Crossroads
#7353.76 adjusted 3.79 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Complete 2006–2010 Reading commitment Medium Kate Elliott Last reviewed 2026-09-05
Overview
Crossroads is a completed epic fantasy trilogy by Kate Elliott, set in the Hundred, a land governed by an ancient order of immortal Guardians. It follows the reeve Joss and the exiled couple Mai and Anji as a foreign invasion and the return of corrupted Guardians tear the Hundred's fragile peace apart, across Spirit Gate (2006), Shadow Gate (2008), and Traitors' Gate (2010). The Hundred's reeves, aerial law officers who patrol on giant trained eagles, give the setting a distinctive law-enforcement structure built around the Guardians' original mandate to keep justice; the trilogy's central crisis comes from that same system's corruption once several Guardians turn against the peace they were meant to protect. Elliott draws on a wide range of non-European cultural influences for the Hundred's societies, part of a broader pattern across her body of work of building secondary worlds outside the default pseudo-medieval-European template.
Epic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
Crossroads Kate Elliott
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Spirit Gate | 2006 | 1 | core | 3.59 (4,060 ratings) |
 | Shadow Gate | 2008 | 2 | core | 3.88 (2,291 ratings) |
 | Traitors' Gate | 2010 | 3 | core | 3.99 (1,972 ratings) |
The founding trilogy of the Hundred, following reeve Joss and the exiled couple Mai and Anji as the Hundred's fragile order collapses under a foreign invasion and the return of immortal Guardians.
Library / Expanded (1 work)
- Black Wolves (2015) ; Set in the Hundred decades after the founding trilogy, with a new cast; originally planned as its own trilogy but released as a single standalone volume after the follow-up books were not published. Classified Expanded rather than Core: a separate later story arc in the same setting, not part of the founding trilogy's own continuous narrative.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Crossroads? Crossroads's Core Canon is 3 books, plus 1 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
- What is the reading order for Crossroads? Publication order, starting with Spirit Gate. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Crossroads finished? Complete (2006–2010).
- How much reading does Crossroads take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books · ~1,574 pages).
- How is Crossroads ranked? #735 in this site's official ranking, based on 8,323 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #735?
Ranked #735 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.76 across 3 core books.
- A smaller readership (8,323 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.59 to 3.99.
- 0.02 behind #734, The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 3 books · Complete · 8k ratings · Ranks #735 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length epic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- Spirit Gate (2006)
- Shadow Gate (2008)
- Traitors' Gate (2010)
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.
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Suggestions computed from what Crossroads and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Shadowmarch Epic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 3.91
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- The Braided Path Epic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 3.90
- Their Bright Ascendency Epic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 3.90
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.76 across 8,323 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: Crossroads admitted; Core Canon is the founding trilogy accepted 2026-09-05
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: Crossroads (book series) Tier 2
- Reactor (formerly Tor.com): Sleeps With Monsters on Kate Elliott's Crossroads Trilogy Tier 3
Last reviewed: 2026-09-05
Rule: Core Canon is the founding trilogy: Spirit Gate (2006), Shadow Gate (2008), and Traitors' Gate (2010). Black Wolves (2015), set generations later with a new cast and originally planned as its own trilogy before the follow-up books went unpublished, is Expanded Canon: a separate later story arc in the same setting, not part of the founding trilogy's own continuous narrative.