Avalon Chronicles Books in Order

The Avalon Chronicles shift the spotlight away from Nate Garrett and onto Layla Cassidy, giving readers a new way into the Hellequin universe while setting up the larger war that follows.

When we meet Layla in A Glimmer of Hope, she’s in her final year at university and desperate for an ordinary life. Her father’s reputation as a brutal enforcer for dark powers has haunted her for years, and she wants nothing more than to put that legacy behind her. Those plans unravel when she accidentally activates an ancient scroll and finds herself bound to a dangerous, inhuman power.

That mistake drags Layla into a world where ogres, demons, and werewolves are real, and groups of fanatics are eager to turn her abilities to their own ends. Very quickly she has to decide who to trust, how far she’s willing to go to protect people she cares about, and what it means to carry magic that could easily destroy her.

By A Flicker of Steel, Layla has accepted that there’s no going back. Sixteen months after her life blew apart, she’s leading a small team against Avalon’s growing forces. A rescue mission turned ambush shows just how far their enemies are willing to go, and new betrayals push her to confront secrets in her own past. Her power is increasing, but so is the risk that it could consume her.

A Thunder of War brings the arc to a head. Abaddon and Avalon’s armies are preparing to crush the last pockets of resistance, and the final battle will decide the future of both the human world and the hidden magical realms. Layla and her friends have to pull every ally they can find into one last stand, knowing that victory is anything but guaranteed.

These books keep McHugh’s trademark mix of high‑octane fights and myth‑laden worldbuilding, but they filter the story through someone who hasn’t lived for centuries. Layla makes mistakes, gets blindsided, and grows in ways that feel very different from a battle‑hardened sorcerer like Nate. For readers, that makes the series a strong alternate starting point if you want modern urban fantasy first and deep history later.

The Avalon Chronicles also form a bridge. They share characters and threads with the Hellequin books, then carry many of those elements straight into The Rebellion Chronicles. If you enjoy stories about found family, impossible choices, and a young woman learning to own power that scares even the monsters around her, this is the corner of McHugh’s universe to dive into.