Arthurian romances book series in reading order

by Stephen R. Lawhead

Stephen R. Lawhead, born 1950, is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction and historical fiction, with Celtic historical fiction the strand the name is most attached to. In the Hall of the Dragon King (1982) opens the Dragon King books and a catalogue of 44 titles that reaches Aurelia (2025). The Pendragon Cycle and King Raven take up Arthurian material and knighthood; the Song of Albion, Celtic Crusades, Eirlandia, Empyrion and Bright Empires follow. Children's books, among them the Howard and Riverbank Stories, sit alongside the novels.

Jack Whyte

17 books• 4 series

Jack Whyte (15 March 1940 - 22 February 2021) was a Scottish-Canadian novelist of historical fiction who left Scotland for Canada in 1967 and settled in Kelowna, British Columbia. The catalogue holds 17 books published between 1992 and 2018, opening with The Skystone (1992) and closing with The Burning Stone (2018). Subject tags cover Arthurian romances, Britons, Romans, Scotland, kings and rulers, and the Crusades, with fantasy and adventure alongside the historical filing. The headings are the Camulod Chronicles, the Templar Trilogy and a non-fiction list; Forty Years in Canada: A Memoir dates from 2006. The Jack Whyte run is listed as likely complete.

Diana Lucile Paxson, born February 20, 1943, is an American writer working mainly in paganism and heathenism. Her published work covers fantasy and historical fiction, many short stories, and more recent books about pagan and heathen religions and practices. Paxson is a founder of the Society for Creative Anachronism, where she is known as Countess Diana Listmaker. The catalogue holds 33 titles from White Mare, Red Stallion (1976) to Odin: Ecstasy, Runes, & Norse Magic (2017), including the Westria novels, the Hallowed Isle, Wodan's Children and the Chronicle of Fionn mac Cumhal.

Mary Stewart wrote romantic suspense and, later, Arthurian historical fiction. The suspense novels begin in 1954 and continue through Wildfire at Midnight (1956), Thunder on the Right (1957), Nine Coaches Waiting (1958), My Brother Michael (1959) and The Ivy Tree (1961). The Arthurian Saga retells the legend of Merlin and the kings around him. 25 titles are catalogued in all, including children's books, short stories and poetry, the last being The Wind Off the Small Isles and The Lost One.

Patricia Kennealy-Morrison (March 4, 1946 - July 21, 2021) was an American author and journalist, born Patricia Kennely. In the late 1960s Kennealy-Morrison wrote for Jazz & Pop magazine and then became its editor-in-chief, as one of the first women rock critics. The published work includes rock criticism, a memoir, The Keltiad and The Rock&Roll Murders: The Rennie Stride Mysteries. The catalogue lists 12 books from The Copper Crown (1984) to Light Our Fire: My Wedding to Jim Morrison (2014). Kennealy-Morrison also worked as an advertising copywriter and received two Clio nominations.

Bernard Cornwell

67 books• 10 series

Bernard Cornwell is an English historical novelist, born on 23 February 1944, who has also written a history of the Waterloo campaign. The Richard Sharpe novels, about a rifleman in the Napoleonic Wars, are Cornwell's best-known work. The Saxon Stories run to thirteen novels about how England was unified. Cornwell's historical fiction draws mainly on English history across five series, alongside one series of contemporary thrillers, and the historical novels carry an end note comparing the story to the historical record. The catalogue lists 67 books from 1981, when Sharpe's Gold appeared, to Sharpe's Storm (2025).

T.H. White

26 books• 1 series

T.H. White, Terence Hanbury White, 1906–1964, was an English writer best known for Arthurian fiction. The Sword in the Stone appeared on its own in 1938 and later joined the sequence collected in 1958 as The Once and Future King, with The Witch in the Wood (1939), The Ill-Made Knight and The Candle in the Wind (both 1940) beside it. Twenty-six books are catalogued from Darkness at Pemberley (1932) to Letters to a Friend (1982), taking in Farewell Victoria (1933) and England Have My Bones (1936).

Charles Walter Williams wrote supernatural novels, poetry, theology and criticism. War in Heaven, Many Dimensions, The Place of the Lion and The Greater Trumps, all published between 1930 and 1932, put occult objects and spiritual forces into contemporary English settings. Arthurian romance and Christian theology run through the rest, and the Aspects of Power series collects part of the work. The catalogue holds 51 titles from Poems of Conformity (1917) onward.

Robert Holdstock

44 books• 7 series

Robert Holdstock (2 August 1948 - 29 November 2009) was an English novelist of mythic fantasy drawing on Celtic, Nordic, Gothic and Pictish sources. Holdstock first appeared in print in 1968, and the science fiction and fantasy explore philosophical, psychological, anthropological, spiritual and woodland themes. Awards include three BSFA awards and the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel of 1985. The 44 catalogued books run from Legend of the Werewolf (1975, as Robert Black) to Avilion (2009), and the series are Mythago Wood, Merlin Codex, Night Hunter and Bulman.

