Mark Lawrence books in order

This is a short story of love, loss, and the dance in between.

It is assuredly not a romance.

This is the novella that appeared in omnibus for Jalan and Snorri's trilogy.

It's a 25,000 word story that takes place after that trilogy and was the start of a sequel I was writing but put aside in favor of other projects.

It covers a sea voyage to the New World and is a pretty self-contained tale, re-introducing us to the delights of Jalan's cowardly womanizing and Snorri's good hearted Viking vibe. If you recall how much Jalan hates boats ... you'll get a sense of what's to come.

I had great fun writing this one - I hope you'll enjoy the read.

Two strangers find themselves connected by a vast and mysterious library containing many wonders and still more secrets.

The boy has lived his whole life trapped within a book-choked chamber older than empires and larger than cities.

The girl has been plucked from the outskirts of civilization to be trained as a librarian, studying the mysteries of the great library at the heart of her kingdom.

They were never supposed to meet. But in the library, they did.

Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.

In the ice, east of the Black Rock, there is a hole into which broken children are thrown. Yaz’s people call it the Pit of the Missing and now it is drawing her in as she has always known it would.

To resist the cold, to endure the months of night when even the air itself begins to freeze, requires a special breed. Variation is dangerous, difference is fatal. And Yaz is not the same.

Yaz’s difference tears her from the only life she’s ever known, away from her family, from the boy she thought she would spend her days with, and has to carve out a new path for herself in a world whose existence she never suspected. A world full of difference and mystery and danger.

Yaz learns that Abeth is older and stranger than she had ever imagined. She learns that her weaknesses are another kind of strength and that the cruel arithmetic of survival that has always governed her people can be challenged.

On the planet Abeth there is only the ice. And the Black Rock.

For generations the priests of the Black Rock have reached out from their mountain to steer the fate of the ice tribes. With their Hidden God, their magic and their iron, the priests’ rule has never been questioned. But when ice triber Yaz challenged their authority, she was torn away from the only life she had ever known, and forced to find a new path for herself.

Yaz has lost her friends and found her enemies. She has a mountain to climb, and even if she can break the Hidden God’s power, her dream of a green world lies impossibly far to the south, across a vast emptiness of ice. Before the journey can even start, she has to find out what happened to the ones she loves and save those that can be saved.

Abeth holds its secrets close, but the stars shine brighter for Yaz and she means to unlock the truth.

On the planet Abeth, a narrow Corridor of green land is surrounded on all sides by ice plains where only the strong survive. Ice triber Yaz has completed a perilous journey and arrived at the Corridor, and it exceeds and overwhelms all of her expectations. Everything seems different but some constants remain: her old enemies are still two steps ahead, bent on her destruction. She makes her way to the Convent of Sweet Mercy, where nuns train young girls who show the old gifts, but like the Corridor itself the convent is packed with peril and opportunity. Yaz has much to learn from the nuns—if they don’t decide to execute her.

The fate of everyone squeezed between the Corridor’s vast walls, and ultimately the fate of those laboring to survive out on ice itself, hangs from the moon, and the battle to save the moon centers on the Ark of the Missing, buried beneath the emperor’s palace. Everyone wants Yaz to be the key that will open the Ark – the one the wise have sought for generations. But sometimes wanting isn’t enough.

The year is 1986. Fifteen-year-old boy-genius Nick Hayes learns that he is dying, yet that is the least of the strangest thing to have happened to him that week.

Nick and his friends are used to living in their imaginations, until a new girl named Mia joins the group.

A mysterious and oddly familiar man with abilities that simply shouldn’t exist is following Nick. Even though she might not know it yet, Mia is in grave danger and she needs help, fast!

Going up against what is seemingly a terminal disease, a knife-wielding psycho and the laws of physics, Nick embarks on a desperate mission to uncover a mystery and save the girl.

It’s the summer of 1986. Now a student at Cambridge University, Nick Hayes is working with celebrated mathematician Professor Halligan.

Although he wishes to be nothing more than a regular student, that’s a tall order given how the boy-genius is a cancer survivor who has already taken part in time travel.

When he meets a mysterious and oddly familiar girl, Nick learns that creases have appeared in the fabric of time—and he is right at the centre of the disruption.

Only he can fix this time paradox, and time is certainly not on his side.

Nick Hayes is a boy-genius who has carved paths through time.

He has however seen how his story will end, and every year that passes draws him a step closer.

Mia’s accident is waiting for both of them in 2011, and he’ll be out of choices if it happens.

