Jo Walton Books in Order (Updated August 7, 2026)

Jo Walton’s bibliography contains one unusually important reading order decision.

Her first fantasy sequence was published as The King’s Peace, The King’s Name, and then The Prize in the Game. The third book is actually a prequel. That means publication order and story chronology are different, and they produce noticeably different reading experiences.

Her other two major sequences are simpler. The Small Change trilogy and Thessaly trilogy should both be read in their numbered order.

Walton also has a substantial group of standalone novels, including Tooth and Claw, Among Others, My Real Children, and her newest novel, Everybody’s Perfect. None of those needs to be connected to one of the trilogies.

Quick Answer

Best place to start with Jo Walton: Among Others if you want a standalone, or The King’s Peace if you want to begin a series.

Best Sulien order: Publication order. Read The King’s Peace, The King’s Name, then the prequel The Prize in the Game.

Best Small Change order: Farthing, Ha’penny, Half a Crown.

Best Thessaly order: The Just City, The Philosopher Kings, Necessity.

Latest Jo Walton novel: Everybody’s Perfect, published June 30, 2026.

Are all Jo Walton books connected? No. Her three principal series are separate from each other, and most of her other novels are standalone works.

Jo Walton’s Sulien Books in Publication Order

Included, one fantasy continuity

1. The King’s Peace (2000)
2. The King’s Name (2001)
3. The Prize in the Game (2002)

This sequence is also sometimes identified by its setting, Tir Tanagiri.

The King’s Peace introduces Sulien ap Gwien and Walton’s reworking of Arthurian material. The King’s Name continues that narrative directly.

The Prize in the Game changes the structure. It goes backward in time and focuses on characters and events whose consequences are already part of the earlier books.

For that reason, Book 3 in publication order is not Book 3 chronologically.

Sulien Books in Chronological Order

Readers who want the fictional events from earliest to latest can use:

1. The Prize in the Game
2. The King’s Peace
3. The King’s Name

This order is valid, but it is not the first order I would recommend.

The Prize in the Game was written after readers already knew the world of the first two novels. Some of its interest comes from seeing earlier versions of people, relationships, and conflicts that have already acquired significance elsewhere.

Recommended Sulien Order

Use publication order:

1. The King’s Peace
2. The King’s Name
3. The Prize in the Game

Publication order preserves Walton’s original sequence of discovery. Chronological order is better saved for a reread, especially if you want to watch the political and personal history unfold from its earliest point.

Small Change Trilogy in Order

Included, continuous alternate history

1. Farthing (2006)
2. Ha’penny (2007)
3. Half a Crown (2008)

Small Change takes place in an alternate Britain shaped by a peace settlement with Nazi Germany during World War II.

The three novels follow a developing political situation and recurring characters, including Inspector Peter Carmichael. Later books assume the conditions and consequences established earlier.

Read them in order even though individual volumes use distinct mystery or thriller plots.

Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction

Optional, same continuity

“Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction” is a short story set in the Small Change universe.

It takes place in the United States in 1960 rather than following the central British characters of the trilogy.

Its placement is therefore simple for a first-time reader:

1. Farthing
2. Ha’penny
3. Half a Crown
4. “Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction”

The story can technically be approached independently, but reading it after the trilogy gives you the political assumptions of the alternate timeline first.

It was later collected in Starlings.

Thessaly Trilogy in Order

Included, continuous series

1. The Just City (2015)
2. The Philosopher Kings (2015)
3. Necessity (2016)

There is no useful alternate order for Thessaly.

The Just City establishes Athena’s attempt to create a society based on Plato’s Republic, populated with people taken from different periods of history. The Philosopher Kings develops the consequences of that experiment.

Necessity is the concluding volume and depends heavily on what has already happened.

Do not start with the second or third book if you want the philosophical ideas, character developments, and changes in the setting to unfold as intended.

Jo Walton Standalone Novels in Publication Order

Separate continuity

1. Tooth and Claw (2003)
2. Lifelode (2009)
3. Among Others (2011)
4. My Real Children (2014)
5. Lent (2019)
6. Or What You Will (2020)
7. Everybody’s Perfect (2026)

These novels are not sequels to one another.

Tooth and Claw

Tooth and Claw is a complete fantasy novel centered on a society of dragons.

It does not belong to the Sulien books despite appearing soon after them in Walton’s publication history.

No sequel is required.

Lifelode

Lifelode is another independent fantasy novel.

Its original NESFA Press publication dates from 2009. It should not be placed inside one of Walton’s trilogies.

Among Others

Among Others is a standalone novel and one of the easiest entry points into Walton’s work.

Nothing needs to be read before it, and no sequel follows it.

My Real Children

My Real Children uses parallel possible lives and alternate historical developments, but it is not connected to the alternate history of Small Change.

The similarity in genre does not indicate a shared universe.

