Windrose Chronicles
#4993.95 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 4 books Status Complete 1986–1994 Reading commitment Medium Barbara Hambly Last reviewed 2026-09-11
Overview
The Windrose Chronicles is a complete four-book portal-fantasy sequence by Barbara Hambly (1986-1994), published by Del Rey/Ballantine, following programmer Joanna Sheraton and the exiled wizard Antryg Windrose between our world and the magic-vs-technology Empire of Ferryth. After Antryg is condemned to death in an earlier volume, he and Joanna escape together through the void into 1980s California, before the later books draw them back into Ferryth's politics. It is a third, unrelated Hambly universe alongside her already-admitted Darwath and Sun Wolf/Winterlands series, sharing her recurring interest in wizards caught between institutional suspicion and genuine, unregulated power. The sequence mixes lighter, comic set pieces with the same undercurrent of political menace found in Hambly's other work, as Joanna adapts to sorcery on Earth's own terms while Antryg's past in Ferryth keeps pulling the pair back across the boundary between the two worlds.
Portal fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (4 works) counts toward ranking
Windrose Chronicles Barbara Hambly
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Silent Tower | 1986 | 1 | core | 3.94 (3,602 ratings) |
 | The Silicon Mage | 1988 | 2 | core | 3.98 (2,407 ratings) |
 | Dog Wizard | 1992 | 3 | core | 3.98 (1,763 ratings) |
 | Stranger at the Wedding | 1994 | 4 | core | 3.90 (1,440 ratings) |
Complete Del Rey/Ballantine portal-fantasy quartet (1986-1994) following computer programmer Joanna Sheraton and wizard Antryg Windrose between our world and the magic-vs-technology setting of the Empire of Ferryth (Stranger at the Wedding is a same-universe standalone following a peripheral character). Confirmed a separate, unrelated universe from this author's already-admitted Darwath and Sun Wolf/Winterlands series.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Windrose Chronicles? Windrose Chronicles's Core Canon is 4 books.
- What is the reading order for Windrose Chronicles? Publication order, starting with The Silent Tower. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Windrose Chronicles finished? Complete (1986–1994).
- How much reading does Windrose Chronicles take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 4 Core Canon books).
- How is Windrose Chronicles ranked? #499 in this site's official ranking, based on 9,212 reader ratings across 4 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #499?
Ranked #499 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.95 across 4 core books.
- A smaller readership (9,212 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 4 rated core books rate within 0.08 of each other.
- Less than 0.01 behind #498, Sands of Arawiya (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 4 books · Complete · 9k ratings · Ranks #499 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length portal fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (4 Core Canon books)
- The Silent Tower (1986)
- The Silicon Mage (1988)
- Dog Wizard (1992)
- Stranger at the Wedding (1994)
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 Windrose Chronicles and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Mordant's Need Portal fantasy / Epic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 3.98
- The Seventh Sword Portal fantasy / Sword & sorcery · Complete · Medium commitment · 3.98
- The Harold Shea Series Portal fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 3.97
- The Library Trilogy Portal fantasy / Epic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 3.93
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.95 across 9,212 ratings on 4 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit Windrose Chronicles (Barbara Hambly) accepted 2026-09-11
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-09-11
Rule: Core Canon is the complete four-book sequence: The Silent Tower (1986), The Silicon Mage (1988), Dog Wizard (1992), and Stranger at the Wedding (1994), all published by Del Rey/Ballantine.