Elves book series in reading order

by Shannon Messenger

by Kazu Kibuishi

by Wen Spencer

R.A. Salvatore

133 books• 34 series

Robert Anthony Salvatore, published as R.A. Salvatore, is an American fantasy writer born on January 20, 1959. The Legend of Drizzt, set in the Forgotten Realms and starring Drizzt Do'Urden, is the work Salvatore is chiefly known for. Other work includes The DemonWars Saga, a high fantasy series, and Vector Prime, the first novel in Star Wars: The New Jedi Order. The catalogue counts 134 books, starting with The Crystal Shard (1988); Witch of Whispervale (2025) is the newest, and Fat Rabbit is listed for 2027. US sales exceed 15 million copies, and 22 Salvatore titles have been New York Times best-sellers.

Mercedes Lackey

230 books• 52 series

Valdemar, a country in the world of Velgarth, is the setting for many of Mercedes Lackey's interlinked fantasy novels and trilogies. Lackey, an American writer born on June 24, 1950, brings human and non-human protagonists from many cultures together in the Valdemar books. A second Lackey setting resembles Earth but hides populations of elves, mages, vampires and other mythical beings. Bedlam's Bard follows a young man who works magic through music, SERRAted Edge features elves who race cars, and the Diana Tregarde thrillers star a Wiccan fighting evil. Arrows of the Queen (1987), Arrow's Flight (1987) and Arrow's Fall (1988) are among the listed titles, and Elemental Masters and Five Hundred Kingdoms are further series.

Terry Brooks

59 books• 20 series

Terry Brooks, born Terence Dean Brooks on January 8, 1944, is an American writer of epic fantasy. The catalogue opens with The Sword of Shannara (1977) and counts 59 books through Brona (2026). Series lines include the Original Shannara, Heritage of Shannara, Genesis of Shannara, Defenders of Shannara and Dark Legacy of Shannara, alongside Word & Void and Viridian Deep, while the Magic Kingdom of Landover is a recurring setting. Two film novelizations belong to the output. Brooks has had 23 New York Times bestsellers and more than 25 million copies in print, and announced a semi-retirement from writing in March 2025.

Shannon Messenger

16 books• 3 series

Shannon Messenger is an American author of middle-grade and young adult fantasy, published by Simon & Schuster. Keeper of the Lost Cities, begun in 2012, is her best-known series and a New York Times bestseller; its book 8.5, Unlocked, reached number 8 on the USA Today list in 2020. The young adult Sky Fall trilogy runs alongside, and a graphic novel adaptation of Keeper continues into 2025. Elves, psychic ability, memory and foster families are the standing subjects across 16 catalogued books.

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.

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.

Dan Abnett

224 books• 95 series

Dan Abnett, born 12 October 1965, is an English novelist and comic book writer. Abnett has written for Marvel Comics and its UK imprint Marvel UK since the 1990s, for 2000 AD and for DC Comics, often in partnership with Andy Lanning. Abnett's Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 novels and graphic novels for Games Workshop's Black Library number several dozen and have sold more than two million copies. Abnett's first original novels came from Angry Robot in 2009. The catalogue lists 224 books from Uther, the Half Dead King (1993) to Legends of the Waaagh! (2026), across series such as Gaunt's Ghosts, Eisenhorn, Ravenor, Guardians of the Galaxy and Aquaman graphic novels.

Douglas Niles

60 books• 28 series

Douglas Niles, born December 1, 1954 in Brookfield, Wisconsin, is a fantasy author and game designer. Niles helped create the Dragonlance world, wrote the first three Forgotten Realms novels, and designed the Star Frontiers space opera setting and the Top Secret S/I espionage role-playing game. The catalogue holds 60 books from Against the Cult of the Reptile God (1982) to A Noble Cause (2015), taking in the Forgotten Realms Moonshae, Maztica and Druidhome trilogies and the Dragonlance Icewall, Dwarf Home and Rise of Solamnia sequences. The Fox on the Rhine series and the subject heading World War, 1939-1945 mark a strand outside fantasy. The listing is marked likely complete.

Isobelle Carmody

37 books• 8 series

Isobelle Carmody, born in 1958, is an Australian writer of science fiction, fantasy, children's literature and young adult fiction, and a recipient of the Aurealis Award for best children's fiction. The Obernewtyn Chronicles are the recorded character grouping, opening with Obernewtyn (1987), the earliest of the 37 books catalogued under the Carmody name; Comes the Night (2024) is the most recent. Little Fur, Kingdom of the Lost, Legendsong and Tales from the Tower also appear, with magic, elves, human-animal communication and extrasensory perception among the subjects.

