Craft Sequence Overview
The Craft Sequence currently comprises eight books (with an ninth coming in 2025), two text-based games, and one short story.
However, the main arc of the story is currently contained within the books, so if you’re not a gamer or short-story-er it’s totally fine to skip those. Similarly, if you don’t love books but like games, the games stand alone and don’t need book knowledge to make sense.
A further complication is that the books have multiple potential reading orders: publication order, chronological order, or whichever order you fancy.
Quick hints:
This page goes through books in publication order
For the first 5 books, the number in the title indicates chronology
We advise starting with Three Parts Dead or Last First Snow but arguably you can start with any
Dead Country is the beginning of a new capstone quartet, The Craft Wars, but follows characters and plots from the first 6 books as a direct sequel
Man in the Middle is a short story that takes place directly after Three Parts Dead, but very few people have read it as it’s not available outwith an anthology of horror stories
The Books
Three Parts Dead
A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart.
First in publication order
Third chronologically
Possible to read first ✔
Articles featuring Three Parts Dead
(in some shape or form)
Two Serpents Rise
Shadow demons plague the city reservoir, and Red King Consolidated has sent in Caleb Altemoc — casual gambler and professional risk manager — to cleanse the water for the sixteen million people of Dresediel Lex.
Second in publication order
Second chronologically
Possible to read first ✔
Articles featuring Two Serpents Rise
(in some shape or form)
Full Fathom Five
On the island of Kavekana, Kai Pohala builds gods to order for the wealthy to store soul offshore. When she attempts to save a dying idol and is abruptly sidelined from the business, she investigates and uncovers a grand conspiracy - one that has somehow ensnared streetkid refugee Izza.
Third in publication order
Fifth chronologically
Possible to read first ✔ (but we don’t advise it)
Articles featuring Full Fathom Five
(in some shape or form)
Last First Snow
Forty years after the God Wars ended, Elayne drags Temoc and the King in Red to the bargaining table in Dresediel Lex. Old wounds reopen, old gods stir in their graves, ancient grudges break to new mutiny, and profiteers circle in the desert sky.
Fourth in publication order
First chronologically
Possible to read first ✔
Articles featuring Last First Snow
(in some shape or form)
Four Roads Cross
Protests rock Alt Coulumb, and Kos Everburning’s creditors attempt a hostile takeover of the fire god’s church. Tara Abernathy, the god’s in-house Craftswoman, must defend the church while her friends take down a drug smuggling ring and face demons.
Fifth in publication order
Fourth chronologically
Not great to read first (unless you want to be confused af)
Articles featuring Four Roads Cross
(in some shape or form)
Ruin of Angels
Priestess/investment banker Kai Pohala arrives in Agdel Lex to invest in its burgeoning nightmare startup scene, and to visit her estranged sister Ley. But Kai finds Ley desperate at the center of a shadowy, and rapidly unravelling, business deal. When Ley ends up on the run, wanted for a crime she most definitely committed, Kai gets embroiled in a daring heist into a god-hautned desert.
Sixth in publication order
Sixth chronologically
Not a great idea to read first
Articles featuring Ruin of Angels
(in some shape or form)
Craft Wars Quartet
A finale series (originally announced as a trilogy) continuing the original story, also marketed as a place for new readers to start.
Dead Country
Tara Abernathy has resurrected gods, pulled down monsters, averted wars, and saved a city, twice. She thought she’d left her dusty little hometown forever. But that was before her father died.
As she makes her way home to bury him, she finds a girl, as powerful and vulnerable and lost as she once was. Saving her from the raiders that haunt the area, twisted by a remnant of the God Wars, Tara changes the course of the world.
Seventh in publication order
Seventh chronologically
First of the Craft Wars quartet
Possible to read first ✔
Articles featuring Dead Country
(in some shape or form)
Wicked Problems
The battle for the world of the Craft is heating up. A dead god will rise. A mountain will fall. Ancient fire will be stolen. And while Tara races to stop Dawn’s plans, the end draws ever closer, skittering across the stars to swallow the world.
Eighth in publication order
Eighth chronologically
Second of the Craft Wars quartet
Not a good idea to read first
Articles featuring Wicked Problems
(in some shape or form)
Craft Wars #3, publication expected autumn 2025
Craft Wars #4, publication expected autumn 2026
Man in the Middle, short story published as part of ‘Shared Nightmares’ anthology. Set immediately after Three Parts Dead. More information here.
The Games
Choice of the Deathless
Battle demons and undead attorneys, and win souls to pay back your student loans! At the elite demonic-law firm of Varkath Nebuchadnezzar Stone, you'll depose a fallen god, find romance, and maybe even make partner, if you don't lose your own soul first.
First of the text-based games
Timeline pre-dates the series
Possible to play first ✔
Articles featuring Choice of the Deathless
(in some shape or form)
Deathless: City’s Thirst
Negotiate water rights from scorpion gods in this necromantic legal thriller! Discredit your boss, solve murders, and reanimate your own corpse to keep your city from drying out.
Second of the games
Timeline pre-dates the series
Possible to play first ✔
