The Dreamblood Duology
#2714.07 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 2 books Status Complete 2012 Reading commitment Low N.K. Jemisin Last reviewed 2026-08-11
Overview
A completed duology set in Gujaareh, a city-state where priest-assassins called Gatherers harvest dream-magic from the dying to heal the living and maintain the city's rigid peace, a peace that begins to unravel across both books as corruption within the priesthood and threats from beyond the city's walls come to light. In the opening novel, The Killing Moon (2012), Gatherer Ehiru discovers that his temple, the Hetawa, has been secretly using its sacred dream-magic to eliminate political enemies rather than the guilty, and allies with foreign ambassador Sunandi to expose a plot by the city's Prince before a rogue Gatherer can seize immortal power; The Shadowed Sun, published the same year, continues the story. N.K. Jemisin drew on ancient Egyptian religion and Jungian dream theory for the setting, and reviewers praised the result as refreshingly free of standard medieval-European fantasy trappings; the novel was a finalist for the Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards.
Epic fantasy, Mythic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (2 works) counts toward ranking
The Dreamblood N.K. Jemisin
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Killing Moon | 2012 | 1 | core | 3.96 (24,272 ratings) |
 | The Shadowed Sun | 2012 | 2 | core | 4.28 (12,353 ratings) |
Core Canon = both novels of the completed duology (Orbit, 2012). Confirmed a separate, unrelated universe from Jemisin's The Broken Earth and The Inheritance Trilogy, already in this canon -- different world, different magic system, no shared characters; all three records are cross-referenced as being by the same author. 'The Narcomancer' (a Dreamblood-set prequel short story collected in How Long 'til Black Future Month?, 2018) was not researched and is not registered.
Library / Expanded (1 work)
The Narcomancer (2007) ; A novelette (mapped to the short-fiction work type per this project's no-'novelette' convention) first published in the magazine Helix (2007), later reprinted in Transcriptase (2008) and collected in How Long 'til Black Future Month? (2018). Set generations before The Killing Moon/The Shadowed Sun in Gujaareh's own past, following Cet, a priest of the Dream-Goddess; a self-contained prequel rather than part of the 2-book Core Canon duology's own narrative arc. Registered Expanded Canon on that basis. Surfaced during research on the Dreamblood Duology's own admission and left deferred pending dedicated research -- now done.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Dreamblood Duology? The Dreamblood Duology's Core Canon is 2 books, plus 1 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
- What is the reading order for The Dreamblood Duology? Publication order, starting with The Killing Moon. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Dreamblood Duology finished? Complete (2012).
- How much reading does The Dreamblood Duology take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 2 Core Canon books · ~938 pages).
- How is The Dreamblood Duology ranked? #271 in this site's official ranking, based on 36,625 reader ratings across 2 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #271?
Ranked #271 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.07 across 2 core books.
- A smaller readership (36,625 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #270, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 2 books · Complete · 37k ratings · Ranks #271 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment epic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (2 Core Canon books)
- The Killing Moon (2012)
- The Shadowed Sun (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)
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2012: nominated: The Killing Moon; SFWA's own nebulas.sfwa.org indexes this as 'Award Year 2012' (the eligibility year), though the ceremony was held in 2013.
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2013: nominated: The Killing Moon
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2013: finalist: The Killing Moon; 4th place, no-cutoff convention.
Related universes
- Same author The Broken Earth: Both by N.K. Jemisin; confirmed separate, unrelated worlds.
- Same author The Inheritance Trilogy: Both by N.K. Jemisin; confirmed separate, unrelated worlds.
- Same author The Great Cities Duology: Both by N.K. Jemisin; The Great Cities Duology (a living-New-York urban fantasy) is a 4th, independent universe with no shared characters, setting, or continuity.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what The Dreamblood Duology 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
- Elements of Cadence Romantasy / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.15
- The Bird That Drinks Tears Epic fantasy · Ongoing · Low commitment · 4.12
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.07 across 36,625 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: The Narcomancer registered as Expanded Canon for The Dreamblood Duology accepted 2026-08-13
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: The Killing Moon (novel) Tier 2
- Wikipedia: The Shadowed Sun Tier 2
- sfadb: N. K. Jemisin Tier 2
Related universes: see the Related universes section above.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-11
Rule: Core Canon = both novels of the completed duology (Orbit, 2012). Confirmed a separate, unrelated universe from Jemisin's The Broken Earth and The Inheritance Trilogy, already in this canon; different world, different magic system, no shared characters.