The Grimm Legacy
#7933.89 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Unfinished 2010–2015 Reading commitment Medium Polly Shulman Last reviewed 2026-11-02
Overview
The Grimm Legacy is a middle-grade fantasy series by Polly Shulman, published in the United States between 2010 and 2015. All three books are set in the New-York Circulating Material Repository, a library in New York City that lends objects instead of books. Its secret basement holds collections of magical or storybook items: the Grimm Collection in the first book, items from classic science fiction in The Wells Bequest, and an annex of Edgar Allan Poe-related items in The Poe Estate. Each book has different young protagonists, who work at the Repository as pages. The books stand on their own but share the same library. No further book has been announced since 2015.
Urban fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
The Grimm Legacy Polly Shulman
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Grimm Legacy | 2010 | 1 | core | 3.89 (17,649 ratings) |
 | The Wells Bequest; Subtitled "A Companion to The Grimm Legacy". | 2013 | 2 | core | 3.86 (3,410 ratings) |
 | The Poe Estate; First published in 2015; some retailers list a 2017 date for a later edition. | 2015 | 3 | core | 3.94 (1,572 ratings) |
Young pages at a New York library of objects uncover magical thefts, time travel and ghosts.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Grimm Legacy? The Grimm Legacy's Core Canon is 3 books.
- What is the reading order for The Grimm Legacy? Publication order, starting with The Grimm Legacy. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Grimm Legacy finished? Unfinished (2010–2015).
- How much reading does The Grimm Legacy take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books).
- How is The Grimm Legacy ranked? #793 in this site's official ranking, based on 22,631 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #793?
Ranked #793 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.89 across 3 core books.
- A smaller readership (22,631 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 3 rated core books rate within 0.08 of each other.
- Less than 0.01 behind #792, The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.46.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 3 books · Unfinished · 23k ratings · Ranks #793 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length urban fantasy universe.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- The Grimm Legacy (2010)
- The Wells Bequest (2013)
- The Poe Estate (2015)
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 awards found for this universe.
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Suggestions computed from what The Grimm Legacy and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Ash Mistry Chronicles Urban fantasy / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.00
- Savvy Urban fantasy · Unfinished · Medium commitment · 4.00
- Magic Shop Urban fantasy · Unfinished · Medium commitment · 3.95
- City of Ghosts Urban fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 3.94
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.89 across 22,631 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon Extension: 31 universes; 3 candidates ruled out; open items closed accepted 2026-11-02
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Barnes & Noble: The Grimm Legacy Tier 2
- New York Society Library Tier 2
- FantasticFiction: The Wells Bequest Tier 2
- Lehmanns: The Poe Estate Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-11-02
Rule: Core Canon = The Grimm Legacy (2010), The Wells Bequest (2013) and The Poe Estate (2015).