The perfect Craft Sequence reading order (+8 more options)
It’s a truth universally acknowledged, that the order of books in the Craft Sequence is confusing. The author himself has said as much. If you don’t know that publication order is NOT chronological, and does NOT follow the same main characters, it can be confusing enough to put you off reading.
I also know that some people start with a later book - whether by chance or choice - and aren’t sure where to go next. And now that the Craft Wars series has officially begun, there’s yet another starting point for new readers.
But have no fear, intrepid reader – I have pulled together NINE different reading orders for you to choose from.
Article has been updated as of Dead Hand Rule.
So, in what order should you read Craft Sequence?
Before we start, three key points:
Out of the eight published books, we would strongly advise NOT starting with Four Roads Cross, Ruin of Angels, Wicked Problems, or Dead Hand Rule, as they are direct sequels to earlier books and make very little sense on their own. None of our reading orders have these first.
The writer of this article doesn’t particularly enjoy Two Serpents Rise, and thinks you can read the series without it with very little effect (…until Wicked Problems came out. Meh. Read my summary instead). If it doesn’t appeal to you either, feel free to skip. This is, however, controversial so we welcome disagreement. If you want to know what happens without reading, check out our summary here!
You can play the two games whenever you want, or not at all – they are good, but don’t have direct impact on the plot of the books.
This post has now been updated with Craft Wars - if you’ve started the series with these, scroll down to the last options to see where to go next!
OPTION 1: The Publication Sequence
In many ways the most obvious order to read in, but confusing if you don’t know that publication order is not chronological. If you buy the e-book omnibus of the first five novels, this is the order you’ll get.
As the order I read it in, this is the order I used to recommend. However, since starting this site and reading the series an obscene number of times, I have created my own preferred order (option 3).
So, what is publication order?
Three Parts Dead
Two Serpents Rise
Full Fathom Five
Last First Snow
Four Roads Cross
Ruin of Angels
Dead Country
Wicked Problems
Dead Hand Rule / rest of Craft Wars
Why read in this order?
It’s the order intended by the author, it sets you up in the wider world and for an anthology / different POV characters, and gives the grounding needed to fully understand and appreciate the later books. Three Parts Dead is also one of the best starting points for the series in my opinion, so it’s a great entry point.
Why not read this order?
The first three books are set in different places with different characters, and we come back to them in later books – but by that point, you may have forgotten some of the earlier elements. It’s also tricky when you love a particular character then don’t see them for three books. It can feel quite disjointed and confusing, so it’s no longer our recommended order. Nonetheless, most people read it this way - just don’t say I didn’t warn you it’s confusing!
OPTION 2: The Chronological Sequence
The first five books come with convenient numbers in their titles so you know which comes where in the timeline. This is a pretty decent way to read, especially as Last First Snow has one of my favourite characters as a point of view. I also think that it sets up a nice series of duologies (plus Craft Wars), which is quite satisfying.
Last First Snow (Dresediel Lex)
Two Serpents Rise (Dresediel Lex)
Three Parts Dead (Alt Coulumb)
Four Roads Cross (Alt Coulumb)
Full Fathom Five (Kai Pohala)
Ruin of Angels (Kai Pohala)
Dead Country (Craft Wars series)
Wicked Problems (Craft Wars series)
Dead Hand Rule (Craft Wars series)
Why read in this order?
Makes it easier to understand the wider story arc, avoids finding out aftermath of key character and plot points before they actually happen (Full Fathom Five is the main culprit here), and gives a nice set of duologies by place or character, then the capstone quartet.
Why not read this order?
While Last First Snow doesn’t built on the plot of other books, it does build on the worldbuilding and characters. It’s much more meaningful to see Last First Snow AFTER seeing Elayne Kevarian 20 years later, after finding out about the Blue Lady, understanding Craft and religion outside of the bloody Quechal pantheon. It also sets up the series on a pretty negative note (the last third is depressing as hell), whilst the rest have a bit more of a hopeful ending.
So those are the two standard orders. Either works. HOWEVER, I have more orders for you, which you can choose from depending on your interest in particular characters or plots.
OPTION 3: The Hidden Schools’ Choice Sequence
This is my current favourite order, named after the site (obviously). It mixes the best parts of publication and chronological orders, and gives us a mini Tara/Elayne trilogy at the beginning. What’s not to like?
Well, I do controversially skip Two Serpents Rise so if you’re a hardcore fan you’ll hate this.
Three Parts Dead – We strongly believe this is the best intro to the series as a whole for character, worldbuilding and setting up the later books, so would usually recommend starting here.
