Empire of the East / Swords
#9323.83 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 15 books Status Complete 1968–2006 Reading commitment High Fred Saberhagen Last reviewed 2026-11-02
Overview
Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East novels and his Swords books share one world. The Empire of the East novels (1968-1973) are set tens of thousands of years in Earth's future, after a change in the laws of physics lets magic work and disables most technology; the farm boy Rolf joins the Free Folk against the Eastern Empire and its demon lords. The Books of Swords (1983-1984) and Lost Swords (1986-1994) take place thousands of years later, when the gods have forged twelve Swords of Power that can kill gods; Prince Mark of Tasavalta, the smith Jord and the wizard Wood are among the main figures. Ardneh's Sword (2006) returns to the world about a thousand years after Rolf. The author died in 2007.
Epic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (15 works) counts toward ranking
Empire of the East Fred Saberhagen
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Broken Lands; First published as an Ace paperback original; no ISBN was printed in the first edition. | 1968 | 1 | core | 3.72 (402 ratings) | |
| The Black Mountains | 1971 | 2 | core | 3.89 (279 ratings) | |
| Changeling Earth; Revised and reissued as Ardneh's World; the first three novels were also collected in a revised omnibus, Empire of the East (1979). The ratings shown are those of the Ardneh's World listing. | 1973 | 3 | core | 3.86 (277 ratings) | |
 | Ardneh's Sword; Set about a thousand years after Rolf's time; first published in 2006, after the Swords series had ended. | 2006 | 4 | core | 3.62 (345 ratings) |
Four novels about the war between the Eastern Empire and the Free Folk of the West, set after a change in the laws of physics, plus a much later novel in the same world.
Books of Swords Fred Saberhagen
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The First Book of Swords | 1983 | 1 | core | 3.81 (7,652 ratings) |
 | The Second Book of Swords | 1983 | 2 | core | 3.86 (5,798 ratings) |
 | The Third Book of Swords | 1984 | 3 | core | 3.88 (2,882 ratings) |
Three novels in which twelve god-forged Swords of Power are scattered among mortals, thousands of years after the Empire of the East.
Lost Swords Fred Saberhagen
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Woundhealer's Story; Published as The First Book of Lost Swords. | 1986 | 1 | core | 3.79 (3,221 ratings) |
 | Sightblinder's Story; Published as The Second Book of Lost Swords. | 1987 | 2 | core | 3.80 (2,412 ratings) |
 | Stonecutter's Story; Published as The Third Book of Lost Swords. | 1988 | 3 | core | 3.81 (2,496 ratings) |
 | Farslayer's Story; Published as The Fourth Book of Lost Swords. | 1989 | 4 | core | 3.85 (1,993 ratings) |
 | Coinspinner's Story; Published as The Fifth Book of Lost Swords. | 1989 | 5 | core | 3.91 (1,846 ratings) |
 | Mindsword's Story; Published as The Sixth Book of Lost Swords. | 1990 | 6 | core | 3.84 (1,453 ratings) |
 | Wayfinder's Story; Published as The Seventh Book of Lost Swords. | 1992 | 7 | core | 3.87 (1,286 ratings) |
 | Shieldbreaker's Story; Published as The Last Book of Swords; the final novel of the Swords books. | 1994 | 8 | core | 3.88 (1,423 ratings) |
Eight novels that follow the Swords of Power after the first trilogy, centered on Prince Mark of Tasavalta and his family.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Empire of the East / Swords? Empire of the East / Swords's Core Canon is 15 books.
- What is the reading order for Empire of the East / Swords? Publication order, starting with The Broken Lands. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Empire of the East / Swords finished? Complete (1968–2006).
- How much reading does Empire of the East / Swords take? High reading commitment (estimated from 15 Core Canon books).
- How is Empire of the East / Swords ranked? #932 in this site's official ranking, based on 33,765 reader ratings across 15 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #932?
Ranked #932 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.83 across 15 core books.
- A smaller readership (33,765 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #931, Dante Valentine (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.46.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 15 books · Complete · 34k ratings · Ranks #932 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running epic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (15 Core Canon books)
- The Broken Lands (1968)
- The Black Mountains (1971)
- Changeling Earth (1973)
- The First Book of Swords (1983)
- The Second Book of Swords (1983)
- The Third Book of Swords (1984)
- Woundhealer's Story (1986)
- Sightblinder's Story (1987)
- Stonecutter's Story (1988)
- Coinspinner's Story (1989)
- Farslayer's Story (1989)
- Mindsword's Story (1990)
- Wayfinder's Story (1992)
- Shieldbreaker's Story (1994)
- Ardneh's Sword (2006)
Documented internal/story order
- The Broken Lands (1968)
- The First Book of Swords (1983)
- Woundhealer's Story (1986)
- The Black Mountains (1971)
- The Second Book of Swords (1983)
- Sightblinder's Story (1987)
- Changeling Earth (1973)
- The Third Book of Swords (1984)
- Stonecutter's Story (1988)
- Ardneh's Sword (2006)
- Farslayer's Story (1989)
- Coinspinner's Story (1989)
- Mindsword's Story (1990)
- Wayfinder's Story (1992)
- Shieldbreaker's Story (1994)
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what Empire of the East / Swords and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Sartorias-deles Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 3.98
- The Three Worlds Cycle Epic fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 3.96
- The Second Apocalypse Grimdark / Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 3.96
- Mithgar Epic fantasy / Sword & sorcery · Unfinished · High commitment · 3.95
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.83 across 33,765 ratings on 15 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon Extension: 28 universes; 3 candidates ruled out accepted 2026-11-02
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: Empire of the East series Tier 2
- Wikipedia: Books of Swords Tier 2
- SF Encyclopedia: Fred Saberhagen Tier 2
- Wikipedia: Fred Saberhagen bibliography Tier 2
- Fred Saberhagen's official site Tier 2
- TV Tropes: Empire of the East Tier 2
- Black Gate review of The Broken Lands Tier 2
- Black Gate review of The Black Mountains Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-11-02
Rule: Core Canon = the twelve Empire of the East and Swords novels, from The Broken Lands (1968) to Ardneh's Sword (2006); omnibus editions and the anthology An Armory of Swords are excluded.