Realm of the Elderlings books in order

Reading order

Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings began with Assassin’s Apprentice in 1995, introducing FitzChivalry Farseer, a royal bastard raised secretly at Buckkeep castle. His grandfather King Shrewd trains him as an assassin while the kingdom faces threats from the coastal raider Red Ships and internal treason. The series spans decades of Fitz’s life and eventually expands to include other characters and regions across the Six Duchies, beyond the Mountain Kingdom, and down to Liveship Traders of Bingtown and the Rain Wilds.

The saga consists of five trilogies that form one interconnected epic. Hobb originally conceived the story following Fitz and the Fool, but Liveship Traders developed alongside it from the start. Events and characters from one series appear in others, sometimes with context that reframes earlier scenes. Readers often discover layers of meaning on rereads.

Hobb’s focus remains on character and consequence. Magic in the world demands payment. The Wit allows bonding with animals, forming deep emotional connections but risking the loss of self. The Skill enables telepathy and sharing of consciousness among kin, yet it slowly burns through those who use it. Liveships are carved from wizardwood and gain sentience over decades, bonding with their families through memory and emotion. Dragons in this world are parasitic and cunning, not noble steeds. Every advantage comes with a cost.

Publication order preserves these reveals. Liveship Traders explains what dragon parts meant. Tawny Man returns to Fitz years later, when he’s grown older and changed. Rain Wild Chronicles follows characters dealing with the aftermath of Tawny Man. Fitz and the Fool continues his story into middle age. Fitz isn’t a hero—he’s broken, lonely, and often foolish in his attachments. But his willingness to act when others won’t makes him essential to the fate of his kingdom.