6 Late-in-Series Fantasy Novels that Make Great Entry Points

First Confessor, by Terry Goodkind
What’s the best way to find your way into a 14-book fantasy series? A prequel is a good strategy—and bestselling fantasy author Terry Goodkind has provided just that for his Richard and Kahlan/Sword of Truth saga. The upcoming First Confessor is literally described as the series’ “foundation;” it’s set centuries before the events laid out in the other 14 novels. It gives you the opportunity to sample the universe and the style while getting a leg-up on the mythology and history of Goodkind’s New and Old Worlds, including the Confessors, women who have the power to make anyone completely devoted to them in order to seek the truth, and the titular Sword of Truth, wielded by the Seeker of Truth and able to distinguish between enemies it must slay and those it must protect. While there’s an argument to be made to experience novels in the order they were published, sometimes reading the origin first is the ideal way to dive into a large, detailed universe decades in the making.

The Darkling Child, by Terry Brooks
Another fantasy epic that can intimidate newcomers, Terry Brooks’ Shannara series currently stretches across 29 books published over nearly 40 years, exploring a far-future Earth long after nuclear holocaust has destroyed our science-based civilization, allowing magic to re-emerge. Brooks has done something remarkable with The Darkling Child, the second in his Defenders of Shannara series: he’s created a book that fits in perfectly with the rest of the series, while also standing alone. Old Shannara fans will instantly recognize the universe and enjoy the story, and newcomers will encounter a fully fleshed-out fantasy world that requires next to no prior knowledge of the series. (You will still need to go back to the earlier novels to get the full history of the Four Lands and the Druids who seek to protect it, but by then, you’ll already be hooked.)

Killing Pretty, by Richard Kadrey
The seventh Sandman Slim novel is, in the author’s words, a “non-reboot reboot,” making it a perfect late-entry novel. After sixth book The Getaway God ended with uncharacteristically resolved storylines (including the deaths of just about all the gods), Killing Pretty recasts Sandman Slim—a man who once served as a demonic gladiator in hell—as a private eye investigating the murder of Death himself (you’ll have to read the book to understand). After years of increasingly dire (and nearly apocalyptic) adventures in a Los Angeles chock-a-block with demons, magicians, and other dark magic, this “refresh” has everything that has made Sandman Slim a hugely popular urban fantasy, while requiring no knowledge of prior storylines.

Last First Snow, by Max Gladstone
The novels in Gladstone’s Craft Sequence are easily among the most inventive, downright fun urban fantasies in years, presenting a world where magic is fundamental and everything is a funhouse mirror of our own, with gods taking the place of international corporations, magicians standing in for high-powered attorneys, and every aspect of life ruled by powers with a dark echo in our own reality. Each book is a standalone with different characters, though, so getting in isn’t as straightforward as choosing the first book. Luckily, Gladstone has simplified things by explicitly stating the newest Craft book, Last First Snow, is chronologically the first. If you don’t want to read in publication order, you can start there, then read Two Serpents Rise, (published second), then Three Parts Dead (published first), then Full Fathom Five. If you’ve picked up on the pattern, you’ll note we’re still missing at least one more book, which is good news: you won’t want to leave this world.

Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld is a sprawling collection of novels, short stories, and novellas covering his invented universe from every angle, and following several groups of core characters. Making things even more problematic, the first few novels are distinctly more jokey and lighthearted, as Pratchett originally conceived of them as combination of Blazing Saddles-esque spoof and traditional epic fantasy. Your best bet is to skip ahead 13 books and read Small Gods, a standalone focused on a region of the Discworld universe that doesn’t appear in any of the other books. It will give you an taste of the universe and Pratchett’s irresistible style without flooding you with in-jokes and running gags.

New Spring, by Robert Jordan
Published between the 10th and 11th books in The Wheel of Time, New Spring is an ideal way to dive into the WoT universe, a truly epic fantasy set in a world that goes through specific Ages in which the Dark Lord and the Dragon rise, battle, and fade away. Because it’s set just 20 years before the first official book, New Spring presents the world essentially unchanged from when the main story begins, while offering a glimpse of events that are referenced throughout the overarching narrative. It’s also much, much shorter than the other weighty tomes in this expansive tale, which means you can dive in and get a taste without having to commit large portions of your life to deciding whether you want to go deeper.
What late-series books would you give to a new fan?