Saint Death's Daughter
#3264.06 adjusted 4.04 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 2 books Status Ongoing 2022–present Reading commitment Low C.S.E. Cooney Last reviewed 2026-08-18
Overview
Lanie Stones, a pacifist born with an allergy to violence into a family of necromancers, must master her own uncanny gifts to save her family and city from ruin in C.S.E. Cooney's Saint Death's Daughter, published in 2022 with a sequel, Saint Death's Herald, following in 2025. The series is set in a lush, poison-and-death-magic secondary world where necromancy is a hereditary trade and where Lanie's own body reacts violently to bloodshed, forcing her toward unconventional, non-violent uses of her family's dark art. The first volume won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2023, a rare distinction for a debut-length secondary-world fantasy from a small press. It is C.S.E. Cooney's first universe admitted to this canon.
Dark fantasy, Epic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (2 works) counts toward ranking
Saint Death's Daughter C.S.E. Cooney
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Saint Death's Daughter | 2022 | 1 | core | 4.05 (2,321 ratings) |
 | Saint Death's Herald | 2025 | 2 | core | 4.13 (426 ratings) |
An ongoing series following a pacifist necromancer's daughter navigating a poison-and-death-magic secondary world. C.S.E. Cooney's first universe in this canon.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Saint Death's Daughter? Saint Death's Daughter's Core Canon is 2 books.
- What is the reading order for Saint Death's Daughter? Publication order, starting with Saint Death's Daughter. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Saint Death's Daughter finished? Ongoing (2022–present).
- How much reading does Saint Death's Daughter take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 2 Core Canon books · ~432 pages).
- How is Saint Death's Daughter ranked? #326 in this site's official ranking, based on 2,747 reader ratings across 2 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #326?
Ranked #326 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.06 across 2 core books.
- A smaller readership (2,747 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 2 rated core books rate within 0.08 of each other.
- Less than 0.01 behind #325, The Craft Sequence (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 2 books · Ongoing · 3k ratings · Ranks #326 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment dark fantasy universe that's still ongoing, with new books still coming.
Reading order
Publication order (2 Core Canon books)
- Saint Death's Daughter (2022)
- Saint Death's Herald (2025)
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)
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2023: won: Saint Death's Daughter
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Suggestions computed from what Saint Death's Daughter and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Jon Shannow (Stones of Power) Epic fantasy / Sword & sorcery · Complete · Low commitment · 4.20
- The Scorched Throne Romantasy / Epic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.17
- The Bird That Drinks Tears Epic fantasy · Ongoing · Low commitment · 4.12
- Kane Dark fantasy / Sword & sorcery · Complete · Low commitment · 4.10
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.06 across 2,747 ratings on 2 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Saint Death's Daughter admitted accepted 2026-08-18
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-18
Rule: Core = both installments published to date (Saint Death's Daughter, Saint Death's Herald); an ongoing series.