How many books are in Riftwar Cycle?

Riftwar Cycle's Core Canon is 23 books, plus 7 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.

What is the reading order for Riftwar Cycle?

Publication order, starting with Magician. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.

How much reading does Riftwar Cycle take?

High reading commitment (estimated from 23 Core Canon books · ~10,796 pages).

How is Riftwar Cycle ranked?

#140 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 630,869 reader ratings across 23 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.

Riftwar Cycle

#1404.16 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking

Books 23 books Status Complete 1982–2013 Reading commitment High Raymond E. Feist Last reviewed 2026-08-05

Overview

Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Cycle (1982-2013) spans ten sub-series across the linked worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan. The Empire Trilogy, co-written throughout with Janny Wurts, runs narratively concurrent with the Riftwar Saga and is Core; Legends of the Riftwar (one different co-author per volume) and The Riftwar Legacy (video-game novelizations) are Expanded tie-in material.

Epic fantasy · For Adult

Core Canon: Reading Order (23 works) counts toward ranking

The Riftwar Saga Raymond E. Feist

Work	Year	Internal chron.	Canon	Rating
Magician; First published 1982 (Doubleday) as ONE novel; split into two US paperback volumes (Apprentice/Master) only in 1986. Counted here as 1 novel.	1982	1	core	4.32 (73,140 ratings)
Silverthorn	1985	6	core	4.12 (70,047 ratings)
A Darkness at Sethanon	1986	7	core	4.20 (73,103 ratings)

The Empire Trilogy Raymond E. Feist, Janny Wurts

Work	Year	Internal chron.	Canon	Rating
Daughter of the Empire; UK edition ISBN, the earliest edition with an ISBN on record; only the 1987 year is confirmed (no month/day).	1987	5	core	4.29 (42,804 ratings)
Servant of the Empire	1990	8	core	4.32 (32,789 ratings)
Mistress of the Empire	1992	10	core	4.36 (28,946 ratings)

Co-written throughout with Janny Wurts; narrative runs concurrent with the Riftwar Saga and Riftwar Legacy.

Krondor's Sons Raymond E. Feist

	Work	Year	Internal chron.	Canon	Rating
	Prince of the Blood	1989	14	core	4.03 (27,776 ratings)
	The King's Buccaneer; A planned third book, 'The Return of the Buccaneer', was never written.	1992	15	core	4.08 (26,521 ratings)

Distinct from, and not to be confused with, The Riftwar Legacy (the Krondor game novelizations).

The Serpentwar Saga Raymond E. Feist

Work	Year	Internal chron.	Canon	Rating
Shadow of a Dark Queen	1994	16	core	4.09 (32,077 ratings)
Rise of a Merchant Prince; UK edition ISBN, which preceded the US edition.	1995	17	core	4.09 (31,379 ratings)
Rage of a Demon King	1997	18	core	4.09 (27,915 ratings)
Shards of a Broken Crown	1998	19	core	4.06 (23,879 ratings)

Conclave of Shadows Raymond E. Feist

Work	Year	Internal chron.	Canon	Rating
Talon of the Silver Hawk; UK edition ISBN, the earliest edition on record.	2002	20	core	4.08 (19,865 ratings)
King of Foxes; UK edition ISBN, the earliest edition on record.	2003	21	core	4.04 (16,417 ratings)
Exile's Return; UK edition ISBN, the earliest edition on record.	2004	22	core	4.07 (16,545 ratings)

The Darkwar Saga Raymond E. Feist

Work	Year	Internal chron.	Canon	Rating
Flight of the Nighthawks; UK edition ISBN, the earliest edition on record; only the 2005 year is confirmed (no month/day).	2005	23	core	4.00 (13,868 ratings)
Into a Dark Realm; UK edition ISBN, the earliest edition on record.	2006	24	core	4.04 (12,777 ratings)
Wrath of a Mad God; UK edition ISBN, the earliest edition on record.	2008	25	core	4.10 (12,099 ratings)