Terry Pratchett

148 books• 18 series

Terry Pratchett (28 April 1948 to 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist and satirist. Discworld, a run of 41 comic fantasy novels published from 1983 to 2015, is the work most associated with Pratchett, together with Good Omens (1990), written with Neil Gaiman. The Carpet People (1971) was the first Pratchett novel, and The Colour of Magic (1983) opened Discworld. The Shepherd's Crown, the last Discworld novel, came out in August 2015, five months after Pratchett's death. The catalogue also lists the Long Earth, Bromeliad Trilogy and Johnny Maxwell series, with The Discworld Bestiary dated 2026.

Andre Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 to March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy who also produced historical and contemporary fiction, and used the names Andrew North and Allen Weston as well. Norton was the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master, and the first inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. The catalogue carries 209 books from The Prince Commands (1934) onward. Witch World, Solar Queen, Time Traders, Beast Master and Forerunner are series.

Tracy Hickman

37 books• 15 series

Tracy Raye Hickman, born November 26, 1955, is an American fantasy author and a designer of games and virtual reality experiences. Hickman co-authored the original Dragonlance novels with Margaret Weis, created role-playing material while working for TSR, and has written novels with Laura Hickman. More than 60 books carry Hickman's name as author or co-author. The catalogue lists 37 of them, from Pharaoh (1983) to The Eye of Scales (2022), including Dragonlance modules and the Bronze Canticles, Annals of Drakis, Nightbirds and Songs of the Stellar Wind series.

Gena Showalter is an American novelist, born in Oklahoma in 1975, who writes contemporary romance, paranormal romance and young adult fiction. Showalter sold a first book at age 27 and has reached the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. The catalogue lists 116 books from The Stone Prince (2004) to The Kraken Bride (2026). Lords of the Underworld, Alien Huntress, Angels of the Dark and the White Rabbit Chronicles are among the linked series, and vampires and demonology recur in the subject headings.

Enid Blyton

957 books• 42 series

Enid Blyton (11 August 1897 to 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer and one of the best-selling authors of children's literature, with more than 600 million copies sold and translations into ninety languages. Blyton wrote on education, natural history, fantasy, mystery and biblical stories. Noddy, the Famous Five, the Secret Seven, the Five Find-Outers and Malory Towers are the best-remembered Blyton books, and St Clare's, Mary Mouse and Toyland Stories are also listed. The catalogue opens with The Enid Blyton Book of Fairies (1924), and The Naughtiest Girl in the School (1930) and The Adventures of the Wishing-Chair (1937) follow. Titles dated after Blyton's death also appear, up to Stories of Wonders and Wishes (2023).

Elizabeth Moon

35 books• 10 series

Elizabeth Moon, born March 7, 1945, is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy who served in the United States Marine Corps before turning to writing. The Speed of Dark won the Nebula Award in 2003, and Moon has also written newspaper columns and opinion pieces. The catalogue lists 35 books from 1988 to 2026, opening with Sheepfarmer's Daughter and Divided Allegiance (both 1988) and Oath of Gold (1989). Horngard (2026) is the newest. Series include the Deed of Paksenarrion, Serrano Legacy, Vatta's War, Vatta's Peace, Paladin's Legacy, Legacy of Gird and Planet Pirates. Space opera, epic fantasy, women soldiers and pirates appear in the subject tags.

C.J. Cherryh

105 books• 23 series

C.J. Cherryh is the pen name of Carolyn Janice Cherry, an American writer of speculative fiction born September 1, 1942. The silent h came at the prompting of editor Donald A. Wollheim, who judged that Cherry read like the name of a romance writer. Downbelow Station (1981) and Cyteen (1988), both set in the Alliance-Union universe, each won the Hugo Award, and the Foreigner series sits alongside them among Cherryh's notable work. The catalogue holds 105 books from Brothers of Earth (1976) to Alliance Unbound (2024). Worldbuilding grounded in research across history, language, psychology and archeology is what Cherryh is known for.

