Beneath the Rising books in order

Beneath the Rising is a three-book cosmic horror series by Premee Mohamed following teenager Nick Prasad and his genius best friend Joanna Chambers after she accidentally summons extradimensional gods, published from 2020 to 2022.
Series · Horror · Cosmic Horror · Dark Fantasy · Science Fiction

Reading order

# Title Published Author Buy on Amazon
1 Beneath the Rising 2020 Premee Mohamed Buy
2 ABroken Darkness 2021 Premee Mohamed Buy
3 The Void Ascendant 2022 Premee Mohamed Buy

Beneath the Rising is Premee Mohamed’s debut novel and the first entry in a trilogy that uses Lovecraftian cosmic horror as a vehicle for examining friendship, class, and the dynamics of who gets to be the hero of the story. Nick Prasad, the narrator, is a middle-class brown kid from Edmonton whose best friend Joanna Chambers is a brilliant, wealthy white girl who has changed the world with her inventions and, in doing so, has also invited catastrophe.

The novel and its sequels work simultaneously as globe-trotting horror — the threats are genuinely frightening, the stakes are genuinely global — and as a sustained examination of what it feels like to be the support character in someone else’s story. Mohamed does not flatten this into allegory; Nick’s loyalty, resentment, and love for Joanna are rendered with complexity throughout.

A Broken Darkness (2021) and The Void Ascendant (2022) completed the trilogy, developing both the cosmic horror mythology and the personal stakes. The series was a finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel, the Crawford Award, and the Aurora Award on the strength of the first book alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Beneath the Rising series?

There are three books in the Beneath the Rising series, published between 2020 and 2022.

What is the first book in the Beneath the Rising series?

The first book in the Beneath the Rising series is Beneath the Rising, published in 2020.

What is the Beneath the Rising series about?

Beneath the Rising follows Nick Prasad, an ordinary teenager whose best friend Joanna Chambers is a teenage super-scientist who has accidentally attracted the attention of extradimensional entities while working on one of her inventions. The series is set in 2002 and follows the two of them across a globe-spanning race to prevent the end of the world, while simultaneously examining the unequal dynamic of their friendship — Nick’s devotion to Joanna, and Joanna’s treatment of him. The cosmic horror draws on the Lovecraftian tradition but engages directly with the racism and colonialism that tradition often trafficked in. Beneath the Rising (2020), A Broken Darkness (2021), and The Void Ascendant (2022) form the trilogy.

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