Bone Universe
#8003.60 adjusted 3.67 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Complete 2015–2017 Reading commitment Low Fran Wilde Last reviewed 2026-08-18
Overview
In a sky-city of towers grown from the bones of an ancient living creature, citizens fly between them on artificial wings, and status is tied to how high or low one's tower stands in the city's rigid social order. When a young woman's mother vanishes for breaking a law she never knew existed, she is drawn into a conspiracy that threatens the city's fragile order and forces her to question the traditions that hold it together. Fran Wilde's complete trilogy, Updraft (2015), Cloudbound (2016), and Horizon (2017), was recognized within the science-fiction and fantasy award community, with Updraft a finalist for SFWA's Andre Norton Award for the year's best fantasy or science-fiction novel for young adults. Fran Wilde's first universe in this canon.
Epic fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
The Bone Universe Fran Wilde
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Updraft | 2015 | 1 | core | 3.58 (3,353 ratings) |
 | Cloudbound | 2016 | 2 | core | 3.63 (655 ratings) |
 | Horizon | 2017 | 3 | core | 3.74 (344 ratings) |
A complete trilogy set in a sky-city of towers grown from living bone, where citizens fly on artificial wings; a coming-of-age story that widens into political and ecological upheaval across the 3 books. Fran Wilde's separate 'Gem Universe' (The Jewel and Her Lapidary and its sequels) is a distinct, unrelated setting by the same author and is not covered by this admission.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Bone Universe? Bone Universe's Core Canon is 3 books.
- What is the reading order for Bone Universe? Publication order, starting with Updraft. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Bone Universe finished? Complete (2015–2017).
- How much reading does Bone Universe take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books · ~1,164 pages).
- How is Bone Universe ranked? #800 in this site's official ranking, based on 4,352 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #800?
Ranked #800 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.60 across 3 core books.
- A smaller readership (4,352 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- 0.03 behind #799, The Worldbreaker Saga.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Modestly rated · 3 books · Complete · 4k ratings · Ranks #800 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment epic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- Updraft (2015)
- Cloudbound (2016)
- Horizon (2017)
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)
- Andre Norton Award (Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy), 2015: won: Updraft; SFWA's own site labels this the 2015 award year (eligibility year); Updraft was also a Nebula Award for Best Novel nominee in the same award year.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.60 across 4,352 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Bone Universe (Updraft trilogy) admitted accepted 2026-08-18
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-18
Rule: Core = all 3 novels (Updraft, Cloudbound, Horizon); the author's separate Gem Universe setting is not part of this record.