The Old Kingdom Books in Order: How to read Garth Nix’s series?

Written by Australian author Garth Nix, The Old Kingdom is a young adult fantasy-horror series that takes place in a world where the line between the living and the dead isn’t always clear-and sometimes disappears altogether.

The Old Kingdom is where Free Magic and Charter Magic exist, where you can find dangerous entities, ranging from the undead to powerful sorcerers and Free Magic elementals. Close to the Old Kingdom stands Ancelstierre, an unmagical country that has a technology level and society similar to that of the early 20th century Australia.

How To Read The Old Kingdom Series in Order?

There are two ways of reading the Old Kingdom book series in order. First, by following the publication order. Second, by following the chronological order, provided at the end of this article.

Reading The Old Kingdom Books in Publication Order:

1. Sabriel – Since childhood, Sabriel has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom, away from the power of Free Magic, and away from the Dead who refuse to stay dead. But now her father, the Abhorson, is missing, and Sabriel must cross into that world to find him. There she confronts an evil that threatens much more than her life and comes face-to-face with her own hidden destiny.
2. Lirael – Lirael has never felt like a true daughter of the Clayr. She doesn’t even have the Sight-the ability to see into possible futures-that is the very birthright of the Clayr. Nevertheless, she must undertake a desperate mission under the growing shadow of an ancient evil-one that opposes the Royal Family, blocks the Sight of the Clayr, and threatens to break the very boundary between Life and Death itself.
3. Abhorsen – The Abhorsen Sabriel and King Touchstone are missing, leaving only Lirael-newly come into her inheritance as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting-to stop the Destroyer. If Orannis’s unspeakable powers are unleashed, it will mean the end of all Life. Lirael must search in both Life and Death for some means to defeat the evil destructor-before it is too late.
4. Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case – Novella collected in Across the Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other Stories. Chronicles Nicholas Sayre’s attempt to return to the Old Kingdom, involving a battle with a Free Magic horror in the process.
5. An Extract of the Journal of Idrach the Lesser Necromancer – Short Story Collected in Across the Wall.
6. To Hold the Bridge – Novella collected in Legends of Australian Fantasy. Tells the story of 20-year-old young man Morghan joining the Bridge Company.

7. Clariel – Clariel is the daughter of one of the most notable families in the Old Kingdom. She dreams of living a simple life but discovers this is hard to achieve when a dangerous Free Magic creature is loose in the city, her parents want to marry her off to a killer, and there is a plot brewing against the King Orrikan. When Clariel is drawn into the efforts to find and capture the creature, she finds hidden sorcery within herself. Can she rise above the temptation of power, escape the unwanted marriage, and save the King?
8. Goldenhand – On a dangerous journey, Lirael returns to her childhood home, the Clayr’s Glacier, where she was once a Second Assistant Librarian. There, a young woman from the distant North brings her a message from her long-dead mother, Arielle. It is a warning about the Witch with No Face. But who is the Witch, and what is she planning? Lirael must use her new powers to save the Old Kingdom from this great danger.
9. Doctor Crake Crosses the Wall – Short story available online telling the story of Captain Crake (a medical doctor), who recently finished medical school and military college and was posted to the Perimeter.
10. Terciel and Elinor – In the Old Kingdom, a land of ancient and often terrible magics, eighteen-year-old orphan Terciel learns the art of necromancy from his great-aunt Tizanael. But not to raise the Dead, rather to lay them to rest. He is the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, and Tizanael is the Abhorsen, the latest in a long line of people whose task it is to make sure the Dead do not return to Life.

Reading The Old Kingdom Books in Chronological Order:

As always, for those who want to read the story in chronological order :

1. “To Hold the Bridge”- collected in Legends of Australian Fantasy.
2. Clariel
3. “An Extract of the Journal of Idrach the Lesser Necromancer” – Collected in Across the Wall.
4. “An Essay on Free Magic“
5. Terciel and Elinor
6. “One Wyverley Summer” – Published in the 25th Anniversary editions of Sabriel in US & UK (in Terciel and Elinor in Australia)
   
7. Sabriel
8. Lirael
9. Abhorsen
10. “The Creature in the Case”- Collected in Across the Wall.
11. Goldenhand
12. “Doctor Crake Crosses the Wall“

If you like our article about The Old Kingdom Reading Order, don’t forget to bookmark it! You may also want to read Garth Nix’s The Keys to the Kingdom and The Seventh Tower series.