Martha Wells Books in Order
Martha Wells has written 38 books, published between 1993 and 2026. The first book is The Element of Fire (1993) and the newest is Platform Decay (2026). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 38
- Published
- 1993–2026
- Confirmed
- 4 of 38 titles
- Pages on record
- 7,400 in 22 of 38 books
- Reading time
- 123–185 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 7,400 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 22 of 38 titles with a page count on record.
Martha Wells is an American writer of speculative fiction, born September 1, 1964. The Murderbot Diaries, a science fiction series, has brought Wells five Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards and three Locus Awards, and the fantasy series Ile-Rien and The Books of the Raksura are also well known. Wells traces an interest in building detailed, realistic societies to an academic background in anthropology. Output spans novels, young adult fiction, media tie-ins, short stories and essays, with translations in 30 languages. The catalogue lists 38 books from The Element of Fire (1993) to Platform Decay (2026).
The Murderbot Diaries features Murderbot, a partially organic, self-aware security unit that prefers watching entertainment media over violence and reluctantly protects the humans it comes to care about.
How many Martha Wells books are there?
Martha Wells has 38 books, released between 1993 and 2026. They include 7 series and 8 titles listed outside any series.
Martha Wells Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 38 Martha Wells books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 119933242/4
- 2City of Bones1995 · 488 pages · confirmed 2/419954882/4
- 3Thorns1995 · confirmed 2/41995–2/4
- 4Bad Medicine1997 · confirmed 2/41997–2/4
- 519985442/4
- 6Wheel of the Infinite2000 · 388 pages · confirmed 2/420003882/4
- 720034642/4
- 820044962/4
- 920054962/4
- 10Wolf Night2006 · confirmed 2/42006–2/4
- 1120071583/4
- 1220072903/4
- 132011–2/4
- 142012–2/4
- 152012–2/4
- 162013–2/4
- 17The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and CloudStories Of The Raksura #12014 · 206 pages · confirmed 2/420142062/4
- 1820143132/4
- 19Blade Singer2014 · confirmed 2/42014–2/4
- 202014–2/4
- 21Between Worlds2015 · confirmed 2/42015–2/4
- 2220164002/4
- 2320172322/4
- 2420174032/4
- 2520181582/4
- 2620181582/4
- 2720181722/4
- 282018–2/4
- 292018–2/4
- 3020203502/4
- 312020–2/4
- 32Network Effect2021 · 352 pages · confirmed 1/420213521/4
- 3320211762/4
- 3420234322/4
- 352023–3/4
- 3620254002/4
- 372025–2/4
- 382026–3/4
Martha Wells series in order
The series linked below has its own reading-order page.
- Murderbot Diaries books in order 12 books
Martha Wells books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Books Of The Raksura in order
6 booksFall Of Ile-Rien in order
3 booksIle-Rien in order
2 booksEmilie in order
2 booksStories Of The Raksura in order
2 booksRising World in order
2 books- 1. Witch King
- 2. Queen Demon
Stargate Atlantis in order
1 book- 9. Entanglement
Standalone books
8 books8 Martha Wells titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Martha Wells books in order?
You only need to read Martha Wells books in order within each series: the books listed here span 7 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
What order should you read Martha Wells books in?
Read them in publication order, starting with All Systems Red (2007), the first Murderbot Diaries book. The earliest catalogued title overall is The Element of Fire (1993).
What is the newest Martha Wells book?
Platform Decay (2026) is the newest Martha Wells book released so far.
Is there a new Martha Wells book coming?
No next Martha Wells book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards Martha Wells has won
Wikidata records 15 awards and 15 nominations for Martha Wells. The most recent 12 are listed here. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel2024Wonfor System Collapse
- Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel2024Wonfor Witch King
- Dragon Award for Best Fantasy Novel2023Wonfor Witch King
- Locus Award for Best Novella2022Wonfor Fugitive Telemetry
- Nebula Award for Best Novel2021Wonfor Network Effect
- Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel2021Wonfor Network Effect
- Hugo Award for Best Novel2021Wonfor Network Effect
- Hugo Award for Best Series2021Wonfor The Murderbot Diaries
- Julia-Verlanger Award2020Wonfor The Murderbot Diaries
- Bob Morane award for best foreign novel2020Wonfor All Systems Red
- Locus Award for Best Novella2019Wonfor Artificial Condition
- Hugo Award for Best Novella2019Wonfor Artificial Condition
Martha Wells at a glance
- Still publishing
- Martha Wells published a book as recently as 2026.
- Release pace
- Martha Wells books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 7,400 pages across the 22 of 38 books with a recorded length, a median of 351 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Martha Wells books, 17 of 38, were published in the 2010s.
What the Martha Wells books are about
23 of the 38 Martha Wells books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: fantasy is tagged on 12 of 23. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Fantasy 12 of 23 books
- Science fiction 10 of 23 books
- Franchise:The Murderbot Diaries 7 of 23 books
- Series:The Murderbot Diaries 7 of 23 books
- Form:novella 5 of 23 books
- Shapeshifting 5 of 23 books
- Androids 4 of 23 books
- Artificial intelligence 4 of 23 books
- Human-computer interaction 4 of 23 books
- Fantasy, epic 3 of 23 books
- Life on other planets 3 of 23 books
- Magic 3 of 23 books