The Golem and the Jinni
#1884.13 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 2 books Status Ongoing 2013–present Reading commitment Low Helene Wecker Last reviewed 2026-08-11
Overview
Helene Wecker's The Golem and the Jinni is a historical fantasy set in 1899 New York, following a golem created to serve a master who dies the night she is animated, leaving her masterless and dangerously unmoored in a city she does not understand, and a jinni accidentally freed from a copper flask after centuries of imprisonment by an unremembered curse. The two immortal, fundamentally out-of-place beings meet by chance and, despite fundamentally opposed natures -- the golem compelled to serve and obey, the jinni fiercely resistant to any constraint -- form an uneasy friendship as they separately navigate the city's overlapping Jewish and Syrian immigrant communities. The 2013 debut novel was followed by a direct sequel, The Hidden Palace (2021), continuing the pair's story decades later across an in-progress historical-fantasy sequence. Wecker draws on both Jewish and Middle Eastern folklore specifically, treating the golem and jinni traditions with comparable weight rather than centering one over the other.
Historical fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (2 works) counts toward ranking
The Golem and the Jinni Helene Wecker
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Golem and the Jinni | 2013 | 1 | core | 4.13 (133,832 ratings) |
 | The Hidden Palace | 2021 | 2 | core | 4.13 (19,035 ratings) |
Core Canon = the 2 published novels (Harper, 2013/2021). Book 3, The Gates of Midnight, is announced with a September 15, 2026 publication date but is unpublished as of 2026-08-11 -- isn't counted here yet; watch for its publication.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Golem and the Jinni? The Golem and the Jinni's Core Canon is 2 books.
- What is the reading order for The Golem and the Jinni? Publication order, starting with The Golem and the Jinni. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Golem and the Jinni finished? Ongoing (2013–present).
- How much reading does The Golem and the Jinni take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 2 Core Canon books · ~966 pages).
- How is The Golem and the Jinni ranked? #188 in this site's official ranking, based on 152,867 reader ratings across 2 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #188?
Ranked #188 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.13 across 2 core books.
- Backed by 153k reader ratings.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 2 rated core books share the same 4.13 reader rating.
- Less than 0.01 behind #187, The Mists of Avalon (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Highly rated · 2 books · Ongoing · 153k ratings · Ranks #188 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment historical fantasy universe that's still ongoing, with new books still coming.
Reading order
Publication order (2 Core Canon books)
- The Golem and the Jinni (2013)
- The Hidden Palace (2021)
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)
- Mythopoeic Award (Adult Literature), 2014: won: The Golem and the Jinni
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2014: nominated: The Golem and the Jinni
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 2014: nominated: The Golem and the Jinni
- James Tiptree Jr. Award (Honor list), 2013: finalist: The Golem and the Jinni
- Locus Award (Best First Novel), 2014: finalist: The Golem and the Jinni; 2nd place, no-cutoff convention.
- National Jewish Book Award (Book Club), 2021: won: The Hidden Palace
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Suggestions computed from what The Golem and the Jinni and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
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- The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox Historical fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.20
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.13 across 152,867 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 Golem and the Jinni admitted as a single-author universe; Core Canon = the 2 published novels, book 3 unpublished accepted 2026-08-11
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: The Golem and the Jinni Tier 2
- Wikipedia: Helene Wecker Tier 2
- helenewecker.com: news and books pages Tier 1
Last reviewed: 2026-08-11
Rule: Core Canon = the 2 published novels (Harper, 2013/2021). Book 3, The Gates of Midnight, has a public September 15, 2026 publication date per the author's own site but is unpublished as of this admission (2026-08-11); not registered per Article 2; watch for its publication.