Last First Snow – This feels like a good next step because we see a major character from Three Parts Dead return (Elayne) and it drives home her similarities to Tara. It also shows the dark side of both Craft and religion that is not front and centre in Three Parts Dead.
Four Roads Cross – As a direct continuation to the Three Parts Dead storyline, with key elements that impact Full Fathom Five and a brief trip to Dresediel Lex that builds on character dynamics from Last First Snow, this seems an ideal place to read this instalment, rounding out a mini trilogy. We also meet some of the Two Serpents Rise characters a few years after their main story, giving you the context needed before Teo shows up in Full Fathom Five.
Full Fathom Five – So much of Full Fathom Five’s subplot makes more sense reading it AFTER Last First Snow and Four Roads Cross. I now never read it before Four Roads Cross as the Cat plot is too confusing.
Ruin of Angels – This should (almost) always be the last book of the first sequence, then the Craft Wars series. Pretty sure it would make basically no sense earlier in the series - but if you want to start with it and let us know how it works, please do so.
Dead Country - Unless you’re starting with this, much like Ruin of Angels it makes little sense earlier in the sequence.
Wicked Problems - Yeah, this is a direct sequel to Dead Country and needs a LOT of context to make sense sooo there is nowhere else it would make sense.
Dead Hand Rule - The current final book, same reasoning as Wicked Problems.
Why read in this order?
This is such a fun order. I stand by the fact that Three Parts Dead is an ideal entry point into the series, and following it up with Last First Snow and thus seeing Elayne a couple of decades earlier is immensely rewarding. This sequence also has a common thread in every book of either Tara or Elayne in some capacity – did you realise that Two Serpents Rise is the only one without either of them featuring? To me, this feels like the most cohesive sequence.
Why not read this order?
If you love Two Serpents Rise, this won’t suit you. It’s also a little odd that the latter part of the sequence is chronological but the first two books are reversed.
OPTION 4: The Gods Sequence
This sequence starts with Two Serpents Rise – as previously stated, I don’t especially enjoy this book and thus wouldn’t read in this order. However, other people seem to like it, so here’s an option to start with it if you like the sound of it!
Two Serpents Rise
Last First Snow – As something of a prequel to the Dresediel Lex arc, this recontextualises a LOT of what we see in Two Serpents Rise – Kopil, Temoc, the Skittersill Rising, even Teo.
Full Fathom Five – This is a new change for 2026! To make things more interesting than “now we go chronological), I want to pop Full Fathom Five here. We get to see Teo again, and hear a bit more about how the Two Serpents Group is operating a few years after it was set up.
Three Parts Dead – Four Roads Cross is the next time we see Caleb et al, but it makes no sense without Three Parts Dead so read this next. It is also a nice continuation to Elayne’s storyline that we saw the beginnings of in Last First Snow.
Four Roads Cross – This just makes sense: it’s a direct sequel to Three Parts Dead, which visits Dresediel Lex and the Two Serpents Rise crowd.
Ruin of Angels - None of the Two Serpents Rise characters appear here, but arguably it’s needed to connect from the original series to the new books. I would be intrigued if you skip this and decide it works.
Dead Country - As above, unless you’re starting with this one, it has to go here.
Wicked Problems - Same again.
Dead Hand Rule - And same again.
Why read in this order?
Having Two Serpents Rise and Last First Snow back to back gives us immediate re-contextualisation of characters, places, and themes we thought we already knew.
Why not read this order?
Don’t want to beat a dead horse, but Two Serpents Rise is quite skippable, so you might as well read publication order.
OPTION 5: The Starting-With-Full-Fathom-Five-Sequence(s)
I tend to shy away from Full Fathom Five as a starting point because the subplot shows Cat, Teo and Elayne after their respective stories. HOWEVER those could function as prequels, and I see the appeal for many readers of starting Craft with Kai, a trans protagonist. In fact, I recommended this to a friend and they loved it. I have also more recently started a reread with Full Fathom Five, and found it a lovely story on its own that doesn’t require the previous knowledge of other books. The big question is, where do you go next?
I have two options, because who doesn’t like switching up a listicle format midway through?
Version 5a – The Prequels Galore Sequence
Full Fathom Five
Ruin of Angels – Controversial as this is otherwise ALWAYS the last book we recommend of the original books. However, it is a direct sequel to Full Fathom Five, and the rest of the series could be read as prequels.
Dead Country - Another controversy! In our 2023 update, we’re going to add Dead Country in here rather than at the end. It’s a continuation to Ruin of Angels, so works nicely here. Bit weird to do the two penultimate books, go through all the ‘prequels’, then back to the final trilogy.
Three Parts Dead – As Tara is the main character of Dead Country, it makes sense to me to jump to her story here. We also meet Elayne again, who plays a small but crucial role in Full Fathom Five - a nice return to her before we go full-Elayne in book 5.
