Order of Book Series
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Melanie Rawn Books in Order

Melanie Rawn has written 19 books, published between 1985 and 2017. The first book is The Rushden Legacy (1985) and the newest is Playing to the Gods (2017). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
19
Published
1985–2017
Confirmed
1 of 19 titles
Pages on record
8,229 in 17 of 19 books
Reading time
137–206 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 8,229 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 17 of 19 titles with a page count on record.

See all 19 books in order Printable Melanie Rawn checklist

Melanie Rawn, born 1954, is an American fantasy author who studied history at Scripps College and worked as a teacher and editor before turning to fiction. Dragon Prince (1988) earned a Locus nomination for best first novel, and Skybowl (1993) and The Ruins of Ambrai (1994) were later nominated in the Locus fantasy novel category. The catalogue holds 19 books from The Rushden Legacy (1985) to Playing to the Gods (2017), including The Star Scroll (1989), Sunrunner's Fire (1990), Stronghold (1991) and The Dragon Token (1992). Glass Thorns, Dragon Prince, Dragon Star and Spellbinder are the listed series, and the third Exiles novel has been awaited since the late 1990s.

How many Melanie Rawn books are there?

Melanie Rawn has 19 books, released between 1985 and 2017. They include 5 series and 1 title listed outside any series.

Melanie Rawn Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 19 Melanie Rawn 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.

  1. Cover of The Rushden Legacy by Melanie Rawn (1985)
  2. Cover of Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn, book 1 of the Dragon Prince series (1988)
  3. Cover of The Star Scroll by Melanie Rawn, book 2 of the Dragon Prince series (1989)
  4. Cover of Stronghold by Melanie Rawn, book 1 of the Dragon Star series (1991)
  5. Cover of Skybowl by Melanie Rawn, book 3 of the Dragon Star series (1993)
  6. Cover of The Ruins of Ambrai by Melanie Rawn, book 1 of the Exiles series (1994)
  7. Cover of The Mageborn Traitor by Melanie Rawn, book 2 of the Exiles series (1997)
  8. Cover of Knights of the Morningstar by Melanie Rawn, book 21 of the Quantum Leap series (1999)
  9. Cover of Spellbinder by Melanie Rawn, book 1 of the Spellbinder series (2006)
  10. Cover of Fire Raiser by Melanie Rawn, book 2 of the Spellbinder series (2009)
  11. Cover of The Diviner by Melanie Rawn, book 2 of the Golden Key Universe series (2011)
  12. Cover of Touchstone by Melanie Rawn, book 1 of the Glass Thorns series (2012)
  13. Cover of Elsewhens by Melanie Rawn, book 2 of the Glass Thorns series (2012)
  14. Cover of Thornlost by Melanie Rawn, book 3 of the Glass Thorns series (2014)
  15. Cover of Window Wall by Melanie Rawn, book 4 of the Glass Thorns series (2015)
  1. 1
    The Rushden Legacy1985 · 170 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1985170
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Dragon PrinceDragon Prince #11988 · 576 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1988576
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    The Star ScrollDragon Prince #21989 · confirmed 2/4
    1989–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Sunrunner's FireDragon Prince #31990 · 480 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1990480
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    StrongholdDragon Star #11991 · 592 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1991592
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    The Dragon TokenDragon Star #21992 · 496 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1992496
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    SkybowlDragon Star #31993 · 672 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1993672
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    The Ruins of AmbraiExiles #11994 · 848 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1994848
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    The Mageborn TraitorExiles #21997 · 609 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1997609
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    Knights of the MorningstarQuantum Leap #211999 · 212 pages · confirmed 3/4
    1999212
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    SpellbinderSpellbinder #12006 · 512 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2006512
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    Fire RaiserSpellbinder #22009 · 400 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2009400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    Captal's TowerExiles #32009 · confirmed 2/4
    2009–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    The DivinerGolden Key Universe #22011 · 374 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2011374
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    TouchstoneGlass Thorns #12012 · 464 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2012464
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    ElsewhensGlass Thorns #22012 · 480 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2012480
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    ThornlostGlass Thorns #32014 · 528 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2014528
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    Window WallGlass Thorns #42015 · 368 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2015368
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 19
    Playing to the GodsGlass Thorns #52017 · 448 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2017448
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Melanie Rawn series in order

The series linked below has its own reading-order page.

Melanie Rawn 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.

Glass Thorns in order

5 books
  1. 1. Touchstone
  2. 2. Elsewhens
  3. 3. Thornlost
  4. 4. Window Wall
  5. 5. Playing to the Gods

Dragon Star in order

3 books
  1. 1. Stronghold
  2. 2. The Dragon Token
  3. 3. Skybowl

Exiles in order

3 books
  1. 1. The Ruins of Ambrai
  2. 2. The Mageborn Traitor
  3. 3. Captal's Tower

Spellbinder in order

2 books
  1. 1. Spellbinder
  2. 2. Fire Raiser

Golden Key Universe in order

1 book
  1. 2. The Diviner

Quantum Leap in order

1 book
  1. 21. Knights of the Morningstar

Standalone books

1 book

1 Melanie Rawn title here is not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Melanie Rawn books in order?

You only need to read Melanie Rawn books in order within each series: the books listed here span 5 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.

Where to start with Melanie Rawn

Start with Dragon Prince (1988), the first Dragon Prince book. The earliest catalogued title overall is The Rushden Legacy (1985).

What is the newest Melanie Rawn book?

Playing to the Gods (2017) is the newest Melanie Rawn book released so far.

Is there a new Melanie Rawn book coming?

No next Melanie Rawn book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Award nominations for Melanie Rawn

Wikidata records 5 nominations for Melanie Rawn. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

  • Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel1997Shortlistedfor The Golden Key
  • World Fantasy Award for Best Novel1997Shortlistedfor The Golden Key
  • Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel1995Shortlistedfor The Ruins of Ambrai
  • Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel1994Shortlistedfor Skybowl
  • Locus Award for Best First Novel1989Shortlistedfor Dragon Prince

Melanie Rawn at a glance

No recent titles
The newest Melanie Rawn title on record dates from 2017, 9 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
Release pace
Melanie Rawn books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
Length
8,229 pages across the 17 of 19 books with a recorded length, a median of 480 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Melanie Rawn books, 7 of 19, were published in the 1990s.

What the Melanie Rawn books are about

18 of the 19 Melanie Rawn 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 15 of 18. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.