Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shadebound | 2022 | David Estes | Buy |
| 2 | Bloodbound | 2023 | David Estes | Buy |
| 3 | Thronebound | 2023 | David Estes | Buy |
Last King opens with Shadebound, set in a kingdom where the last king has died without an heir. The title sequence — Shadebound, Bloodbound, Thronebound — tracks the progression from uncertainty through conflict to a resolution about who will hold power. The world has factions with competing claims: military leaders, mages, noble houses, and others who each believe their path forward is the right one.
The trilogy shares the multi-POV structure Estes uses across his adult fantasy work, though it is tighter than the Fatemarked Epic given it runs to three books rather than eight. Both Bloodbound and Thronebound published in 2023, so readers who began with Shadebound in 2022 did not wait long for the conclusion. The series moves efficiently from setup to payoff without overstaying its welcome.
Last King sits comfortably alongside the Bloodwood Saga and The Kingfall Histories as part of Estes’s adult fantasy output from the early 2020s. Readers who want a complete, contained epic fantasy trilogy rather than a longer ongoing series will find it a good fit.