The Stonewater Kingdom
#884.22 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Ongoing 2025–present Reading commitment Low Rachel Gillig Last reviewed 2026-08-20
Overview
A gothic epic fantasy following a knight escorting a sheltered, blindfolded girl -- a ward of her religious order rather than seeing the world directly -- across a haunted moor toward a marriage that is not what it seems. Rachel Gillig's second fantasy universe, separate from her existing Shepherd King duology, The Knight and the Moth (2025) follows Sybil Delling, a nun-like acolyte of a dying religious order, as a mysterious knight arrives to take her on a journey layered with political conflict, a slow-building romance, and darker undertones of religious and political abuse of power. Reviewers highlighted the novel's atmospheric worldbuilding "geographically, historically and spiritually" and its gothic tone, alongside a striking literal use of the blindfold motif to depict Sybil's limited perception of her own world. The book found a wide readership on release and was praised as a thoughtful, character-driven gothic fantasy, with a sequel already anticipated by reviewers.
Dark fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
The Knight and the Moth (2025) core · 4.22 (256,089 ratings)
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Stonewater Kingdom? The Stonewater Kingdom's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is The Stonewater Kingdom finished? Ongoing (2025–present).
- How much reading does The Stonewater Kingdom take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~385 pages).
- How is The Stonewater Kingdom ranked? #88 in this site's official ranking, based on 256,089 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #88?
Ranked #88 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.22 across 1 core book.
- Backed by 256k reader ratings.
- Less than 0.01 behind #87, An Ember in the Ashes (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Highly rated · 1 book · Ongoing · 256k ratings · Ranks #88 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment dark fantasy universe that's still ongoing, with new books still coming.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- No verified awards found for this book as of admission.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.22 across 256,089 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Stonewater Kingdom (Rachel Gillig) admitted as a new, separate universe accepted 2026-08-20
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Publisher listing: The Knight and the Moth Tier 1
- Publisher listing: The Knight and the Moth (Orbit) Tier 1
- https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2025/09/the-knight-and-the-moth-by-rachel-gillig-book-review/
Last reviewed: 2026-08-20
Rule: Core = the one published novel so far, The Knight and the Moth (2025). A second volume, The Knave and the Moon, is announced for release in September 2026 but was not yet published at the time of this admission, so it is not registered per this project's standing rule against counting announced-only works.