The Demonwar Saga Raymond E. Feist

	Work	Year	Internal chron.	Canon	Rating
	Rides a Dread Legion; UK edition ISBN, the earliest edition on record.	2009	26	core	3.98 (10,343 ratings)
	At the Gates of Darkness; First-edition precedence corrected 2026-08-18: the earlier first_edition.date (2009-12-08) recorded the UK ebook release, which predates the print edition by a few months; per the rule, the print edition is used as the canonical first edition whenever one exists, with an ebook date used only when no print edition exists at all. The UK Voyager (HarperCollins) hardcover, March 2010, is the earliest confirmed print edition (day-level precision not independently confirmed; ISBN 9780007264711). A near-simultaneous US Eos/HarperVoyager hardcover followed in April 2010 (ISBN 9780061468377). The 2009-12-08 ebook predates both prints by design (a same-imprint early digital release, the same pattern HarperCollins used for other Feist titles) but is no longer registered as this book's first_edition, since a print edition is now on file and this project always prefers the print edition as the canonical first edition when one exists.	2010	27	core	4.01 (9,749 ratings)

The Chaoswar Saga Raymond E. Feist

Work	Year	Internal chron.	Canon	Rating
A Kingdom Besieged; UK edition ISBN, the earliest edition on record.	2011	28	core	4.01 (11,511 ratings)
A Crown Imperiled; UK edition ISBN, the earliest edition on record. The UK edition of this book was titled "A Crown Imperilled" (double-l), a genuine title-spelling variant, not a transcription error. This book's ISBN was found in Round 3 (2026-08-10) to have been a duplicate of Magician's End's real ISBN (a Round 2 data error, not a genuine shared ISBN) and has been unset pending a distinct, targeted re-check of its own actual ISBN.	2012	29	core	4.09 (8,425 ratings)
Magician's End; Final novel of the Riftwar Cycle. Its ISBN was re-verified in a targeted Round 3 check (2026-08-10) directly against ISFDB title record #1576345 -- 978-0-00-726479-7, Harper Voyager (UK) hc, 2013-05-06 -- and confirmed correct. The Round 2 suspicion (that this ISBN was a copy-paste error, identical to another Riftwar Cycle book's ISBN) was mistaken about which book was actually wrong: the real source of the collision was a bad ISBN on A Crown Imperiled (see its own notes), not this book.	2013	30	core	4.34 (8,894 ratings)

Library / Expanded (7 works) context only

Legends of the Riftwar Raymond E. Feist, William R. Forstchen, Joel Rosenberg, S. M. Stirling

Work	Year	Internal chron.	Canon	Rating
Honoured Enemy	2001	2	expanded	N/A
Murder in LaMut	2002	3	expanded	N/A
Jimmy the Hand	2003	4	expanded	N/A

Each volume co-written with a different author: Honoured Enemy w/ William R. Forstchen, Murder in LaMut w/ Joel Rosenberg, Jimmy the Hand w/ S. M. Stirling. Commissioned tie-in style; classified Expanded, distinct from the Feist-and-Wurts Empire Trilogy.

The Riftwar Legacy Raymond E. Feist

Work	Year	Internal chron.	Canon	Rating
Krondor: The Betrayal; Novelization of the 1993 video game Betrayal at Krondor.	1998	9	expanded	N/A
Krondor: The Assassins	1999	11	expanded	N/A
Krondor: Tear of the Gods; Novelization of the 2001 video game Return to Krondor.	2001	12	expanded	N/A
Jimmy and the Crawler	2013	13	expanded	N/A

Video-game novelizations plus a closing novella; classified Expanded (derivative of the games), though part of official continuity.