Last First Snow – Let’s keep following Elayne’s story!
Two Serpents Rise – I would consider skipping again but as Teo is a player in Full Fathom Five, I guess we should show her prequel as well as Elayne, Tara and Cat. However, she isn’t a POV character here, so could probably skip. Yes, I’m biased.
Four Roads Cross – Ending this sequence with the book where all characters start to collide immediately before Full Fathom Five seems ideal.
Wicked Problems and Dead Hand Rule - They have to go here, frankly. Running out of ways to say this.
Why read in this order?
Kai is an amazing character, so if you want to see her as your protagonist for two books in a row, this is for you! It’s also fun to jump back in time to see other characters that play roles in Full Fathom Five and Ruin of Angels in a heap of prequels.
Why not read this order?
It’s probably very confusing. I don’t know anyone who has actually read this order, so I have no data on that point, but it jumps around the timeline even more than publication order does.
Version 5b – Full Circle Kai Sequence
Full Fathom Five
Three Parts Dead – Cat is so major, though not a POV character, throughout Full Fathom Five that it makes sense to jump back to the start of her story
Two Serpents Rise – Now we do the same for Teo – however, we would probably skip this in our re-reads, especially as Teo isn’t a POV character in Two Serpents Rise.
Four Roads Cross – This is where the Alt Coulumb and Dresediel Lex gang meet, so it ties everything together nicely.
Last First Snow – In terms of ‘story making sense’ you could probably skip Last First Snow in this sequence. But we love it too much to ever do that, so have it before Ruin of Angels.
Ruin of Angels – Annnd we’re back with Ruin as the capstone, where it should be.
…However I’m not sure about where Craft Wars should go. They ruin pre-2023 ‘Full Circle Kai’ sequence, but don’t fit anywhere other than the end. So…do what you like?
Why read in this order?
Again, Kai is a great character to start with. We love that this sequence begins AND ends with Kai, with everyone else contained within her story – it’s similar to 5a in terms of the prior books functioning as prequels, but with a more satisfying end point. This was my preferred Kai Sequence prior to the release of Dead Country.
Why not read this order?
Timeline-wise this might be even worse than 5a… and the main drawback of both the Kai Sequences is that other stories start to weave together in Full Fathom Five, so that could be incredibly confusing (and spoilery) for books like Three Parts Dead. Then we have the aforementioned Dead Country problem, so this sequence has probably been tanked by the Craft Wars trilogy.
OPTION 6: The Elayne Sequence
Right, this one is pushing it a bit. I call this the Elayne Sequence even though she is only a POV character in two of the books. I just love Elayne Kevarian so much that I had to do it.
This order skips Two Serpents Rise entirely. You could slot it in anywhere you like if you’re desperate to include it.
Last First Snow
Three Parts Dead – Elayne’s next POV story, albeit with a lot less of her. Nice to see exactly how she has changed/stayed the same since Last First Snow.
Full Fathom Five – I ummed and ahhed about this a lot, but as this is the Elayne Sequence, this really has to go after Three Parts Dead due to her having far more scenes. This isn’t a chronological order, so let’s go with it.
Four Roads Cross – We get a single scene of Elayne here, but it’s a meaningful one, so let’s put it here.
Ruin of Angels – End of pre-Dead Country sequence. Elayne isn’t present here but she is mentioned in a way that is very meaningful to the Kevarian stans among us.
Dead Country – Even more so than Ruin of Angels, although Elayne isn’t physically present, she is absolutely crucial to so much of Tara’s mindset and actions when mentoring Dawn, so it’s a lovely way to end the sequence thus far.
Wicked Problems - We get the return of Elayne Kevarian! Finally!
Dead Hand Rule - ELAYNE IS BACK IN A PRETTY MAJOR ROLE. HELL YEAH. Great ending (so far) to the Kevarian sequence.
Why read in this order?
Because Elayne Kevarian. That’s it.
Why not read this order?
This is a re-read only sequence. It’s jumps around the timeline, and ‘follows’ a character who is only a major player in five of the nine books. But, hey. Elayne Kevarian.
Now here are my two brand new post-Dead Country sequences!
OPTION 7: The Craft Wars Sequence
Craft Wars is being marketed as a potential entry point to the series for new readers, so I had to include a new sequence starting with Dead Country. Whilst only the first three books of the series have been published, I imagine the full quartet will be the starting point then jumping back, but for now I’m only mentioning Dead Country, Wicked Problems, and Dead Hand Rule.
