Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Imager | 2009 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | Buy |
| 2 | Imager’s Challenge | 2009 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | Buy |
| 3 | Imager’s Intrigue | 2010 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | Buy |
| 4 | Scholar | 2011 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | Buy |
| 5 | Princeps | 2012 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | Buy |
| 6 | Princeps a novel in the Imager portfolio | 2012 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | N/A |
| 7 | Imager’s Battalion | 2013 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | Buy |
| 8 | Antiagon Fire | 2013 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | Buy |
| 9 | Rex Regis | 2014 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | Buy |
| 10 | Madness in Solidar | 2015 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | Buy |
| 11 | Treachery’s Tools | 2016 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | Buy |
| 12 | Assassin’s Price | 2017 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | Buy |
| 13 | Endgames | 2019 | L.E. Modesitt Jr | Buy |
The Imager Portfolio is built around one of Modesitt’s most inventive magic systems. Imagers can make real whatever they visualize, an ability that is both incredibly powerful and socially dangerous — making imagers feared, regulated, and sometimes hunted. The series opens with Imager (2009) and follows Rhennthyl, a portraitist who discovers his imaging talent and must navigate the political structures built around controlling people like him.
The series expands across 13 novels, shifting between different eras of Solidar to show how the role of imagers in society has evolved over centuries. Later books like Madness in Solidar and Treachery’s Tools deal with institutional corruption and the tension between personal power and civic duty. The Imager Portfolio shares Modesitt’s characteristic focus on competent protagonists working within systems, but the imaging magic gives it a creative dimension absent from his other series.