A Trial of Sorcerers Books in Order

A Trial of Sorcerers returns to the Air Awakens universe years after the original war, but it is built to work as its own entry point. The series centers on Eira Landan, an eighteen year old Waterrunner in the Tower of Sorcerers who lives very much in the shadow of others.

Eira is haunted by an accident three years before the first book, when she lost control of her power and killed a fellow apprentice. Since then she has been the most unwanted student in the Tower, clinging to small routines and her work in the clinics where she records mementos from the dying into vessels with water magic. She also carries a secret gift, the ability to hear echoes of the past in objects, which unnerves many around her.

When the Empire announces the Tournament of Five Kingdoms, a celebration of new accords between far flung lands, every apprentice dreams of competing. Eira signs up not for glory, but because the tournament would finally let her travel to Meru, a distant nation that has always fascinated her. The first book, A Trial of Sorcerers, follows her through deadly trials, court politics, and a complicated connection with both a charming Windwalker lord from the Tower and a handsome, secretive elfin ambassador.

By A Hunt of Shadows, Eira has become a champion of Solaris and is sent abroad, only to find herself pulled into the dangerous undercity of Risen. There, a hidden Court of Shadows and ruthless Pillars fight for control, and Eira's enemy from home is still very much at large. Captured and outmatched, she has to decide how far she is willing to go and what lines she will cross to protect her friends and the man she loves.

A Tournament of Crowns throws her back into the spotlight as the Tournament itself begins in earnest. Sequestered with other champions, still under a cloud of suspicion after killing a man, Eira must juggle public trials, private grief, and an unresolved heartbreak that makes every close quarters interaction more charged.

The story then spills out onto the high seas in An Heir of Frost, where Eira and her companions end up prisoners of the legendary Pirate Queen Adela. Ships, storms, and shifting loyalties push their magic and morals to the breaking point. Long buried truths about Eira's past and the politics of five kingdoms start to surface.

In A Queen of Ice, all of those threads converge. Five kingdoms are on the brink of open war, the Empire faces threats from within and without, and Eira is no longer just a troubled apprentice. She is a woman shaped by love, loss, and power who has to decide what kind of queen, ally, or weapon she is willing to become.

Across the series you can expect elemental magic, tournament drama, found family, and romance that simmers beneath layers of duty, trauma, and choice. Prior knowledge of Air Awakens adds extra texture, but is not required to follow Eira's journey from the Tower's shadows to the heart of world changing events.