Jade Ihara Adventure Books in Order

Jade Ihara first enters David Wood's world as an archaeologist in the Dane Maddock books, but her own series proves quickly that she is not there just to support someone else's adventure. These novels give her the lead and let the stories lean more heavily into archaeology, secret societies, strange science, and questions that cannot be solved by brute force alone.

Jade earns the spotlight.

In Oracle, she uncovers impossible spheres beneath Teotihuacan and finds herself chasing the secret of future-seeing artifacts across the globe. Changeling sharpens the paranoia, with enemies who are hard to identify and loyalties that do not stay still. Exile widens the political and cultic stakes even further, trapping Jade between factions that want to use her as a symbol, a tool, or both.

The books still move quickly, but the tone is a little different from the Dane-centered adventures. Jade is an intellectual protagonist as much as an action one. She can handle danger, but she also approaches mystery through evidence, interpretation, and stubborn curiosity. That shifts the flavor from punch-first adventure to puzzle-driven thriller, even when the chase scenes kick in.

Pete Chapman, the Professor, helps anchor that difference. His presence reinforces the sense that these stories belong to the archaeology side of Wood's universe, the place where research and old knowledge matter just as much as nerve.

There is also a nice crossover appeal here. Readers who like Lara Croft style setups, ancient mechanisms, prophetic devices, and women who stay upright while the whole world gets weird around them should find plenty to enjoy.

Jade's series does not abandon the action-adventure roots of the larger universe. It just filters them through a sharper, more research-heavy lens, and the result feels fresh without breaking away from the world that introduced her.