Felix Castor
#4683.97 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 6 books Status Complete 2006–2009 Reading commitment Medium M.R. Carey Last reviewed 2026-10-18
Overview
Mike Carey's Felix Castor novels (2006-2009), published by Orbit, are hardboiled urban fantasy set in a London where the dead have come back: ghosts, zombies, werebeasts and demons now share the city with the living. Felix Castor, a Liverpudlian freelance exorcist with a bad conscience and a habit of playing both sides against the middle, is helped and hindered by the succubus Juliet, the paranoid zombie data-fence Nicky Heath and his holier-than-thou brother Matthew. Each book starts from an apparently simple case, a ghost-hunting job in a museum, satanists and stolen spirits, a copycat of a long-dead killer, old faces from Liverpool, that leads Castor deeper into trouble with both the living and the dead. Carey wrote the series under his own name before turning to novels as M.R. Carey.
Urban fantasy, Dark fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (6 works) counts toward ranking
Felix Castor M.R. Carey
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Devil You Know; ISBN recorded is the Orbit edition of the 2018 reissue. | 2006 | 1 | core | 3.81 (17,360 ratings) |
 | Vicious Circle; ISBN recorded is an Orbit ebook edition. | 2006 | 2 | core | 3.98 (9,280 ratings) |
 | Dead Men's Boots | 2007 | 3 | core | 4.00 (7,959 ratings) |
 | Thicker Than Water | 2008 | 4 | core | 4.14 (6,081 ratings) |
 | The Naming of the Beasts | 2009 | 5 | core | 4.19 (5,727 ratings) |
 | The Ghost in Bone; A long novella published by Subterranean Press in a limited edition of 1,000 signed, numbered hardcover copies; Felix Castor's first appearance since The Naming of the Beasts (2009). | 2023 | N/A | N/A |
Mike Carey's five Felix Castor novels about a freelance exorcist in a London where the dead have risen.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Felix Castor? Felix Castor's Core Canon is 6 books.
- What is the reading order for Felix Castor? Publication order, starting with The Devil You Know. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Felix Castor finished? Complete (2006–2009).
- How much reading does Felix Castor take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 5 Core Canon books).
- How is Felix Castor ranked? #468 in this site's official ranking, based on 46,407 reader ratings across 5 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #468?
Ranked #468 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.97 across 5 core books.
- A smaller readership (46,407 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- 0.03 behind #467, A Última Vida de Sir David.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 5 books · Complete · 46k ratings · Ranks #468 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 (5 Core Canon books)
- The Devil You Know (2006)
- Vicious Circle (2006)
- Dead Men's Boots (2007)
- Thicker Than Water (2008)
- The Naming of the Beasts (2009)
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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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.97 across 46,407 ratings on 5 Core Canon books. 1 additional Core Canon book hasn't been rated yet, so it isn't counted here. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: Felix Castor (Mike Carey) accepted 2026-10-18
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Risingshadow (series listing) Tier 2
- Civilian Reader (Orbit reissue announcement and publisher synopsis) Tier 2
- Reader list on the rating platform (ratings with titles) Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-18
Rule: Core Canon = The Devil You Know (2006), Vicious Circle (2006), Dead Men's Boots (2007), Thicker Than Water (2008) and The Naming of the Beasts (2009), in order.