After the Fall (Michael J Sullivan) Books in Order

After the Fall returns to Michael J. Sullivan's world of Elan at the moment when an empire's future becomes uncertain. Co-written with Lorian Ellis, the series begins with Out of the Ashes and follows the collapse of the Novronian Empire. The destruction of its capital, Percepliquis, leaves survivors facing a question that reaches beyond immediate safety: what can they build when the world they understood has broken apart?

Three people's responses shape the opening story. A woman must consider why she survived, a would-be ruler resolves to claim the role he believes belongs to him, and another person sets out to find the wizard Esrahaddon. These different aims give the aftermath several directions at once. Survival, leadership, and the search for a dangerous figure are connected by the same disaster, but they do not promise the same answers or the same future.

The fall is a beginning for this story.

The setting matters because the old empire is more than a distant name in a history book. Its capital has been destroyed, while its citizens still have lives, loyalties, and expectations shaped by imperial rule. The characters must act within that unsettled landscape. Questions of authority become personal when someone has to decide whom to follow, and questions about the past become urgent when they affect what happens next. The fantasy comes from an established world of magic and rival powers, while the immediate conflict grows out of people trying to respond to a shared catastrophe.

This series follows the events of The Rise and Fall without a large jump forward in time. Familiar figures associated with that earlier history include Jerish, Nevrik, Elinya, Esrahaddon, and Mawyndule, alongside new characters. Readers who already know the wider Elan saga can therefore approach it as a continuation of an important historical turning point. The opening novel is also designed to tell an independent story, giving newcomers a way into this period without requiring every earlier book first.

The planned trilogy consists of Out of the Ashes, Between Two Evils, and Into the Darkness. Its linking concern is what follows the destruction of an apparently lasting order: who pursues power, who seeks understanding, and whether hope can survive the struggle between them. The tone is epic fantasy with political and personal stakes. Starting with Out of the Ashes keeps those threads together from their first steps, letting the uncertainty of the setting unfold alongside the characters' attempts to find a place within it.