The Ultimate Fantasy Series Ranking

Author page

Martha Wells

3 universes Last reviewed 2026-09-07

Martha Wells is an American author born September 1, 1964, in Fort Worth, Texas, who earned a B.A. in Anthropology from Texas A&M University in 1986, where she chaired the science fiction convention AggieCon 17. She began publishing fiction in 1993 and has credited her anthropology background with shaping her ability to design complex, realistically detailed fictional societies. She attended the Turkey City Writer's Workshop under Bruce Sterling and has taught writing at conventions including WorldCon and ArmadilloCon. Wells is best known for The Murderbot Diaries, a series beginning with All Systems Red (2017) that follows a security android who hacks its own governor module and develops individual personhood, for which she has won four Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards, and three Locus Awards. Her earlier work includes the longer-running Books of the Raksura fantasy series (2011–2017) and the Ile-Rien series and related novels (1993–2005), as well as media tie-in fiction for the Stargate and Star Wars franchises. She was inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame in 2022 and served as toastmaster of the World Fantasy Convention in 2017. Wells lives in College Station, Texas, with her husband, continuing to write across science fiction and fantasy.

Universe(s)

Witch King

  • Core Canon books: 2
  • Current rank: #765 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 3.76
  • Award recognitions: 1 won, 3 finalist mention

The Books of the Raksura

  • Core Canon books: 5
  • Current rank: #237 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 4.09
  • Award recognitions: None recorded

Ile-Rien

  • Core Canon books: 5
  • Current rank: #338 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 4.03
  • Award recognitions: None recorded

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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