Greg Keyes Books in Order
Explore all Greg Keyes books in order, with quick summaries, series guides, and where to start across his fantasy, sci-fi, and tie-in novels.
Last updated: July 5, 2026
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases (at no extra cost to you).
Publication Order
35 books
Dark Genesis
by Greg Keyes
1988
This Babylon 5 prequel traces the rise of human telepaths, the founding of the Psi Corps, and the forces that shape Alfred Bester. It reads like hidden history behind one of the franchise's darkest institutions.
The Waterborn
by Greg Keyes
1996
Princess Hezhi and the warrior Perkar are drawn into a struggle against the River, a god bound to empire and blood. Their separate journeys slowly converge into a mythic fight with power far beyond mortals.
Blackgod
by Greg Keyes
1997
Hezhi flees the River's reach and seeks a way to destroy him at the source. Caught between rival gods and hunted across the wilds, she must master her own power before the world is swallowed by water.
Newton's Cannon
by Greg Keyes
1998
In 1681, Isaac Newton discovers philosopher's mercury and turns magic into a usable science. Benjamin Franklin, Adrienne de Mornay, and an unnaturally enduring Louis XIV are swept into the struggle that follows.
A Calculus of Angels
by Greg Keyes
1999
Newton's discovery has changed the world, and the second book widens the disaster. Franklin, Adrienne, and their allies face war, alchemy, and strange powers as a second dark age gathers strength.
Deadly Relations
by Greg Keyes
1999
The second Psi Corps novel follows Alfred Bester's climb from gifted child to feared power broker. Family pressure, politics, and telepath ideology harden him into one of Babylon 5's most dangerous figures.
Final Reckoning
by Greg Keyes
1999
In the aftermath of Babylon 5 and the Telepath War, the hunt for Alfred Bester finally comes due. Michael Garibaldi is pulled into a last, personal showdown with a man who has haunted the series for years.
Empire of Unreason
by Greg Keyes
2000
Europe lies shattered and winter grips the world as Benjamin Franklin builds a desperate coalition in the colonies. Far away, Adrienne searches for her lost son while darker forces move toward humanity's end.
Edge of Victory, Book I: Conquest
by Greg Keyes
2001
The Yuuzhan Vong move against the young Jedi on Yavin 4, and Anakin Solo refuses to wait for orders. When Tahiri is captured, the rescue mission becomes darker, riskier, and very personal.
Edge of Victory, Book II: Rebirth
by Greg Keyes
2001
With the Yuuzhan Vong hunting Jedi and the New Republic divided, Han, Leia, Anakin, and Tahiri face danger on every side. The war deepens, but so does the series' sense of hope and family.
The Shadows of God
by Greg Keyes
2001
The final Age of Unreason novel pushes its alternate Earth toward apocalypse. Franklin and his allies face war, alchemy, and inhuman powers in a last attempt to keep humanity from total ruin.
The Briar King
by Greg Keyes
2002
As an ancient death power wakes, a woodsman, priest, adventurer, knight, and princess are pulled into the same crisis. It is a wide cast epic where monsters, prophecy, and court treachery all start moving at once.
The Final Prophecy
by Greg Keyes
2003
Luke and Jacen work with the living world Zonama Sekot while Nen Yim uncovers truths that could reshape the war. At the same time, Wedge Antilles fights behind enemy lines in a crucial campaign.
The Charnel Prince
by Greg Keyes
2004
With King William dead and Anne fleeing for her life, Crotheny slides toward panic and betrayal. Queen Muriele, Neil MeqVren, and others struggle against church intrigue, dark magic, and a widening conspiracy.
The Blood Knight
by Greg Keyes
2006
Anne Dare may be Crotheny's last hope, but assassins, prophecy, and dark magic keep her on the run. As madness spreads with the Briar King's return, her scattered allies fight toward a larger war.
The Born Queen
by Greg Keyes
2008
Anne Dare finally sits on Crotheny's throne, but holy war, prophecy, and rival powers close in at once. The final volume drives every surviving thread toward a struggle that could save the world or destroy it.
The Infernal City
by Greg Keyes
2009
Forty years after the Oblivion Crisis, the floating city Umbriel brings death wherever its shadow falls. A prince, a spy, a vengeful mage, and a young woman are drawn into the fight for Tamriel's future.
Lord of Souls
by Greg Keyes
2011
As Umbriel's undead threat spreads across Tamriel, Prince Attrebus hunts a weapon that might stop it. A spy uncovers betrayal, and Annaig faces horror from inside the floating city itself.
Thor: The Dark World
by Greg Keyes
2013
Thor must protect Jane Foster when an ancient power awakens and Dark Elf Malekith moves against the Nine Realms. To stop him, Thor is forced into an uneasy alliance with Loki.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm
by Greg Keyes
2014
This official prequel bridges the years between Rise and Dawn as simian flu devastates humanity and ape society grows in secret. It turns the collapse into a tense story of fear, survival, and coming war.
Footsteps in the Sky
by Greg Keyes
2014
A century after Pueblo descendants settle the Fifth World, old beliefs and harsh reality are already pulling them apart. Then the mysterious beings who seeded life across distant planets finally return, and they are not pleased.
Interstellar
by Greg Keyes
2014
A team of explorers enters a newly discovered wormhole as Earth edges toward collapse. Their mission to find a future for humanity becomes a story about distance, time, and what family can survive.
XCOM 2
by Greg Keyes
2015
Earth's governments unite to form XCOM, an elite force built to resist a superior alien enemy. This tie in novel turns the series' tactical war into a tense story about strategy, sacrifice, and survival.
