Kate Stradling Books in Order
This guide to Kate Stradling books puts her fantasy novels in order, with summaries, series background, and easy suggestions for where to start.
Last updated: July 14, 2026
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Kate Stradling books in publication order
16 books
A Boy Called Hawk
by Kate Stradling
2010
Ten-year-old Oliver Dunn is sent to retrieve four gifted siblings who flee a government institute. With handler Emily beside him, Oliver finds the West children are not running away on a whim, and they will not be easily caught.
Kingdom of Ruses
by Kate Stradling
2012
Viola Moreland's family has invented Lenore's legendary Eternal Prince for generations. When a stranger steals the role, Viola must serve the impostor or expose the lie, even as he may be the kingdom's only defense against disaster.
Goldmayne
by Kate Stradling
2013
Duncan runs from his father's farm and tumbles into a fairy tale he does not believe in. Hired by an alarming old woman, he must tend a poisonous garden, mistreat a white horse, and avoid a locked closet.
Tournament of Ruses
by Kate Stradling
2014
Flora Dalton wants a quiet country life, not city society and a contest to become the Eternal Prince's consort. As she faces scheming rivals, ominous shadows begin to gather around her and Lenore's public celebration turns dangerous.
The Legendary Inge
by Kate Stradling
2015
After accidentally killing a monster, Ingrid Norling is adopted by King Halvard and named his heir. Trapped in a dangerous court full of secrets, Inge must survive royal schemes while learning the beast in the woods was only the beginning.
Namesake
by Kate Stradling
2017
Eighteen-year-old Anjeni Sigourna has a goddess's name but none of the magic people expect from her. Thrown through the Eternity Gate into another realm, she must become the legend she has spent her life resisting.
Brine and Bone
by Kate Stradling
2018
Magdalena loves Prince Finnian but hides it behind a sharp exterior and life at a seminary. When he returns from the sea alive, the creature that spared him demands a price that could pull Magdalena back into deadly court intrigue.
A Rumor of Real Irish Tea
by Kate Stradling
2019
Disgraced Oliver and his handler Emily are sent to Prometheus Institute's F Campus, while the escaped West siblings hunt for Altair. When a military general targets the children, Oliver must outsmart them and repair his damaged reputation.
Oliver Invictus
by Kate Stradling
2019
Oliver Dunn is headed for a secret Prometheus campus where anomalies vanish, until a student revolt throws the school into chaos. Officials need his help finding a rogue projector, but their leverage is Emily, the person he most wants to protect.
Soot and Slipper
by Kate Stradling
2019
Eugenie wants to attend Jacondria's royal masquerades, but refuses to hurt her stepsisters' hopes of finding wealthy husbands. Then a mischievous fairy intervenes, turning a few secret hours of dancing into a much riskier adventure.
Guardian of Ruses
by Kate Stradling
2021
Rosia Domitius crosses into Lenore as a fledgling assassin, ordered to kill its mysterious Eternal Prince. A seemingly harmless young man and the forest's magic challenge everything she believes about her fading empire and its true enemy.
The Heir and the Spare
by Kate Stradling
2021
Iona of Wessett expects a proposed royal marriage to free her from her cruel sister and pair her with an old bully. But Jaoven has changed after war, and a mismatched alliance may decide the fate of two kingdoms.
Maid and Minstrel
by Kate Stradling
2022
Rosalind expects her eighteenth birthday to bring a glittering celebration and a chance to see the king she admires. Instead, her father auctions her as a bride, then orders her to marry a beggar after she ruins the sale.
Deathmark
by Kate Stradling
2023
The deathmark plague took Nell's family and left her bound to a life of service. Accused of carrying the curse, she flees with an old hag and seeks help from a reclusive man who knows unsettling truths about the disease.
The Beggar Prince
by Kate Stradling
2023
Thorben visits Elisia hoping its famously cutting princess will reject him as a suitor. After a storm leaves him disguised as a beggar and married to Leonie, he must lead her home without revealing his identity or losing his heart.
Yes, Your Serpentine Excellency
by Kate Stradling
2026
Joanna follows a thief into a gambling den to reclaim a family heirloom, then accidentally lands in a dragon's conservatory. When the smooth-talking dragon follows her home, he brings an heiress, a crime lord, and royal trouble.
Where to start with Kate Stradling
For a dystopian adventure: A Boy Called Hawk → A Rumor of Real Irish Tea → Oliver Invictus
For magical court intrigue: Kingdom of Ruses → Tournament of Ruses → Guardian of Ruses
For fairy-tale retellings: Brine and Bone → Soot and Slipper → Maid and Minstrel
For a standalone fantasy quest: Goldmayne → The Legendary Inge → Namesake
Kate Stradling sub-series and character series
Annals of Altair books in order
Explore this seriesRuses books in order
Explore this seriesKate Stradling collections, short stories, and related book types
Standalone Kate Stradling books

Goldmayne
by Kate Stradling
2013
The Legendary Inge
by Kate Stradling
2015
Namesake
by Kate Stradling
2017
Brine and Bone
by Kate Stradling
2018
Soot and Slipper
by Kate Stradling
2019
The Heir and the Spare
by Kate Stradling
2021
Deathmark
by Kate Stradling
2023
The Beggar Prince
by Kate Stradling
2023
Yes, Your Serpentine Excellency
by Kate Stradling
2026
Author bio
Kate Stradling is a fantasy writer based in Mesa, Arizona, whose books range from fairy-tale retellings and dystopian adventures to portal fantasy and romantic fantasy. Her stories often put ordinary, reluctant, or overlooked people in the middle of magical trouble.
The idea of becoming a writer started early. As a sophomore, Stradling told an English teacher that she planned to write, while privately working on the first novel of an epic fantasy trilogy. The teacher's skepticism about fantasy only gave the moment extra staying power.
For years, though, writing was something she kept to herself. She has said that she did not admit to writing until about a decade later, when she finally told three siblings and a cousin in her parents' basement. It took another five years to finish that first novel.
She later chose the independent publishing route and began building a catalog that follows her curiosity rather than one narrow formula. The early planned trilogy remains unfinished, but the work led her toward the varied fantasy settings and character problems that have become central to her books.
Stradling's standalone novels show that range clearly. Goldmayne sends a farm boy into a strange, old-fashioned fairy tale. The Legendary Inge follows an accidental monster-slayer trapped in a royal court. In Namesake, a sarcastic young woman is pushed from a modern world into a realm where magic is the difference between survival and disaster.
Her fairy-tale novellas take familiar stories and look at the people around the edges. Brine and Bone reworks The Little Mermaid through the point of view of the prince's other love, while Soot and Slipper uses royal masquerades and a meddling fairy to reshape Cinderella. Maid and Minstrel and The Beggar Prince both draw from the King Thrushbeard tale.
She also writes longer connected adventures. The Annals of Altair books follow young people caught in a controlling future government, while the Ruses novels explore the magic, politics, old secrets, and forest creatures of Lenore.
Across her work, readers can expect sharp-tongued protagonists, complicated loyalties, magical rules with real consequences, and danger that often arrives with a dry sense of humor. Stradling has described fantasy as a flexible home for themes, characters, magic, and mayhem, and her bibliography makes a good case for that idea.
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