widen as the series moves into a heavier middle stretch.
4. Wrathful Mortals / Eternal Vow (2019): Alliances and obligations tighten, forcing the characters toward more permanent choices.
5. Forsaken Relic / Eternal Night (2019): The series turns darker again as external threats press harder on the cast.
6. Ravaged Souls / Eternal Storm (2019): The larger conflict escalates toward its final phase.
7. Devious Gods / Eternal Love (2019): The concluding volume resolves the main romance and overarching supernatural struggle.

Forbidden Fairytales

1. Kingdom of Thieves (2019): The series opens with fairy-tale fantasy, dangerous bargains, and romance-driven conflict.
2. Kingdom of Wishes (2019): The second book broadens the magical stakes and complicates the desires driving the story.
3. Kingdom of Shadows (2019): The trilogy concludes by paying off the darker consequences introduced in the earlier books.

A small note here: some catalog pages prominently show only the first two books, but broader bibliographic listings still include Kingdom of Shadows as the third volume, so that is the most stable series order to use.

A Game of Malice and Greed

1. A Kingdom of Gods and Ruin (2023): A prequel novella set long before the main story that adds mythic background and world context.
2. A Game of Malice and Greed (2023): The main novel opens the central fantasy-romance conflict with curses, power, and a more mythic scale than the contemporary books.

Crown of Hearts and Chaos

1. Hollow (2025): The series opens a newer fantasy line with darker fairy-tale energy and the promise of a larger unfolding arc.
2. Lightwing (2026): The announced second book is set to continue the story and expand the new world.
3. Moonsinger (2026): The announced third volume is scheduled to follow later the same year.

Solo Caroline Peckham series

The Rise of Isaac

1. Creeping Shadow (2015): Caroline Peckham’s earlier fantasy series begins with a darker YA setup and the first step into Isaac’s world.
2. Bleeding Snow (2016): The second book expands the world and pressure around Isaac instead of resetting the story.
3. Turning Tide (2016): The conflict becomes more openly dangerous as the series pushes into its middle phase.
4. Weeping Sky (2016): Stakes rise again, with more weight placed on consequence, loss, and endurance.
5. Failing Light (2018): The final book completes the main fantasy arc.

V Games

1. V Games (2017): The series opens with a paranormal competition structure that hooks quickly through danger and survival.
2. V Games: Fresh From the Grave (2017): The premise deepens as the fallout of the first book leads into the next stage of the contest.
3. V Games: Dead Before Dawn (2018): The original V Games arc escalates toward its payoff with sharper supernatural pressure.
4. Wolf Games (2018): The world branches into a related second phase while keeping the same dark competition energy.
5. A Game of Vampires (2018): A prequel novella placed within the broader V Games sequence that adds earlier background to the world.
6. Wolf Games: Island of Shade (2018): The second-phase story grows harsher as the setting and threats become more hostile.
7. Wolf Games: Severed Fates (2018): Tensions rise again as the later arc drives toward resolution.
8. Hunter Trials (2018): The final listed entry rounds out the broader V Games sequence.

The Devil Heart Boys

• Demon of Mine (2019): A dark paranormal romance that works as a compact, high-intensity read without requiring a larger series commitment.

Novellas and companions: what is optional

These are optional, not required starting points: Origins of an Academy Bully, The Big A.S.S. Party, The Awakening as Told by the Boys, Beyond the Veil, Live and Let Lionel, Devil’s Pass, A Kingdom of Gods and Ruin, and A Game of Vampires. The most important placement rule is simple: do not read The Awakening as Told by the Boys before you have already read the early main Zodiac Academy books.

Latest release status

As of April 21, 2026, the newest confirmed Caroline Peckham release in the current bibliography is Cinder Vale from March 2026. The next announced books shown in current catalog listings are Lightwing in July 2026, On the Cursed Day of Christmas in October 2026, Moonsinger in November 2026, and Oracle Bay in March 2027.

FAQs

Do I need to read every Caroline Peckham series in one master order?

No. The better method is to choose a world first, especially Solaria, and then read that group in order. Most of the other series stand separately.

What is the best Caroline Peckham reading order for beginners?

For most readers, start with Zodiac Academy, then go to Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, then Darkmore Penitentiary. Use timeline order only if you specifically want earlier in-world context first.

Is Zodiac Academy finished?

The main numbered arc reaches Restless Stars, but the broader line continues with bonus or companion material, including the announced On the Cursed Day of Christmas in 2026.

Is Darkmore Penitentiary complete?

Yes. Current series listings show four main books, ending with Wild Wolf.

Which Caroline Peckham books are solo rather than co-written?

Her clearly listed solo lines include The Rise of Isaac, V Games, and The Devil Heart Boys. Much of the best-known later catalog is co-authored with Susanne Valenti.

Conclusion

For a first read, start with The Awakening. For a timeline-first read, start with Dark Fae. The key is to read by continuity, not by tossing every Caroline Peckham title into one single giant sequence. That keeps the Solaria books clear, keeps novellas in their proper place, and makes a very large bibliography much easier to use.