Lent

Lent is a historical fantasy involving Girolamo Savonarola and Renaissance Florence.

It stands alone.

Or What You Will

Or What You Will is also independent.

Although Walton engages with literature, invented worlds, identity, and Renaissance Italy, it is not a continuation of Lent.

Everybody’s Perfect

Everybody’s Perfect was published on June 30, 2026.

The novel is set in the Serenissima, a fantastical shadow of Venice and a crossroads between multiple worlds. It is a standalone novel rather than a new installment in Sulien, Small Change, or Thessaly.

It is currently Walton’s newest published novel.

Jo Walton Novels in Overall Publication Order

For readers who want the career chronology rather than a series reading plan, Walton’s sixteen published novels can be arranged as follows:

1. The King’s Peace (2000)
2. The King’s Name (2001)
3. The Prize in the Game (2002)
4. Tooth and Claw (2003)
5. Farthing (2006)
6. Ha’penny (2007)
7. Half a Crown (2008)
8. Lifelode (2009)
9. Among Others (2011)
10. My Real Children (2014)
11. The Just City (2015)
12. The Philosopher Kings (2015)
13. Necessity (2016)
14. Lent (2019)
15. Or What You Will (2020)
16. Everybody’s Perfect (2026)

This is useful as a bibliography, but there is little reason to use it as a literal reading sequence.

A reader finishing The King’s Name, for example, gains more by continuing to The Prize in the Game than by worrying about how the later standalones fit around other series.

Jo Walton Short Fiction Collection

Starlings

Optional collection

1. Starlings (2018)

Starlings collects short fiction, poetry, dramatic pieces, and other shorter work.

It is not a novel series.

The collection is relevant to a reading order guide because it includes “Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction,” which belongs to the Small Change setting.

Most of its other contents should be treated independently rather than inserted between Walton’s novels.

Jo Walton Nonfiction Books

Walton has also published substantial nonfiction about reading, science fiction, fantasy, and the history of the field.

What Makes This Book So Great

1. What Makes This Book So Great: Re-Reading the Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy (2014)

This collection grew from Walton’s essays about reading and rereading science fiction and fantasy.

It has no required connection to her fiction.

An Informal History of the Hugos

2. An Informal History of the Hugos: A Personal Look Back at the Hugo Awards, 1953 to 2000 (2018)

This is another nonfiction work rather than part of a fictional series.

Walton examines the Hugo Awards and the wider science fiction field across the second half of the twentieth century.

Trace Elements

3. Trace Elements: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and Fantasy (forthcoming 2027), with Ada Palmer

Trace Elements is a nonfiction collaboration between Jo Walton and Ada Palmer about how science fiction and fantasy function as forms of writing and reading.

Its confirmed publication date is March 16, 2027.

Because that date is still in the future as of August 7, 2026, the book should be listed as forthcoming rather than included among Walton’s already published books.

Jo Walton Poetry and Early Other Works

Walton’s bibliography also extends beyond novels and literary criticism.

Selected separately published works include:

1. GURPS Celtic Myth (1995), with Ken Walton
2. Muses and Lurkers (2001), poetry
3. Realms of Sorcery (2002), with Ken Walton
4. Sibyls and Spaceships (2009), poetry

These are Separate from the novel reading orders.

Readers looking specifically for Walton’s fiction can skip them without missing any series continuity.

Jo Walton Omnibus Editions

Optional, collected editions rather than new installments

Walton’s completed trilogies have also appeared in omnibus form.

Small Change: The Complete Trilogy

This volume collects:

1. Farthing
2. Ha’penny
3. Half a Crown

Buying the omnibus does not add a fourth Small Change novel.

Thessaly: The Complete Trilogy

This volume collects:

1. The Just City
2. The Philosopher Kings
3. Necessity

Again, it is a collected edition, not another story after Necessity.

The Best Jo Walton Reading Order for New Readers

There is no need to read all sixteen novels according to their publication dates.

A better approach is to start with the kind of Walton book that interests you.

For a Standalone Introduction

Start with:

1. Among Others

Then move freely to:

2. Tooth and Claw
3. My Real Children
4. Lifelode
5. Lent
6. Or What You Will
7. Everybody’s Perfect

The order after Among Others is flexible because these books are separate.

For Fantasy Series Readers

Start with:

1. The King’s Peace
2. The King’s Name
3. The Prize in the Game

After that, Thessaly offers another self-contained three-book sequence:

4. The Just City
5. The Philosopher Kings
6. Necessity

These two trilogies do not share a universe.

For Alternate History Readers

Use:

1. Farthing
2. Ha’penny
3. Half a Crown
4. “Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction”

This keeps the entire confirmed Small Change continuity together.

Does Order Matter for Jo Walton’s Books?

Only within the three series.

Sulien is the unusual case because its third published novel is a chronological prequel. Publication order gives a new reader the better sequence of revelations.

