Nicolas Eymerich

#10543.74 adjusted 3.76 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking

Books 12 books Status Complete 1994–2018 Reading commitment High Valerio Evangelisti Last reviewed 2026-11-04

Overview

The Eymerich cycle is a series of twelve Italian novels by Valerio Evangelisti, published by Mondadori from 1994 to 2018. Its protagonist is the fourteenth-century Catalan Dominican Nicolas Eymerich, a historical Inquisitor General of Aragon, who investigates heresies and strange phenomena across medieval Europe. The medieval storylines involve black magic, demons and monstrous creatures. Each volume pairs them with one or two parallel threads set in the twentieth century or the future, often built around the physicist Marcus Frullifer and the armies of RACHE and Euroforce, and the threads converge near the end. The first novel won the Urania prize. The author died in 2022 and the last novel appeared in 2018.

Historical fantasy, Dark fantasy · For Adult

Core Canon: Reading Order (12 works) counts toward ranking

Ciclo di Eymerich Valerio Evangelisti

WorkYearInternal chron.CanonRating
Nicolas Eymerich, inquisitore; First published in the Urania paperback series (no. 1241) by Mondadori; Urania issues carry no ISBN.19941core3.60 (1,844 ratings)
Le catene di Eymerich; First published in Italy by Mondadori in 1995.19952core3.78 (786 ratings)
Il corpo e il sangue di Eymerich; First published in the Urania paperback series (no. 1281) in 1996; Urania issues carry no ISBN.19963core3.79 (696 ratings)
Il mistero dell'inquisitore Eymerich; First published in the Urania paperback series in 1996.19964core3.79 (642 ratings)
Cherudek; First published in Italy by Mondadori in 1997.19975core3.95 (629 ratings)
Picatrix, la scala per l'inferno; First published in the Urania paperback series (no. 1330) by Mondadori in 1998; Urania issues carry no ISBN.19986core3.77 (401 ratings)
Cover of Il castello di EymerichIl castello di Eymerich; First published in 2001 in Mondadori's Omnibus line; a Urania edition followed in 2002.20017core3.89 (468 ratings)
Mater Terribilis; First published in Italy by Mondadori in 2002.20028core3.70 (436 ratings)
Cover of La luce di OrioneLa luce di Orione; Includes material first published separately as the story La sala dei giganti (2006).20079core3.54 (287 ratings)
Cover of Rex tremendae maiestatisRex tremendae maiestatis; First published by Mondadori in 2010 in the Strade blu series.201010core3.90 (238 ratings)
Cover of Eymerich risorgeEymerich risorge; First published by Mondadori in 2017.201711core3.55 (146 ratings)
Cover of Il fantasma di EymerichIl fantasma di Eymerich; First published by Mondadori in 2018.201812core3.60 (108 ratings)

Twelve novels following the fourteenth-century inquisitor Nicolas Eymerich, each pairing a medieval plot with a modern or future one.

Quick answers

Why is it ranked #1054?

Ranked #1054 in the official ranking.

How the ranking works →

Why explore this universe?

Rated · 12 books · Complete · 7k ratings · Ranks #1054 overall

Good choice if you want a long-running historical fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.

Reading order

Publication order (12 Core Canon books)

  1. Nicolas Eymerich, inquisitore (1994)
  2. Le catene di Eymerich (1995)
  3. Il corpo e il sangue di Eymerich (1996)
  4. Il mistero dell'inquisitore Eymerich (1996)
  5. Cherudek (1997)
  6. Picatrix, la scala per l'inferno (1998)
  7. Il castello di Eymerich (2001)
  8. Mater Terribilis (2002)
  9. La luce di Orione (2007)
  10. Rex tremendae maiestatis (2010)
  11. Eymerich risorge (2017)
  12. Il fantasma di Eymerich (2018)

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)

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Suggestions computed from what Nicolas Eymerich and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.

Official resources

Research details

Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.74 across 6,681 ratings on 12 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.

How do we know this?

Admission: Open items closed: per-book author credits in apply_batch; Eymerich admitted; Bedlam's Bard, SERRAted Edge and Doubled Edge join Diana Tregarde; Pine Cove grows into Christopher Moore's shared world; backfills for Crépusculaires, Renshai, Achaja, Lodoss, Slayers and Godhead accepted 2026-11-04

Sources: (see source tier definitions)

Last reviewed: 2026-11-04

Rule: Core Canon = the twelve Eymerich novels, from Nicolas Eymerich, inquisitore (1994) to Il fantasma di Eymerich (2018); story collections, omnibus editions and the comic La furia di Eymerich are excluded.

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