The Holy Mountain
#4733.95 adjusted 3.96 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 2 books Status Ongoing 2023–present Reading commitment Low W. P. Wiles Last reviewed 2026-10-14
Overview
The Holy Mountain is a secondary-world epic fantasy series set around a besieged mountain city built in service to a dying god. The debut novel, The Last Blade Priest, follows the city’s Master Builder and a handful of others as the mountain’s religious order and its old certainties come under threat. The second novel, The Dead Man’s Empire, widens the story to interwoven threads following several women navigating an increasingly unstable world as an ancient people resurface, political powers jostle for advantage, and old religious authority is challenged. Further installments are expected.
Epic fantasy, Grimdark · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (2 works) counts toward ranking
The Holy Mountain W. P. Wiles
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Last Blade Priest | 2023 | 1 | core | 3.93 (274 ratings) |
 | The Dead Man's Empire | 2026 | 2 | core | 4.13 (38 ratings) |
An ongoing series; more entries are expected beyond these first two novels.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Holy Mountain? The Holy Mountain's Core Canon is 2 books.
- What is the reading order for The Holy Mountain? Publication order, starting with The Last Blade Priest. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Holy Mountain finished? Ongoing (2023–present).
- How much reading does The Holy Mountain take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 2 Core Canon books).
- How is The Holy Mountain ranked? #473 in this site's official ranking, based on 312 reader ratings across 2 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #473?
Ranked #473 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.95 across 2 core books.
- A smaller readership (312 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- 0.01 behind #472, The Three Worlds Cycle.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 2 books · Ongoing · 312 ratings · Ranks #473 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment epic fantasy universe that's still ongoing, with new books still coming.
Reading order
Publication order (2 Core Canon books)
- The Last Blade Priest (2023)
- The Dead Man's Empire (2026)
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)
- The Kitschies (Red Tentacle (Best Novel)), 2023: won: The Last Blade Priest
- The Kitschies (Red Tentacle (Best Novel)), 2023: won: The Last Blade Priest; Per the publisher's listing.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what The Holy Mountain and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Letters of Enchantment Romantasy / Epic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.08
- The Dreamblood Duology Epic fantasy / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.07
- The Witch Roads Epic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.07
- Saint Death's Daughter Dark fantasy / Epic fantasy · Ongoing · Low commitment · 4.06
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.95 across 312 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 Holy Mountain admitted accepted 2026-09-21
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- W.P. Wiles -- Penguin Random House author page Tier 1
- The Last Blade Priest -- Penguin Random House Tier 1
- The Dead Man's Empire -- NetGalley catalog Tier 3
Last reviewed: 2026-09-21
Rule: Core Canon is both novels published so far, The Last Blade Priest (2023) and The Dead Man’s Empire (2026), which form one ongoing story; further installments are expected and will be added as they appear.