Morningstar (BB Griffith) Books in Order

Morningstar is a much smaller and more openly fantastical branch of Griffith's work. Co-written with Becca Higgins, it steps away from his Baltimore cases and near-future gunfights and moves into a fairy-led forest story. The series begins with The Voice and the Pendant and continues in Trial by Fire, so it works best if you think of it as one compact arc rather than a long saga.

The setting is Willow Wood, a forest shepherded by fairies and alive with magic.

That setting gives the series its appeal. Instead of grim city streets or secret global competitions, the pressure here comes from a magical place that feels old, enclosed, and vulnerable all at once. Willow Wood is not just pretty background scenery. It is the thing under threat. The central problem, as the first book frames it, is that a darkness is gathering for the first time in many generations, and the danger reaches beyond one character to the whole forest and everyone living in it.

Silla is the young fairy at the heart of that opening story. Her role gives the series a simple but sturdy emotional center: home is in trouble, and growing stronger becomes a matter of survival. That makes Morningstar feel more like a classic fantasy quest of courage and self-discovery than a twist-heavy thriller. The stakes are still real, but the focus is more on bravery, atmosphere, and protecting a magical world.

It is a smaller story, on purpose.

Both books are brief, so the series moves quickly. You are not here for sprawling court politics or a giant cast. You are here for enchanted woods, fairy characters, a gathering darkness, and a heroine learning how much strength she has when her world is under pressure. Trial by Fire follows the opening book rather than resetting everything, which is another reason to read the pair in order.

If you are coming to Griffith from Follow the Crow or The Sleepwalkers, Morningstar may surprise you. It is gentler in setup, more straightforward in its fantasy framework, and built around wonder as much as danger. But the overlap is still easy to see. Griffith is once again interested in hidden forces, threatened communities, and characters who have to face the strange head-on. Start with The Voice and the Pendant, then go straight to Trial by Fire.