Imager Portfolio Books in Order
Part ofLE Modesitt Jr Books in OrderThis page shows the Imager Portfolio books in order by L.E. Modesitt, Jr., with summaries, series background, and guidance on where to start.
Last updated: July 9, 2026
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Publication Order
12 books
Imager
by LE Modesitt Jr
2009
Rhennthyl is on track to become a master artist until a flash fire reveals he is one of the rare imagers. Forced into the Collegium, he enters a world where every lesson comes with danger.
Imager's Challenge
by LE Modesitt Jr
2009
Recovering from the first book's violence, Rhenn becomes liaison to the Civic Patrol and lands in the city's roughest district. Gang lords, politics, and a powerful enemy quickly close in on him.
Imager's Intrigue
by LE Modesitt Jr
2010
Five years into Civic Patrol service, Rhennthyl is hit with bombings, drugs, class conflict, and consequences from earlier choices. Keeping order in L'Excelsis may be harder than learning image magic.
Scholar
by LE Modesitt Jr
2011
Trying to escape poisonous court politics, Quaeryt accepts a mission to rebellious Tilbor and finds even worse trouble waiting. Pirates, intrigue, and local revolt pull him deeper into Bhayar's plans.
Princeps
by LE Modesitt Jr
2012
Newly made governor after a volcanic disaster, Quaeryt and Vaelora must restore order in a shattered city fast. Corruption, chaos, and an opportunistic neighbor leave little time to breathe.
Antiagon Fire
by LE Modesitt Jr
2013
Quaeryt leads soldiers and a few imagers through contested lands, sea attacks, and political resistance after his battlefield promotion. Even with Vaelora beside him, conquest proves far messier than strategy.
Imager's Battalion
by LE Modesitt Jr
2013
Ordered to lead the first imager fighting force in history, Quaeryt marches into war against Bovaria. He wants victory, but also proof that imagers can be more than feared weapons.
Rex Regis
by LE Modesitt Jr
2014
Quaeryt's long campaign to help unify Lydar nears its end, but treason may undo everything first. As Khel hesitates and enemies maneuver, he is pushed toward a decisive confrontation.
Madness in Solidar
by LE Modesitt Jr
2015
Elevated to Maitre at the worst possible moment, Alastar faces a realm where the rex, High Holders, and army all want the imagers on their side. He must rebuild a weakened Collegium while keeping it alive.
Treachery's Tools
by LE Modesitt Jr
2016
Years into his rule as Maitre, Alastar wants to strengthen the Collegium, not manage another national crisis. Murders, bad harvests, and a High Holder conspiracy drag him back into Solidar's politics.
Assassin's Price
by LE Modesitt Jr
2017
Prince Charyn wants to learn how rule really works, but privateers, threats against his family, and palace violence cut short any innocence. Every lesson comes with a body count.
Endgames
by LE Modesitt Jr
2019
Charyn survives assassination only to inherit a realm sliding toward riot, war, and religious conflict. To save Solidar, he must grow into rule before old powers seize the moment.
Series background & context
The Imager Portfolio is built around one clean idea. A small number of people can imagine something so clearly that it becomes real. That gift makes imagers powerful, feared, and tightly controlled, which is why so much of the series turns on institutions, not just spells.
Most of the books take place in Solidar and around the Collegium, the island community where imagers are trained and protected. The first four novels, beginning with Imager, follow Rhennthyl, a young artist whose life changes the moment he discovers what he is. Those books mix city mystery, policing, class tension, and political maneuvering in L'Excelsis, and they are often the easiest entry point for new readers.
The middle group shifts centuries into the past and follows Quaeryt, first in Scholar and then through Princeps, Imager's Battalion, Antiagon Fire, and Rex Regis. This arc is more overtly military and political. Quaeryt is a scholar, advisor, governor, and officer at different moments, and the books show how imagers move from feared specialists to a force that can reshape kingdoms.
The last stretch returns to a later Solidar with Madness in Solidar, Treachery's Tools, Assassin's Price, and Endgames. Here the focus falls on Maitre Alastar and on Charyn, a young ruler trying to keep a strained kingdom from breaking apart. These books lean even harder into governance, factional struggle, economics, and the problem of using power without losing control of it.
What ties the whole series together is tone. The magic is striking, but the books are really about judgment, restraint, and competence under pressure. Readers who like fantasy with politics, working institutions, military campaigns, and protagonists who solve problems by thinking first usually do very well here.
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