The Corean Chronicles

#2494.06 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking

Books 7 books Status Complete 2003–2008 Reading commitment High L.E. Modesitt Jr. Last reviewed 2026-08-30

Overview

The Corean Chronicles is a completed epic-fantasy sequence set in the world of Corus, exploring a society built around Order and Chaos magic across several distinct eras and protagonists. L.E. Modesitt Jr., already in this canon for The Saga of Recluce and The Imager Portfolio, published all seven novels between 2003 and 2008.

Epic fantasy · For Adult

Core Canon: Reading Order (7 works) counts toward ranking

The Corean Chronicles L.E. Modesitt Jr.

	Work	Year	Internal chron.	Canon	Rating
	Legacies	2003	1	core	4.06 (3,857 ratings)
	Darknesses	2004	2	core	4.09 (3,434 ratings)
	Scepters	2004	3	core	4.08 (3,086 ratings)
	Alector's Choice	2005	4	core	3.98 (2,114 ratings)
	Cadmian's Choice	2006	5	core	4.08 (1,974 ratings)
	Soarer's Choice	2006	6	core	4.13 (1,777 ratings)
	The Lord-Protector's Daughter	2008	7	core	3.98 (1,503 ratings)

Core Canon = all 7 novels of the completed sequence (2003-2008).

Quick answers

• How many books are in The Corean Chronicles? The Corean Chronicles's Core Canon is 7 books.
• What is the reading order for The Corean Chronicles? Publication order, starting with Legacies. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
• Is The Corean Chronicles finished? Complete (2003–2008).
• How much reading does The Corean Chronicles take? High reading commitment (estimated from 7 Core Canon books · ~3,909 pages).
• How is The Corean Chronicles ranked? #249 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 17,745 reader ratings across 7 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.

Why is it ranked #249?

Ranked #249 of 664 ranked universes.

• Average reader rating of 4.06 across 7 core books.
• A smaller readership (17,745 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
• Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 7 rated core books rate within 0.15 of each other.
• Less than 0.01 behind #248, Saint Death's Daughter (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
• Below the top-10 average of 4.45.

How the ranking works →

Why explore this universe?

Well rated · 7 books · Complete · 18k ratings · Ranks #249 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 (7 Core Canon books)

1. Legacies (2003)
2. Darknesses (2004)
3. Scepters (2004)
4. Alector's Choice (2005)
5. Cadmian's Choice (2006)
6. Soarer's Choice (2006)
7. The Lord-Protector's Daughter (2008)

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 verified awards found for this series.

You might also like

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

• Green Rider Epic fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.17
• The Imager Portfolio Epic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.16
• The Witcher Dark fantasy / Epic fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.16
• Nightrunner Epic fantasy / Sword & sorcery · Complete · High commitment · 4.14

Official resources

• Official author site
• Wikipedia

Research details

Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.06 across 17,745 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: Admit Garrett P.I. (Glen Cook), The Corean Chronicles (L.E. Modesitt Jr.), Lives of the Mayfair Witches (Anne Rice) accepted 2026-08-30

Sources: (see source tier definitions)

• Wikipedia: L.E. Modesitt Jr. Tier 2
• L.E. Modesitt Jr. official site: The Corean Chronicles Tier 1
• Wikipedia: The Corean Chronicles Tier 2

Last reviewed: 2026-08-31

Rule: Core Canon = all 7 novels (2003-2008), a completed, self-contained sequence unrelated to the author's other admitted universes.

← All universes