Laini Taylor Books in Order
Three separate fantasy continuities, a middle-grade faerie sequence, and some of the most ornate prose in the genre.
About Laini Taylor
Laini Taylor writes fantasy with a fairy-tale lushness that sets her apart in modern fantasy. Her Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy reimagines the ancient war between angels and chimaera through a cross-world romance spanning lifetimes.Strange the Dreamer follows a librarian obsessed with a mythical lost city — and the girl who fell from its sky. Taylor's prose is intensely lyrical, her worlds are ornate and handcrafted, and her romances are the kind that make readers cry in public. She began, though, somewhere quieter: the Dreamdark books of 2007 and 2009 are middle-grade faerie novels, and they show an author already building worlds with more texture than the page strictly required. Best for readers who loved The Night Circus or A Court of Thorns and Roses. This page covers her full bibliography; for the two flagship series broken down book by book, see the Laini Taylor reading order guide.
Where to Start: Daughter of Smoke & Bone vs. Strange the Dreamer
Start with Daughter of Smoke & Bone. It is the entry point the overwhelming majority of readers are looking for, and its opening — an art student in Prague running errands for the chimaera who raised her — is one of the most striking in YA fantasy. Start with Strange the Dreamer if you prefer secondary-world fantasy to urban fantasy; it is set in a completely different world and requires no prior reading. Both are complete. The Dreamdark books are middle grade and are not the place to begin with her fantasy. For the full book-by-book order of both series, see the Laini Taylor reading order.
Laini Taylor Books in Order
Dreamdark
Taylor's earliest novels — a middle-grade faerie sequence, separate from her YA work.
- 1
Blackbringer
Dreamdark, Book 1 · 2007
Magpie Windwitch — faerie, devil hunter, granddaughter of the West Wind — hunts an ancient evil that has escaped its bottle and threatens to unmake all of creation. Taylor's first novel.
Note: Her debut. Written for middle-grade readers, not the YA audience of her later books.
- 2
Silksinger
Dreamdark, Book 2 · 2009
Whisper Silksinger is the last guardian of a Djinn who helped dream the world into being, fleeing to the city of Nazneen with devils on her trail.
Daughter of Smoke & Bone
The trilogy that made her name, plus the novella that sits between books two and three. Start here.
- 1
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Book 1 · 2011
Black handprints are being scorched onto doorways worldwide by winged strangers who crept through a slit in the sky — and in Prague, an art student whose blue hair grows that colour is pulled into a brutal otherworldly war.
Note: Start here. The best entry point into Laini Taylor's work.
- 2
Days of Blood & Starlight
Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Book 2 · 2012
“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war. This is not that world.” Karou finally has her answers, and must decide how far she will go to avenge her people.
- 3
Night of Cake & Puppets
Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Book 2.5 — novella · 2013
A stand-alone companion telling the story of Mik and Zuzana's fantastical first date. Karou's best friend can reportedly freeze blood with her “voodoo eyes” — talking to Violin Boy is another matter.
Note: A novella. Read it after book one; it spoils nothing beyond that point.
- 4
Dreams of Gods & Monsters
Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Book 3 · 2014
Two worlds stand on the brink of war, and when the angel emperor brings his army into the human world Karou and Akiva are reunited — not in love, but in tentative alliance against a common enemy.
Strange the Dreamer
A complete duology in a separate world. Can be read without Daughter of Smoke & Bone.
- 1
Strange the Dreamer
Strange the Dreamer, Book 1 · 2017
Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep since he was five — and when the chance to reach it arrives, so does the blue-skinned goddess in his dreams.
Note: A strong alternative starting point, independent of Daughter of Smoke & Bone.
- 2
Muse of Nightmares
Strange the Dreamer, Book 2 — duology conclusion · 2018
Sarai has lived and breathed nightmares since she was six and believed she knew every horror. She was wrong. In the wake of tragedy, one of them is a god and the other a ghost.
Standalone
- 1
Lips Touch: Three Times
Standalone — story collection · 2009
Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that carries profound consequences for the kissers' souls — from Victorian goblin men to a demon's bargain.
Other Work — Not Fantasy
A middle-grade science-fiction graphic novel, co-created with cartoonist Jim Di Bartolo. Listed for completeness — it is not a fantasy title.
- 1
Billie Blaster and the Robot Army from Outer Space
Graphic novel, with Jim Di Bartolo · 2023
A middle-grade graphic novel about a genius scientist whose archenemy launches her latest invention into space, accidentally creating a robot army that falls into the clutches of an evil alien emperor.
If You Like Laini Taylor, Try:
The Night Circus shares Taylor's ornate, handcrafted sensibility — atmosphere and imagery carrying as much weight as plot.
Dark faerie folklore taken seriously, with the same appetite for cruelty inside beautiful courts that runs through Taylor's work.
Caraval delivers the same lush, dreamlike world-building and romance-forward storytelling that Strange the Dreamer readers tend to want next.