Crucible
by Greg Keyes
2016
After the first alien war, Earth rebuilds using captured technology and prepares for the enemy's return. This official prequel turns the gap between films into a story about defense, memory, and the next generation.
War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations
by Greg Keyes
2017
After Koba's revolt, Caesar tries to hold his people together while Colonel McCullough's forces close in. Blue Eyes heads south in search of refuge, even as division spreads among the apes.
The Reign of the Departed
by Greg Keyes
2018
After a desperate act goes terribly sideways, Errol wakes trapped inside a magical construct in another world. What begins as personal crisis turns into a dark portal fantasy about curses, friendship, and purpose.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - The Official Movie Novelization
by Greg Keyes
2019
Monarch faces a surge of ancient Titans, including Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. As the monsters battle for dominance, humanity is left scrambling to survive the fallout.
Kingdoms of the Cursed
by Greg Keyes
2019
Errol is back in his own body, and stuck in a mental hospital, until events drag him into the cursed Kingdoms again. Aster and Veronica race after him as war, dragons, and the deeper source of the Curse close in.
Godzilla vs. Kong: The Official Movie Novelization
by Greg Keyes
2021
Godzilla and Kong collide while a human team ventures into the Hollow Earth looking for answers about the Titans. The novel adds extra lore, conspiracy, and character perspective to the giant scale showdown.
GvK Godzilla Dominion
by Greg Keyes
2021
Set after Godzilla: King of the Monsters, this story follows Godzilla as he patrols a world newly crowded with Titans. Told from his point of view, it explores ancient rivalries, new threats, and the road toward Kong.
Realms of the Deathless
by Greg Keyes
2021
Aster follows a clue left by her dead father into the farthest reaches of the Kingdoms, where the Curse is unraveling reality itself. As the sun fades and old evils stir, her friends face battles that are both cosmic and painfully personal.
The Basilisk Throne
by Greg Keyes
2023
Human empires launch a final assault on the inhuman Drehhu, but politics may prove deadlier than open war. Chrysanthe, Hound, Ammolite, and the Nevelons are pulled into a larger battle for empire and survival.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire - The Official Movie Novelization
by Greg Keyes
2024
Kong and Godzilla face a hidden new threat tied to Hollow Earth and the oldest Titan wars. The novel expands the film's action with extra lore, history, and alternate points of view.
The Wind that Sweeps the Stars
by Greg Keyes
2024
Yash of Zeltah arrives in Honaq as a political bride, but she is really an assassin on a near impossible mission. To save her people, she must strike at plagues, monsters, and an immortal emperor.
The Monarch Files
by Greg Keyes
2026
A classified style MonsterVerse guide packed with Titan profiles, Monarch lore, and worldbuilding detail. It is less a single story than a deep dive into the creatures, history, and hidden files of the franchise.
Where should I start?
If you want epic fantasy first: The Briar King → The Charnel Prince → The Blood Knight → The Born Queen
If you like alternate history and alchemy: Newton's Cannon → A Calculus of Angels → Empire of Unreason → The Shadows of God
If you want mythic, stranger fantasy: The Waterborn → Blackgod
If you want newer secondary-world fantasy: The Basilisk Throne → The Wind that Sweeps the Stars
If you want franchise tie-ins: The Infernal City → Lord of Souls
Author bio
Greg Keyes was born John Gregory Keyes in Meridian, Mississippi, on April 11, 1963. He grew up in a family of storytellers, and he also spent part of his early life in Arizona after his father took a job on the Navajo reservation. Those two landscapes, the woods of Mississippi and the red rock Southwest, left a clear mark on the worlds he would later build.
He studied anthropology at Mississippi State University and then at the University of Georgia. That background matters when you read him. His books usually feel lived in from the ground up, with religions, languages, customs, and old grudges that seem to have been there long before the first chapter.
He did not come to fiction by accident.
While working toward a PhD, he began writing the novels that became The Waterborn and Blackgod. Those early books already showed the shape of his career: multiple points of view, cultures that feel specific rather than generic, and fantasy that treats myth as something dangerous, practical, and close at hand.
A lot of readers first know him for Newton's Cannon and the rest of the Age of Unreason books, where Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, and European power politics collide in an alternate history ruled by alchemy. Others start with The Briar King, the opening novel in Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, which mixes court intrigue, old prophecy, monsters, and a big cast of travelers, priests, queens, and fighters.
He likes big canvases.
That range is part of what makes his bibliography fun to browse. Alongside his own fantasy and science fiction, Keyes has written official novels for worlds like Star Wars, Babylon 5, The Elder Scrolls, Planet of the Apes, XCOM, and the MonsterVerse. His Age of Unreason books won Le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire, and his Star Wars novels became New York Times bestsellers, but the more useful thing to know is that he brings the same curiosity to all of it.
Even when the setting is huge, he keeps circling back to people under pressure: a young heir trying to understand her power, a spy caught between loyalties, a scholar facing the limits of reason, a soldier learning what survival really costs. His fiction often cares as much about belief, memory, ecology, and language as it does about battles.
Outside writing, he has also been open about two other long interests, fencing and cooking. That fits his books more than you might expect. They tend to notice the physical world, how a blade moves, what people eat, how a city smells, how ritual turns into habit.
He lives in Savannah, Georgia. Decades into his career, he still moves easily between original fiction and franchise work, which makes following him especially rewarding. You can jump from The Infernal City to Godzilla vs. Kong to The Basilisk Throne and still recognize the same writer asking how worlds are built, how they break, and what people do when history starts moving too fast.
Edited by
Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.
Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.





















































Comments
Did we miss something? Have feedback?
Help us improve this page by sharing your thoughts