The Ultimate Fantasy Series Ranking

Author page

C. L. Polk

2 universes Last reviewed 2026-08-18

C. L. Polk was born in 1969 in New Westminster, British Columbia, and grew up in Surrey and Edmonton. They began their writing career in their thirties, publishing short fiction in magazines such as Abyss & Apex in the early 2000s, with formative influences including fantasy author Tanith Lee, Barbara Hambly's historical mysteries, and Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series. Polk is a Canadian fantasy author whose debut novel, Witchmark (2018), achieved significant acclaim and launched the Kingston Cycle, continued with Stormsong (2020) and concluded with Soulstar (2021). They also wrote The Midnight Bargain (2020), a Regency-era historical fantasy, and the novella Even Though I Knew the End (2022), set in early 1900s Chicago. Polk identifies as non-binary and resides in Calgary, Alberta, and in 2023 underwent ketamine treatment to manage complex PTSD while continuing to focus on fantasy with queer, romantic, and adventurous themes. Polk won the 2019 World Fantasy Award for Witchmark and the 2022 Nebula Award for Best Novella for Even Though I Knew the End. In 2019 the CBC named Polk among nineteen Canadian writers to watch, and multiple works have received Hugo, Locus, Aurora, and Ignyte Award nominations.

Universe(s)

The Kingston Cycle

  • Core Canon books: 3
  • Current rank: #646 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 3.86
  • Award recognitions: 1 won, 1 finalist mention, 3 nomination

Even Though I Knew the End

  • Core Canon books: 1
  • Current rank: #733 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 3.79
  • Award recognitions: 1 won

Books

Aggregate across all universes

These are separate, unrelated universes; the totals below are plain sums of already-published per-universe facts, never a blended or averaged score across them. See each universe's own figures above.

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