All 9 volumes of The Fey by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
(WMG Publishing, 2013 – 2023). Covers by Dirk Berger and WMG Publishing

In the mid-90s Kristine Kathryn Rusch wrote The Fey, a 5-volume fantasy series released by the hottest publisher in fantasy, Bantam Spectra (publisher of, among other things, A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin). Jayme Lynn Blaschke interviewed Kristine for my old website SF Site in 1998, and she gave a great synopsis of her ambitions for the series.

When I started working on The Fey, I described it to my editor as a Hundred Years’ War. Now, if you’ve read The Fey, you realize I haven’t gotten anywhere close to a hundred years. We’re in the first twenty years, and I’m starting in on book five. If this series sells well, I could probably go the full hundred years. It may take me twenty years to write, but I know the cycle is going to be long. We’re talking War of the Roses here. And there are a lot of stories in there, and they don’t necessarily have to be about the same characters.

Kristine followed the first five books in The Fey with a 2-volume sequel, The Black Throne, in 1999 and 2000. When the rights reverted back to her, she repacked the books in handsome new editions and re-released them through WMG, the publishing house she runs with her husband, the talented Dean Wesley Smith. As she predicted back in 1998, she is still writing the series 20 years later, and in fact she just released volume 9, The Kirilli Matter, last month.

The original Bantam Spectra editions of The Fey (1995-98). Covers by Dawn Wilson (#1), Yvonne Gilbert (2-5)

The first seven volumes of The Fey were published by Bantam Spectra last century. The first new book, the novella The Reflection on Mount Vitaki, was published in two parts in Galaxy’s Edge magazine (in the November 2022 and January 2023 issues), and released as a standalone novella by WMG Publishing last year.

The first new full-length novel of The Fey this century was The Kirilli Matter, published in February of this year. Here’s a look at the book video.

Here’s the entire sequence.

The Original Books of The Fey

The Sacrifice: Book One of The Fey (1995)
The Changeling: Book Two of The Fey (1996)
The Rival: Book Three of The Fey (1997)
The Resistance: Book Four of The Fey (1998)
Victory: Book Five of The Fey (1998)

The Black Throne

The Black Queen: Book One of the Black Throne (1999)
The Black King: Book Two of the Black Throne (2000)

The Qavnerian Protectorate

The Reflection on Mount Vitaki: Prequel to the Qavnerian Protectorate (2022)
The Kirilli Matter: The First Book of the Qavnerian Protectorate (2023)

The Black Throne, volumes 1 & 2: The Black Queen
and The Black King (Bantam Spectra, 1999 and 2000). Covers by Mark Harrison

The Kirilli Matter is the opening book in a new series, Qavnerian Protectorate. Keep your eye on Rusch’s website for details on upcoming volumes.

It’s a delight to return to a popular fantasy setting after so many years, and to see a skilled author like Rusch finally realize her ambition for this series.

The Kirilli Matter was published by WMG Publishing on February 21, 2023. It is 433 pages, priced at $44.99 in hardcover, $19.99 in trade paperback, and $5.99 in digital formats. The cover design is by Allyson Longgueira.

See all our recent coverage of the best new fantasy series here.