A Time of Dragons Books in Order

A Time of Dragons is set in Verda's distant past, thousands of years before The Echoes Saga. These books step back to an age when dragon riders are the last clear symbols of hope, the gods have fallen silent and a long, grinding war is reshaping the continent of Erador.

Once There Were Heroes introduces a world that remembers better days. Dragon riders once rose from ordinary soldiers whose courage caught the attention of unborn dragons waiting in their eggs. Now the riders are exhausted by an endless conflict with the invading Andarens, and the line between heroism and sacrifice has blurred. In the background, forgotten cults awaken and whisper about something older and darker than any current war.

In In the Shadow of Kings, the focus narrows around Joran Pendain, a young man whose fate has been seen in prophecy as both a potential saviour and a threat. His journey to the mountain fortress of Drakanan to claim a dragon puts him at the centre of schemes run by kings, priests and secret societies such as the Skaramangians, who believe that breaking the world might be the only way to remake it.

The Last Ballad of Hope raises the stakes further. An ancient entity known as the Dark One has slipped its prison, and the fragile coalition against it is scattered across land and sea. Cob, a ranger marked by a curse, and the warrior Androma hunt a foe that is said to be unkillable. Joran trains under Dragonlord Baelon, struggling to become the kind of rider legends demand, while beneath the waves Kitrana Voden fights to save her ocean dwelling people from annihilation.

Compared with the early Echoes books, A Time of Dragons leans even harder into mythic imagery and apocalyptic stakes. Dragon flights, doomed fortresses and half remembered gods share space with very human doubts about loyalty, faith and the weight of destiny. The tone is dark and adventurous, but grounded in characters who joke, argue and break under pressure just like people in any age.

For readers already invested in Verda, this series fills in how the world reached the state seen in The Echoes Saga and The Ranger Archives. For new readers, it works as a starting point that offers dragon riding, desperate last stands and the sense of watching history being written in fire.