Quick answers

How many books are in Riftwar Cycle? Riftwar Cycle's Core Canon is 23 books, plus 7 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
What is the reading order for Riftwar Cycle? Publication order, starting with Magician. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
Is Riftwar Cycle finished? Complete (1982–2013).
How much reading does Riftwar Cycle take? High reading commitment (estimated from 23 Core Canon books · ~10,796 pages).
How is Riftwar Cycle ranked? #140 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 630,869 reader ratings across 23 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.

Why is it ranked #140?

Ranked #140 of 664 ranked universes.

Average reader rating of 4.16 across 23 core books.
Backed by 631k reader ratings.
Less than 0.01 behind #139, The Jasmine Throne / Burning Kingdoms (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
Below the top-10 average of 4.45.

How the ranking works →

Why explore this universe?

Highly rated · 23 books · Complete · 631k ratings · Ranks #140 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 (23 Core Canon books)

Magician (1982)
Silverthorn (1985)
A Darkness at Sethanon (1986)
Daughter of the Empire (1987)
Prince of the Blood (1989)
Servant of the Empire (1990)
Mistress of the Empire (1992)
The King's Buccaneer (1992)
Shadow of a Dark Queen (1994)
Rise of a Merchant Prince (1995)
Rage of a Demon King (1997)
Shards of a Broken Crown (1998)
Talon of the Silver Hawk (2002)
King of Foxes (2003)
Exile's Return (2004)
Flight of the Nighthawks (2005)
Into a Dark Realm (2006)
Wrath of a Mad God (2008)
Rides a Dread Legion (2009)
At the Gates of Darkness (2010)
A Kingdom Besieged (2011)
A Crown Imperiled (2012)
Magician's End (2013)

Documented internal/story order

Magician (1982)
Daughter of the Empire (1987)
Silverthorn (1985)
A Darkness at Sethanon (1986)
Servant of the Empire (1990)
Mistress of the Empire (1992)
Prince of the Blood (1989)
The King's Buccaneer (1992)
Shadow of a Dark Queen (1994)
Rise of a Merchant Prince (1995)
Rage of a Demon King (1997)
Shards of a Broken Crown (1998)
Talon of the Silver Hawk (2002)
King of Foxes (2003)
Exile's Return (2004)
Flight of the Nighthawks (2005)
Into a Dark Realm (2006)
Wrath of a Mad God (2008)
Rides a Dread Legion (2009)
At the Gates of Darkness (2010)
A Kingdom Besieged (2011)
A Crown Imperiled (2012)
Magician's End (2013)

Awards (verified)

HOMer Award (Fantasy Novel), 1991: won: Servant of the Empire
Locus Award (First Novel), 1983: finalist: Magician; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 10.
Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 1986: finalist: Silverthorn; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 11.
Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 1987: finalist: A Darkness at Sethanon; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 10.
Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 1988: finalist: Daughter of the Empire; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 19.
Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 1991: finalist: Servant of the Empire; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 8.
Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 1995: finalist: Shadow of a Dark Queen; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 16.

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

Realm of the Elderlings Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.29
Malazan Epic fantasy / Grimdark · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.27
World of the Five Gods Epic fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.22
Forgotten Realms Epic fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.20

Official resources

Crydee.com: Official Raymond E. Feist site: Official author site; reading-order pages (written & chronological).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riftwar_Cycle
https://www.sfadb.com/Raymond_E_Feist

Research details

Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.16 across 630,869 ratings on 23 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.

How do we know this?

Admission: Riftwar Cycle Core Canon accepted 2026-08-05

Sources: (see source tier definitions)

Last reviewed: 2026-08-06

Rule: Core = the Feist mainline: The Riftwar Saga (3), The Empire Trilogy (3, co-written with Janny Wurts; kept Core despite co-authorship, as it is fully integral and narratively concurrent with the Riftwar Saga/Riftwar Legacy), Krondor's Sons (2), The Serpentwar Saga (4), Conclave of Shadows (3), The Darkwar Saga (3), The Demonwar Saga (2), The Chaoswar Saga (3) = 23 core novels.

← All universes