Chronicles of the Invaders Books in Order

The Chronicles of the Invaders trilogy, co‑written with Jennifer Ridyard, takes Connolly’s interest in conflicted heroes and pushes it into outright science fiction. The story opens years after Earth has been conquered by the Illyri, a technologically advanced alien species that insists its gentle conquest is for humanity’s own good.

The Illyri have shut down weapons systems, imposed order, and even improved parts of the environment by ending wars and reshaping deserts and climate. At the same time they conscript human teenagers, punish resistance harshly, and make it clear who now owns the planet. Against that backdrop the books follow two young protagonists on opposite sides: Syl Hellais, the first Illyri child born on Earth, and Paul Kerr, a human leading a small resistance cell in Edinburgh.

In Conquest, an attack on Edinburgh brings Syl and Paul into direct contact. She escapes the confines of her father’s fortress to explore the city she has only seen from above, while he struggles with the cost of fighting an empire that can wipe a city from the map. Their relationship, equal parts distrust and attraction, forces both to question what they have been taught about the other species.

Later volumes widen the lens. Empire sends Syl into training with the Nairene Sisterhood, an elite and deeply unsettling order of Illyri women, while Paul sees more of the human cost of occupation and exile. A shadowy third force known as the Others, long hidden behind the Illyri, begins to emerge as the real power in the galaxy. Dominion brings those threads together in a conclusion that weighs loyalty, rebellion, and the price of changing a system that seems unbreakable.

Although the books feature space travel, alien technology, and psychic abilities, they stay grounded in character. Syl and Paul must deal with parents, friends, first love, and the knowledge that any choice they make could doom their respective peoples. The trilogy asks what home means when you are born on the wrong side of a war and whether you can change an empire without becoming what you hate.

This page lines up the books, sketches the overarching conflict, and helps you decide if you want to read straight through from Conquest to Dominion or dip in to see Connolly working in a more overtly science‑fictional mode.