The Lost

Q: "What is The Scroll of Kings about?"

"Alex, a fifteen-year-old apprentice librarian, steals his dead master's identity to become the royal librarian. He discovers the palace library has gone feral and dangerous Lost Books are infecting the collection with evil magic. He teams up with the young queen and her brother to stop the plague of murderous manuscripts."

Q: "Is The Scroll of Kings part of a series?"

"It was published as the first of The Lost Books, but no sequels have appeared. It works as a standalone."

Q: "Is The Lost Books connected to Sarah Prineas's other series?"

"No. It is set in its own world, separate from The Magic Thief, Winterling, and Ash \u0026 Bramble."

Reading order

#	Title	Published	Author	Buy on Amazon
1	The Scroll of Kings	2018	Sarah Prineas	Buy

Sarah Prineas’s The Scroll of Kings is set in a royal palace where the library has gone wrong. Alex (short for Alexandren) is a fifteen-year-old apprentice whose master has just died. Rather than lose his position, Alex takes on his master’s identity and shows up at the palace as the new royal librarian. What he finds is a library that has turned feral – books with minds of their own, manuscripts that bite, and a growing infection of Lost Books spreading evil magic through the collection.

Alex enlists the help of Queen Kenneret and her headstrong, dyslexic brother Charleren to contain the damage before the Lost Books infect everything. The story mixes library adventure with court politics and gives Prineas a chance to write about books themselves as both treasure and threat.

Published by HarperCollins in 2018, the book was intended as the start of a series called The Lost Books, though no follow-up volumes have appeared. It works as a self-contained story with a complete arc.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Scroll of Kings about?

Alex, a fifteen-year-old apprentice librarian, steals his dead master’s identity to become the royal librarian. He discovers the palace library has gone feral and dangerous Lost Books are infecting the collection with evil magic. He teams up with the young queen and her brother to stop the plague of murderous manuscripts.

Is The Scroll of Kings part of a series?

It was published as the first of The Lost Books, but no sequels have appeared. It works as a standalone.

Is The Lost Books connected to Sarah Prineas's other series?

No. It is set in its own world, separate from The Magic Thief, Winterling, and Ash & Bramble.

Reading order#

Frequently Asked Questions

Reading order