Five Hundred Kingdoms
#4383.91 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking
Books 7 books Status Complete 2004–2012 Reading commitment High Mercedes Lackey Last reviewed 2026-08-20
Overview
Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms is Mercedes Lackey's completed seven-novel sequence of fairy-tale retellings (2004–2012, Luna/Harlequin), set in a secondary world shaped by “the Tradition,” a semi-sentient narrative force that keeps trying to push real people's lives into recognisable fairy-tale shapes, whether or not that suits them. Each novel follows a different protagonist wrestling with a different tale-type (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, the Snow Queen, and others), with occasional shared secondary characters rather than a single continuing cast.
Fairy-tale retelling · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (7 works) counts toward ranking
Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms Mercedes Lackey
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Fairy Godmother | 2004 | 1 | core | 4.00 (19,588 ratings) |
 | One Good Knight | 2006 | 2 | core | 3.89 (11,152 ratings) |
 | Fortune's Fool | 2007 | 3 | core | 3.86 (9,563 ratings) |
 | The Snow Queen | 2008 | 4 | core | 3.81 (8,141 ratings) |
 | The Sleeping Beauty | 2010 | 5 | core | 4.00 (7,738 ratings) |
 | Beauty and the Werewolf | 2011 | 6 | core | 3.80 (8,054 ratings) |
 | A Tangled Web | 2012 | 7 | core | 3.87 (2,369 ratings) |
A completed 7-book sequence of standalone fairy-tale-retelling novels sharing one meta-fictional secondary world ("The Tradition", a narrative-causality force that pushes real lives toward familiar fairy-tale shapes), published 2004-2012 by Luna/Harlequin.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Five Hundred Kingdoms? Five Hundred Kingdoms's Core Canon is 7 books.
- What is the reading order for Five Hundred Kingdoms? Publication order, starting with The Fairy Godmother. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Five Hundred Kingdoms finished? Complete (2004–2012).
- How much reading does Five Hundred Kingdoms take? High reading commitment (estimated from 7 Core Canon books · ~1,785 pages).
- How is Five Hundred Kingdoms ranked? #438 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 66,605 reader ratings across 7 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #438?
Ranked #438 of 664 ranked universes.
- Average reader rating of 3.91 across 7 core books.
- A smaller readership (66,605 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #437, The Raven Tower (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 7 books · Complete · 67k ratings · Ranks #438 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running fairy-tale retelling fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (7 Core Canon books)
- The Fairy Godmother (2004)
- One Good Knight (2006)
- Fortune's Fool (2007)
- The Snow Queen (2008)
- The Sleeping Beauty (2010)
- Beauty and the Werewolf (2011)
- A Tangled Web (2012)
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 Five Hundred Kingdoms and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Singing Hills Cycle Mythic fantasy / Fairy-tale retelling · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.01
- The Elemental Masters Historical fantasy / Fairy-tale retelling · Ongoing · High commitment · 3.97
- Lyonesse Epic fantasy / Fairy-tale retelling · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.05
- Malice Duology Fairy-tale retelling · Complete · Low commitment · 3.86
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.91 across 66,605 ratings on 7 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Five Hundred Kingdoms admitted as its own universe (Mercedes Lackey) accepted 2026-08-20
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Rating-platform listing: Five Hundred Kingdoms series Tier 2
- Reference listing: A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms Tier 3
- https://www.fantasticfiction.com/l/mercedes-r-lackey/five-hundred-kingdoms/
Last reviewed: 2026-08-20
Rule: Core Canon is all 7 novels of the completed main sequence. No separate Expanded Canon material (short fiction, tie-ins) has been identified.