Laura Sebastian Books in Order

Laura Sebastian grew up in South Florida and attended Savannah College of Art and Design. She writes fantasy for several age groups, from teen court intrigue to adult Arthurian fiction and middle-grade adventure. She now lives and writes in London with her dogs, Neville and Circe.

Books were part of her life early on. As a teenager, Sebastian went looking through her school library for a story that matched what she wanted to read, came up short, and decided to try writing one herself. Her early work included fan fiction, original stories, and plays, including a play that was published.

It took time to reach a bookstore shelf.

Sebastian completed several novels before she sold one. She has said that Ash Princess was her tenth completed book, after years of drafting, querying, revising, and learning how to make a story work. That long stretch shows in the practical way she talks about writing: finish the draft, get feedback, then rewrite.

Ash Princess, published in 2018, introduced Theodosia, the heir to a conquered kingdom who has spent years surviving as a prisoner in her own palace. The book launched the Ash Princess Trilogy, followed by Lady Smoke and Ember Queen. These novels combine rebellion, palace politics, difficult alliances, magic, and a heroine who has to decide what kind of ruler she wants to become.

Sebastian often begins with character rather than a map or a magic system. She builds outward from the questions around a person: what made them this way, what do they fear, and how might they change the world around them? That approach carries into the Castles in Their Bones trilogy, where triplet princesses are sent into rival courts as part of their mother's plan for conquest.

Her work also moves beyond YA fantasy. Half Sick of Shadows is an adult reworking of Arthurian legend told through Elaine of Shalott, with friendship, prophecy, and the pressure of knowing what the future may bring. In Into the Glades, her middle-grade debut, four children cross a magical swampland while grieving a death and trying to lift a curse.

The settings may change, but Sebastian returns to people boxed in by power, family expectations, and old stories about who they are supposed to be.

Away from the page, she has mentioned enjoying cooking, gardening, and time with her dogs. Her bibliography keeps growing, including the forthcoming Lack and Luster series, which brings con artists, class divisions, magic, and second chances into a Gilded Age-inspired fantasy world.