Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zia Erases the World | 2022 | Bree Barton | Buy |
Bree Barton’s standalone work includes Zia Erases the World, published in 2022. The middle-grade novel moves away from the fantasy world of her Heart of Thorns trilogy into a story grounded in real emotions and everyday struggles, aimed at younger readers.
Zia discovers she can erase things from existence and has to work out what really matters to her. The premise gives Barton a way to explore loss, grief, and growing up through a magical-realism lens that younger readers can connect with. It is a different audience and tone from the YA fantasy of Heart of Thorns, which ran from 2018 to 2020.
The shift from YA fantasy to middle-grade fiction shows Barton writing for a broader age range. Zia Erases the World does not require any knowledge of her earlier trilogy, making it a fresh starting point for new readers.