Small Change should progress from Farthing through Half a Crown because its political situation and recurring characters develop across all three books.

Thessaly should be read from The Just City through Necessity. The later books directly build on the philosophical and narrative consequences of the earlier ones.

The standalone novels can be read in any order.

Where Does The Prize in the Game Fit?

Chronologically, The Prize in the Game comes before The King’s Peace.

By publication, it comes third:

1. The King’s Peace
2. The King’s Name
3. The Prize in the Game

That publication sequence is the recommended first reading order.

The prequel expands material and characters associated with events that already have meaning in the first two books. Reading it first changes that effect.

Is Tooth and Claw Part of a Series?

No.

Tooth and Claw is a standalone fantasy novel. It has sometimes encouraged sequel interest because its world is so distinctive, but there is no published novel series continuing it.

Read it by itself.

Is My Real Children Part of Small Change?

No.

Both books use alternate history ideas, but they are separate works.

My Real Children is not a sequel, prequel, or side story to Farthing, Ha’penny, or Half a Crown.

Is Among Others Part of a Series?

No.

Among Others is a standalone novel.

It can be read without any previous Walton book and remains one of the simplest starting points for readers who do not want to commit to a trilogy.

Is Lent Connected to Or What You Will?

No confirmed shared continuity makes them a series.

Both can be discussed in relation to Renaissance Italy and Walton’s recurring literary interests, but one is not a sequel to the other.

Read either independently.

Is Everybody’s Perfect Part of a Series?

No.

Everybody’s Perfect introduces the Serenissima and is currently presented as a standalone fantasy novel.

It does not continue Thessaly, Sulien, Small Change, or one of Walton’s earlier standalones.

What Happened to Poor Relations?

Poor Relations needs special treatment because old catalog records can make it look like a published Jo Walton novel.

The science fiction novel was announced for publication, but Walton later confirmed that its publication had been cancelled and that she had chosen not to release it at that time.

It therefore should not be inserted into the list of published Jo Walton novels.

Some retailer, library, and bibliography records still preserve the former 2018 publication information. Those records reflect the planned edition, not a normal published novel that readers need to find for a complete reading order.

Status: Unpublished, do not include in the numbered novel bibliography.

Latest Jo Walton Book

As of August 7, 2026, Jo Walton’s latest published novel is:

Everybody’s Perfect, published June 30, 2026.

It is her sixteenth published novel.

The next confirmed book currently on her schedule is the nonfiction collaboration Trace Elements, written with Ada Palmer and scheduled for March 16, 2027.

No later Jo Walton novel with a confirmed publication date should be added to the order at this time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the first Jo Walton book?

Walton’s first published novel is The King’s Peace, released in 2000.

It begins the Sulien sequence.

How many Jo Walton novels are there?

As of August 7, 2026, Jo Walton has sixteen published novels.

That count excludes the cancelled Poor Relations and excludes collections, nonfiction, poetry, roleplaying material, and omnibus editions.

What are Jo Walton’s series?

Her three principal novel series are:

1. Sulien
2. Small Change
3. Thessaly

Each is a separate continuity.

What order should I read the Sulien trilogy?

Read:

1. The King’s Peace
2. The King’s Name
3. The Prize in the Game

That is publication order and the recommended first reading sequence.

Why isn’t The Prize in the Game first?

It is first chronologically but was written and published after The King’s Peace and The King’s Name.

Reading it third preserves the context in which the prequel was originally presented.

What order should I read Small Change?

Read:

1. Farthing
2. Ha’penny
3. Half a Crown

The companion story “Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction” can follow the trilogy.

What order should I read Thessaly?

Read:

1. The Just City
2. The Philosopher Kings
3. Necessity

Publication and recommended order are the same.

Are Jo Walton’s standalone novels connected?

No shared continuity has been established among Tooth and Claw, Lifelode, Among Others, My Real Children, Lent, Or What You Will, and Everybody’s Perfect.

They can be selected independently.

Which Jo Walton book should I start with?

Choose Among Others if you want a complete story in one volume.

Choose The King’s Peace if you want traditional fantasy and a trilogy.

Choose Farthing if alternate history and mystery are your priority.

Choose The Just City if you are most interested in philosophical speculative fiction.

Conclusion

The unusual part of Jo Walton’s reading order appears right at the beginning of her career: The Prize in the Game takes place before The King’s Peace, even though it was published after both The King’s Peace and The King’s Name.

Resist the temptation to move the prequel to the front on a first read. Publication order is the stronger introduction to Sulien.

Small Change and Thessaly are easier. Read both trilogies straight through in numbered order.

Everything else opens up considerably. Walton’s standalone novels do not need to be fitted into a larger universe, and Among Others remains an especially convenient first book if you want to sample her work without beginning a series.

For readers following her current bibliography, Everybody’s Perfect is the newest published novel as of August 2026.