I’ve decided to include Two Serpents Rise despite my personal dislike of it, as this is a full sequence with a new starting point AND it’s a bit more essential for understanding Wicked Problems. I also decided not to go with a sequence that was essentially publication or chronological order after you read Dead Country, because that’s too easy.
As you can tell from this article, I like to complicate things for myself.
Dead Country - The strong opener of a new capstone trilogy, this book follows Tara Abernathy exclusively.
Three Parts Dead – Given Tara’s primacy in Dead Country, it only makes sense to go back to the beginning with her.
Two Serpents Rise – As you know by now, I struggle with placing this one, but I think if you’re going to include it then it works best here.
Four Roads Cross – This must come before Full Fathom Five, so let’s put it in here. We don’t have the confusion of the out of order Cat storyline, and it’s relatively close to Three Parts Dead so the direct prequel is hopefully relatively at the forefront of the reader’s mind.
Full Fathom Five – Again, this needs to come after Four Roads Cross but before Ruin of Angels, and as I’m playing around with the placement of Last First Snow it has to come here.
Ruin of Angels – We’ve been going chronological for the past couple, and I think it makes sense to continue that way. It would be possible to swap this and Last First Snow but I enjoy ending at the beginning.
Last First Snow – This is quite a different story than the rest, with much older characters and deep entanglements. I love the idea of putting this here partly because it’s chronologically the first, and partly because of the gut punch of Chakal Square.
Wicked Problems - I repeat, Wicked Problems makes VERY little sense without all the other books. I may change my mind once the full Craft Wars series is out, but for now it must be here.
Dead Hand Rule - same as Wicked Problems.
Why read in this order?
If you’re new to the series, you may want to start with the newest published series, especially as it’s marketed as a starting point for new readers. I hope you’ll love it enough to go back to the rest of the series!
Why not read this order?
I’m inclined to think that the worldbuilding and character arcs from earlier books are stronger if you read them before Dead Country - it’s a short book that packs a lot of world into it. If you started with Dead Country, do let me know how it felt as an entry point! This order could be quite confusing, but that’s pretty standard with the Craft Sequence so let’s go with it. Also really not convinced that Wicked Problems would work earlier but… maybe I’ll get a friend to try it.
OPTION 8: The Tara Abernathy Sequence
Tara is the main character of Dead Country, and pretty major in Wicked Problems and Dead Hand Rule too. She currently has the most POV pages across the series, is likely the first protagonist most readers will be introduced to, and features in more books than anyone else - so, she obviously needs a sequence of her own. I may be partial to Elayne Kevarian, but Tara is a very close second (and edging incredibly close to overtaking Elayne).
So here it is, the Tara Abernathy Sequence. I’m keeping it as tight as possible, so you’ll see one of my favourites missing… you can of course add it back in!
Three Parts Dead - At risk of repeating myself, this is my favourite series opener. As it’s the start of Tara’s story, it only makes sense to open her sequence with it.
Four Roads Cross – With her increased page- and POV-time, Tara is the character for which we have the clearest on-page character arc, so we’re following her chronologically.
Ruin of Angels – My first controversial choice here is to skip entirely over Full Fathom Five for the first time. Yes, readers may be confused by the sudden introduction of Kai, Izza, and the Blue Lady - but given how confusing a lot of reading orders are, including publication order, this is a sacrifice I am willing to make. Tara has virtually no POV time here but plays a crucial role; furthermore, we see the ethical conundrums Tara faces following decisions made in Four Roads Cross, and key plots are advanced that come to the fore in Dead Country.
Dead Country – Again, following Tara chronologically we’re jumping straight to the Craft Wars sequence here. This is the natural next step for a Tara sequence.
Wicked Problems – See belo.
Dead Hand Rule - Once more with feeling, WICKED PROBLEMS AND DEAD HAND RULE ONLY WORK AS THE FINAL BOOKS.
Why read in this order?
This is the most cohesive order if you want to follow one main character, as every other order jumps around significantly. If you love Tara and want to follow her arc, this is the order for you.
Why not read this order?
This order skips nearly a quarter of the series, and thus leaves a fair bit of worldbuilding and the character arcs of other protagonists on the cutting room floor. The lack of Full Fathom Five is possibly MY biggest concern here as it leads directly into Ruin of Angels
So those are my nine reading orders! Which order did you read the Craft Sequence in? Do you like any of the weird and wonderful orders i’ve come up with?
(Also, for the Two Serpents Rise stans reading this, I would love to share your thoughts / counterpoint to mine. Get in touch!)
What do you think? Let me know!
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Caleb and Mal are apparently “twin grails” and factor into the vampires’ plan - but what does that mean? How does it link in with the knights we’ve met across the series, immortality, and the Twin Serpents?