Age of Steam Books in Order

Age of Steam is Devon Monk's steampunk frontier series, and it wastes no time explaining what kind of world you have stepped into. This is an America built out of gears, cursed devices, rail empires, witches, monsters, and the leftovers of old magic. It feels dusty, dangerous, and only half-tamed, which makes it a perfect home for a bounty hunter who is trying very hard to hold onto what is left of his soul.

That bounty hunter is Cedar Hunt.

Cedar rides into the series carrying more than guns and grit. He is cursed with lycanthropy, haunted by guilt over his brother, and drawn into a search for a device called the Holder, something powerful enough to destroy far more than one man if it falls into the wrong hands. What starts as a personal mission quickly opens into a wider struggle involving rail tycoons, ancient enemies, the Strange, and the people who know just enough about dangerous inventions to make them even scarier.

The supporting cast gives the series a lot of life. Mae Lindson brings witchcraft, intelligence, and stubborn resolve. The Madder brothers add invention, unpredictability, and a nice edge of chaos. Airships, frontier towns, mining camps, and frozen cities all come into play as the journey widens. Even when the plot turns toward larger world-ending stakes, the books stay grounded in the people traveling together and the trust they build one hard mile at a time.

This is steampunk, but it is not polished drawing-room steampunk. Monk leans into mud, weather, machinery, frontier violence, and the cost of survival. Her version of the genre feels closer to a fantasy western with boilers and strange science than to a costume piece. The result is rougher and more physical, which suits Cedar's story.

The quest for the Holder ties the books together.

Each entry has its own immediate threat, but the larger arc is about finding the scattered pieces of a device that should not exist and stopping the people who want to master it. That gives the series a strong onward pull. There is always another place to reach, another enemy to outmaneuver, another machine or curse to survive.

If you like your steampunk with werewolves, witches, airships, outlaw energy, and a lot of forward momentum, Age of Steam is one of Monk's most distinct worlds.