Mark Lawrence Books in Order
Mark Lawrence writes grimdark fantasy that strips the genre back to its darkest bones — morally compromised protagonists, brutal worlds, and prose that hits harder than it has any right to.
About Mark Lawrence
Mark Lawrence arrived in 2011 with Prince of Thorns and immediately polarised the fantasy community. His debut opens with a thirteen-year-old narrator who has already done things most villains wouldn't do, and asks the reader to follow him anyway. Lawrence doesn't soften Jorg Ancrath or offer easy redemption — he makes the case, over three books, that understanding how someone becomes monstrous is more honest than pretending such people don't exist. The Broken Empire trilogy is set in a post-apocalyptic Europe where the remnants of the modern world are buried beneath a medieval surface, and its hidden science-fiction scaffolding becomes one of the most satisfying reveals in recent fantasy. Lawrence followed it with The Red Queen's War, a parallel-timeline trilogy set in the same world but told by a narrator who is cowardly, selfish, and deeply funny — a deliberate tonal corrective to Jorg's intensity. Then came The Book of the Ancestor, which many readers consider his masterwork: a story of girls trained as killers in a convent on a dying world, written with more warmth and ensemble depth than anything in the earlier trilogies. All three series are complete. Lawrence writes with an academic's precision and a storyteller's instinct for what the reader needs to feel, and the combination produces books that are genuinely hard to put down even when they are genuinely hard to read.
Mark Lawrence Books in Order
- 1
Prince of Thorns
The Broken Empire, Book 1
Jorg Ancrath is thirteen years old, leads a band of killers, and is narrating his own origin story with enough self-awareness to be dangerous. Lawrence announces his intentions immediately — this is not a fantasy where the protagonist is someone you're supposed to root for uncritically.
- 2
King of Thorns
The Broken Empire, Book 2
Jorg is older and more powerful, the narrative structure fractures across timelines, and Lawrence starts revealing the full shape of the world he's been building. The story's post-apocalyptic scaffolding becomes impossible to ignore here.
- 3
Emperor of Thorns
The Broken Empire, Book 3
The trilogy concludes with Lawrence delivering on every promise the first two books made — the world, the character, and the philosophy of the series all come to a head in an ending that divides readers and rewards rereading.
- 4
Prince of Fools
The Red Queen's War, Book 1
Jalan Kendeth is a coward, a liar, and one of the most entertaining narrators in fantasy. Bound by magic to a Viking warrior he has nothing in common with, he stumbles through a quest he wants nothing to do with. A deliberate tonal contrast to the Jorg books.
- 5
The Liar's Key
The Red Queen's War, Book 2
Jalan and Snorri's journey deepens as the stakes of their linked fate become clear. Lawrence develops the world's mythology and the relationship between its two very different protagonists into something genuinely affecting.
- 6
The Wheel of Osheim
The Red Queen's War, Book 3
The conclusion of The Red Queen's War brings Jalan's arc to a satisfying close while weaving back into the threads of The Broken Empire — readers of both trilogies will find connections that reframe what came before.
- 7
Red Sister
Book of the Ancestor, Book 1
Nona Grey arrives at the Convent of Sweet Mercy as a child condemned to hang and discovers she may be the deadliest novice the sisterhood has ever taken in. Lawrence's most focused and technically controlled opening — the world-building is intricate without being expository.
- 8
Grey Sister
Book of the Ancestor, Book 2
Nona's training intensifies as external threats to the convent demand she use skills she's still learning to control. Lawrence expands the world's mythology and deepens the ensemble cast that makes this trilogy his warmest and most re-readable work.
- 9
Holy Sister
Book of the Ancestor, Book 3
The trilogy concludes with Nona at full power, the convent under siege, and Lawrence delivering one of grimdark fantasy's most emotionally satisfying endings. The final pages earn everything the series asked you to invest.
If You Like Mark Lawrence, Try:
The other essential name in grimdark fantasy — Abercrombie's First Law world shares Lawrence's unflinching view of violence and power, with a broader ensemble cast and more overt political satire.
For readers drawn to Lawrence's emotional depth and willingness to hurt his characters — Hobb does this at novel length across sixteen books, with a prose style that is slower but equally devastating.
The Gentleman Bastard series shares Lawrence's sharp narrative voice and morally compromised protagonists, with more wit and heist-thriller pacing to balance the darkness.
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