Bloodlines
#554.28 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking
Books 6 books Status Complete 2011–2015 Reading commitment Medium Richelle Mead Last reviewed 2026-08-30
Overview
A direct spin-off of Vampire Academy, following Sydney Sage, a member of a secretive human faction sworn to control vampire society, as she goes undercover among ordinary humans while being drawn deeper into the supernatural world she was raised to police. Set in the same world as Vampire Academy but told through a new narrator with her own story arc.
Urban fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (6 works) counts toward ranking
Bloodlines Richelle Mead
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Bloodlines | 2011 | 1 | core | 4.20 (192,207 ratings) |
 | The Golden Lily | 2012 | 2 | core | 4.31 (122,906 ratings) |
 | The Indigo Spell | 2013 | 3 | core | 4.35 (107,700 ratings) |
 | The Fiery Heart | 2014 | 4 | core | 4.33 (80,929 ratings) |
 | Silver Shadows | 2015 | 5 | core | 4.33 (65,100 ratings) |
 | The Ruby Circle | 2015 | 6 | core | 4.22 (54,569 ratings) |
The complete six-book Bloodlines sequence.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Bloodlines? Bloodlines's Core Canon is 6 books.
- What is the reading order for Bloodlines? Publication order, starting with Bloodlines. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Bloodlines finished? Complete (2011–2015).
- How much reading does Bloodlines take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 6 Core Canon books · ~432 pages).
- How is Bloodlines ranked? #55 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 623,411 reader ratings across 6 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #55?
Ranked #55 of 664 ranked universes.
- Average reader rating of 4.28 across 6 core books.
- Backed by 623k reader ratings.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 6 rated core books rate within 0.15 of each other.
- Less than 0.01 behind #54, Legendborn (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Top-tier rated · 6 books · Complete · 623k ratings · Ranks #55 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length urban fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (6 Core Canon books)
- Bloodlines (2011)
- The Golden Lily (2012)
- The Indigo Spell (2013)
- The Fiery Heart (2014)
- Silver Shadows (2015)
- The Ruby Circle (2015)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what Bloodlines and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Lockwood & Co Urban fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.38
- Legendborn Urban fantasy / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.28
- Vampire Academy Urban fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.24
- The Bartimaeus Sequence Urban fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.14
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.28 across 623,411 ratings on 6 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit Bloodlines accepted 2026-08-30
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-30
Rule: Core Canon is the complete six-book Bloodlines sequence (2011–2015). No further volumes have been announced.