But what happens when a coincidental discovery reveals that this seeker of truth has been lying to himself?

Young girls are brought up to be killers at the Convent of Sweet Mercy.
Nona Grey, a bloodstained child of nine falsely accused of murder, is brought to their halls.

Although it takes a decade to teach a Red Sister the art of blade and fist, the teachings of Abbess Glass go beyond the arts of death. Among her class, Nona finds a new family.

As secure and remote as the convent is, Nona’s dark past still come back to haunt her.

Her arrival triggers old feuds to life and a fierce battle within the church, attracting the attention of the emperor himself.

Nona Grey must contain her inner demons, unleashing them only if someone stands in her way.

For centuries, young girls have been raised to become killers at the Convent of Sweet Mercy. Newcmer Nona Grey learns the secrets of the universe in Mystic Class.

Before she leaves the convent, Nona must decide whether to commit herself to a life of prayer or pledge allegiance to the blade and the fist.

As her enemies target her through the very system she is sworn to, Nona must create her own path despite the different pulls of friendship, ambition, loyalty and vengeance.

Whichever the case, the one guarantee is that blood will be shed.

The empire is being ambushed by the Scithrowl in the east and the Durns in the west.

Nona Grey must triumph in her final tests if she is to become a full sister in the order of her choice.

But for Nora and her friends, war is on their doorstep.

One last epic battle is on the horizon. It’s a battle that will leave her torn between friends, one in which her own devils will attempt to undo her.

Hearts will be shattered, loved ones will be lost, and thrones will be brought to the ground.

To achieve greatness, one must step on bodies.

The land burns as lords and petty kings fight for the Broken Empire.

If there is one thing that Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath has learnt from his mission to avenge the brutal murder of his mother, then it is that there are hidden puppet masters behind this never ending war.

A six nation army, led by a hero adored by the people, makes its way towards Jorg’s gates. Many wish him well, praying that their champions will not only unite the empire but also heal its wounds.

Every good king will bend the knee when faced with insurmountable odds, if it means saving his people and their lands.

King Jorg is however not a good king.

This book covers the period between the end of the 'early thread' in Emperor of Thorns and the beginning of the 'now' thread in King of Thorns.

It is a work that came about as a result of a challenge by a reader who wanted the author to twist the tale of Sleeping Beauty around that of young Jorg Ancrath.

This story is also included in the anthology Road Brothers: Tales from the Broken Empire.

The path to the throne is broken and only the broken can walk it.

The world is cracked and these are my days. When I stand before the Hundred, they will listen.

Whoever stands against me is of no consequence. Whether living or dead, I shall take the throne. If I must be the last emperor then I will make of it such an ending.

This is however where the wise man turns away. These are the final miles. I won’t be able to save you. Run if you can, pray if you must.

Just don’t follow me. For if you do, I will break your heart.

The Red Queen may be old but the kings of the Broken Empire fear her like nobody else.

Her grandson Jalan Kendeth is the tenth in line to the throne, but he is a weakling and a womanizer.

As his grandmother shapes the future of millions, Prince Jalan chases after promiscuous pleasures—until he gets entangled with a huge Norse axe man named Snorri ver Snagason.

Forced to the icy north, Jalan flees minions of the Dead King, sets up a fight with Prince Jorg Ancrath, and meets the ice witch, Skilfar, all while trying to part ways with Snorri before his quest throws them to battle in the black fort on the edge of the Bitter Ice.

The powerful turn their eyes to the North. Loki’s key has been found, and is in the possession of a good for nothing prince and a wounded warrior.

It’s winter and Prince Jalan Kendeth isn’t anywhere near the affluence of his southern palace. The North is certainly home to Norse axe man Snorri ver Snagason, but Jalan can’t wait to leave.

Nonetheless, even men who hold a key that can open any door are no exempt from the thaw.

As the winter intensifies and the Dead King embarks to take what was nearly his, other players stretch their claws too in a bid to acquire Loki’s key.

Unspoken horror stands between Snorri Ver Snagason and the rescue of his family—if at all the dead can be rescued. Jalan Kendeth on the other hand is concerned with making it out alive and taking Loki’s with him, for it could very well provide him fortune back in the world of the living.

For Jalan, his intention is returning to wine, women, and wagering. But the Wheel of Osheim is spinning faster, and will destroy the world if not stopped.

When the end draws nearer for everyone, with nowhere else to hide, even the worst of cowards must muster the courage to discover new answers.