Parke Godwin wrote historical and Arthurian fantasy. A Memory of Lions (1976) opens the catalogue, and Firelord (1980), Beloved Exile (1984), The Last Rainbow (1985) and A Truce with Time (1988) follow, with Firelord, Sherwood and Snake Oil recorded as series. Arthurian romance, magic and ghosts appear among the subjects. The listing runs to 34 entries dated between 1976 and 2015, and also carries W.I.T.C.H. graphic novel and So Weird groupings, which the catalogue attaches to this name without a separate credit. The list is marked likely complete.

J.R.R. Tolkien

61 books• 13 series

J.R.R. Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, 3 January 1892 to 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist, author of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954 to 1955). At the University of Oxford, Tolkien held the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon and a Pembroke College fellowship from 1925 to 1945, then the Merton Professorship of English Language and Literature until retiring in 1959. Tolkien belonged to the Inklings and was a close friend of C. S. Lewis. The catalogue lists 61 books from A Middle English Reader and Vocabulary (1921) to The Battle of Maldon (2023), including the History of Middle-Earth, poetry and children's titles.

Fantasy, historical fantasy, science fiction and science fantasy were the fields of Marion Zimmer Bradley, an American author who lived from June 3, 1930 to September 25, 1999. Bradley is best known for the Darkover series and The Mists of Avalon, a novel of Arthurian fiction, and the writing stood out for a female perspective rarely seen before in sword and sorcery. Bradley started writing at 17, earned a Bachelor of Arts from Hardin-Simmons University, co-founded the Society for Creative Anachronism in 1966 and edited the Sword and Sorceress anthologies. The catalogue reaches back to Centaurus Changeling (1954), Falcons of Narabedla (1957) and The Door Through Space (1961), and Arilinn (2024) is the newest title in the listing.

Carla Simpson writes historical romance and mystery. The catalogue holds 38 books published between 1985 and 2026, opening with Desire's Flame (1985) and reaching Deadly Sacrifice (2026); A Whisper of Crows is scheduled for 2027. Angus Brodie and Mikaela Forsythe head an investigating sequence, and other series include Clan Fraser, Outlaws, Scoundrels & Lawmen, Angels, Devils, Rebels & Rogues, and the Lily Montgomery Murder Mysteries. Arthurian romance, Merlin and Camelot appear among the subject headings.

Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-1992) was an English novelist known above all for children's books, and within them for historical fiction and retellings of myth and legend. Some of the novels were written for adults; in a 1986 interview Sutcliff said the books were for children of all ages, from nine to ninety. The catalogue holds 56 titles between 1950 and 1997, opening with The Chronicles of Robin Hood (1950) and taking in The Eagle of the Ninth (1954), Outcast (1955), Beowulf: Dragonslayer (1956) and The Shield Ring (1956) before Sword Song (1997). Three series are catalogued: Marcus / Eagle of the Ninth, the Roman Britain Trilogy and the Arthurian books. Sutcliff was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1974.

Warren Burton Murphy was an American author, born September 13, 1933, who died on September 4, 2015. Murphy co-created The Destroyer series, which became the basis for the film Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. The catalogue opens with Created The Destroyer (1971), followed in 1972 by Chinese Puzzle, Death Check and Mafia Fix, and counts 155 books in total. Remo and Chiun are listed as fictitious characters, and subjects include men's adventure, action and adventure, pulp and crime. Other series are Trace, Razoni & Jackson, New Destroyer, Forever King and Grandmaster.

P.R. Frost / Irene Radford is a single catalogue entry covering two author names and 57 books published between 1994 and 2023. Fantasy is the core of the run: dragons, magic, wizards and the imaginary land of Coronnan, with science fiction and historical fantasy beside it. The Glass Dragon (1994) opens the catalogue and Confessions of a Changeling Dancer (2023) closes it. The Dragon Nimbus with its history and Children sequences, Merlin's Descendants, Tess Noncoire, the Stargods, Confederated Star Systems, the Pixie Chronicles, Artistic Demons, the Shadow Conspiracy, Gears and Levers, and the Whistling River Lodge Mysteries are the listed series.

Sarah Zettel, born December 14, 1966, is an American author working mainly in science fiction. A first short story reached Analog Science Fiction and Fact in 1991, and the debut novel Reclamation followed in 1996 with Fool's War in 1997. Zettel's novels have taken the Philip K. Dick Award and the Locus Award for Best First Novel. Romance novels and mysteries appear under the pseudonym Darcie Wilde, and the novel Bitter Angels under C. L. Anderson. The catalogue gathers 36 titles running to The Abduction of Rosalind Thorne (2026), and Isavalta, Paths to Camelot, Useful Woman Mysteries, American Fairy, Palace of Spies and Vampire Chef are among the series on record.