Zimiamvia
#6803.66 adjusted 3.83 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Complete 1935–1941 Reading commitment Low E.R. Eddison Last reviewed 2026-08-11
Overview
E.R. Eddison's second fantasy universe, distinct from The Worm Ouroboros (they share only a brief, tangential cosmological reference, not a setting or plot): an intricate, philosophically ornate secondary world spanning both twentieth-century Earth and Zimiamvia, a parallel realm of three kingdoms, Fingiswold, Meszria, and Rerek, exploring power, love, and myth across three linked but internally non-chronological novels. Notably, the books' internal timeline runs in reverse order from their publication, so readers can approach the sequence in more than one order. The two completed novels, Mistress of Mistresses (1935) and A Fish Dinner in Memison (1941), blend chivalric romance with an idiosyncratic pantheistic philosophy; a planned third volume, The Mezentian Gate, was left unfinished at Eddison's death.
Epic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
Zimiamvia E.R. Eddison
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Mistress of Mistresses | 1935 | 3 | core | 3.66 (550 ratings) |
 | A Fish Dinner in Memison | 1941 | 2 | core | 3.65 (254 ratings) |
 | The Mezentian Gate; Left substantially unfinished at Eddison's death (1945); its 1958 first edition (Curwen Press) supplies only an 'Argument' (plot summary) in place of prose for several central chapters, not a completed narrative. A 1992 omnibus (reissued by HarperCollins, 2014) incorporated further draft material found among Eddison's papers at the Bodleian Library, but the work remains fundamentally incomplete -- registered as Expanded Canon, not Core, matching this project's treatment of other genuinely unfinished author fragments. | 1958 | 1 | N/A |
Core Canon: the 2 Zimiamvian novels Eddison completed in his lifetime. Internal chronology (per Wikipedia) runs in reverse of publication order relative to the Expanded Canon's The Mezentian Gate (earliest events) -- internal chronology values reflect story order, not publication order; not resolved further.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Zimiamvia? Zimiamvia's Core Canon is 3 books.
- What is the reading order for Zimiamvia? Publication order, starting with Mistress of Mistresses. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Zimiamvia finished? Complete (1935–1941).
- How much reading does Zimiamvia take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 2 Core Canon books · ~734 pages).
- How is Zimiamvia ranked? #680 in this site's official ranking, based on 804 reader ratings across 2 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #680?
Ranked #680 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.66 across 2 core books.
- A smaller readership (804 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 2 rated core books rate within 0.01 of each other.
- 0.14 behind #679, The Godblind Trilogy.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Modestly rated · 2 books · Complete · 804 ratings · Ranks #680 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment epic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (2 Core Canon books)
- Mistress of Mistresses (1935)
- A Fish Dinner in Memison (1941)
Documented internal/story order
- A Fish Dinner in Memison (1941)
- Mistress of Mistresses (1935)
Awards (verified)
- No award found -- all 3 novels predate genre fantasy awards by decades; admitted on genre-historical significance, the same basis as The Worm Ouroboros.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.66 across 804 ratings on 2 Core Canon books. 1 additional Core Canon book hasn't been rated yet, so it isn't counted here. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Zimiamvia (E.R. Eddison) admitted as a second, distinct universe for an already-canon author accepted 2026-08-11
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-11
Rule: Core = the 2 novels Eddison completed in his lifetime (Mistress of Mistresses 1935; A Fish Dinner in Memison 1941). Expanded = The Mezentian Gate (1958), left substantially unfinished at the author's 1945 death.