Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flammenflug | 2017 | Melissa Caruso | N/A |
| 2 | The Tethered Mage | 2017 | Melissa Caruso | Buy |
| 3 | Sturmschwingen | 2018 | Melissa Caruso | N/A |
| 4 | The Defiant Heir | 2018 | Melissa Caruso | Buy |
| 5 | L’Empire libéré | 2019 | Melissa Caruso | N/A |
| 6 | The Unbound Empire | 2019 | Melissa Caruso | Buy |
The Swords and Fire trilogy is set in the Serene Empire, a Venetian-inspired realm where magic users are tethered to political handlers who control their power. Melissa Caruso’s debut, The Tethered Mage, introduced this world in 2017 and kicked off a story about an aristocratic young woman who accidentally becomes linked to a fire warlock.
The series includes both the English originals and their translated editions. Political scheming drives the plot as much as magic does, and Caruso does a good job of raising the stakes with each book. The trilogy wraps up with The Unbound Empire, which brings the story to a satisfying close while leaving the world open for the Rooks and Ruin follow-up series.