Margaret Weis

109 books• 34 series

Margaret Edith Weis, born March 16, 1948, is an American fantasy and science fiction author who, with Tracy Hickman at TSR, Inc., created the Dragonlance role-playing game world. Weis founded Sovereign Press and Margaret Weis Productions, which license television and film franchises for role-playing games. Pyramid magazine named Weis one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons in 1999, and the Origins Hall of Fame inducted Weis in 2002. Dragons of Autumn Twilight (1984) is among the catalogued titles, and series include Death Gate Cycle, Darksword and Star Of The Guardians.

Tom Holt, born Thomas Charles Louis Holt on 13 September 1961, is a British novelist who also writes fantasy as K. J. Parker. The catalogue lists 57 books under the Holt name, from Lucia in Wartime (1985) and Lucia Triumphant (1986) to The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse (2023). Recorded subjects include humorous fantasy, and titles include Expecting Someone Taller (1987), Who's Afraid Of Beowulf? (1988), Goatsong (1989) and Flying Dutch (1991). Series include J. W. Wells & Co., YouSpace and Walled Orchard.

Andrzej Sapkowski

17 books• 5 series

Andrzej Sapkowski is a Polish fantasy writer, born 21 June 1948, best known for The Witcher, the saga of the monster hunter Geralt of Rivia. The Witcher has reached video games, television, the stage and comics, and appears in 37 languages; only Stanisław Lem is translated more among Polish science fiction and fantasy writers. Sapkowski's books have sold over 30 million copies and draw on Slavic mythology. The 17 catalogued titles run from Something Ends, Something Begins (1988) through The Last Wish (1993) and Blood of Elves (1994) to Crossroads of Ravens (2025), with the Hussite Trilogy as a second series.

Madeleine Roux

39 books• 10 series

Madeleine Roux is an American author of young adult paranormal and horror series, the Asylum books among them. Roux has also written two standalone adult science fiction novels and novels for licensed properties such as World of Warcraft and Dungeons & Dragons. Titles include Allison Hewitt Is Trapped (2011), Sadie Walker is Stranded (2012), Asylum (2013), Sanctum (2014) and The Scarlets (2014), and Legacy (2026) is the newest. Series include House of Furies, Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Academy and World of Warcraft: Traveler. Subjects include horror, magic, elves, mental illness and young women.

Lisa Shearin writes comic fantasy with elves, goblins and thieves. Raine Benares, a seeker caught up with a cursed amulet, carries the first six books from Magic Lost, Trouble Found (2007) to All Spell Breaks Loose (2012); the SPI Files then move the magic to a modern supernatural agency, starting with The Grendel Affair (2013). Twenty books span 2007 to 2023, closing for now with The Gorgon Agenda.

Emily Rodda is a pen name of Jennifer June Rowe, an Australian author born 2 April 1948. Rowe publishes crime fiction for adults under her own name, including the Verity Birdwood and Tessa Vance series, and children's fiction as Emily Rodda and as Mary-Anne Dickinson. Deltora Quest is the central children's sequence, extended by Dragons of Deltora, Deltora Shadowlands and Star of Deltora, with Rowan of Rin, Fairy Realm, Rondo and the Three Doors Trilogy beside it. The catalogue lists 102 books from Pigs Might Fly (1986) onward.

Gavin Thorpe is a game designer who has worked primarily on board games, and has also written novels and short stories for the Black Library. The catalogue holds 73 titles, from Da Uvver Book (1997) to The High Kahl's Oath (2024). Science fiction, space warfare, imaginary wars and battles, kings and rulers, elves, revenge and epic fantasy appear in the subject records. Series credited to Thorpe include Last Chancers, Legacy of Caliban, Slaves to Darkness, Time of Legends: The Sundering, Crown of the Blood, Rise of the Ynnari and World of Tir-Dagrau. Other names sit on the credits beside Thorpe's: Nick Kyme on 5 titles, and Ben Counter, Graham McNeill, Rob Sanders, Joshua Reynolds, Robbie MacNiven and Peter McLean on 2 each.

Laura Anne Gilman

50 books• 15 series

Laura Anne Gilman is an American fantasy author, born in New Jersey in 1967. Magic, paranormal investigation, vampires and murder recur across a catalogue of 50 books published between 1995 and 2023, from Double or Nothing (1995) to Uncanny Vows (2023). Gilman's series include the Retrievers, the Vineart War, Paranormal Scene Investigations, Sylvan Investigations, the Gin & Tonic Mysteries, the Devil's West, Portals and Huntsmen, with non-fiction strands on unsolved mysteries and on economics. No title is listed after 2023.