Order of Darkness Books in Order

Order of Darkness is a young adult series set in the mid 15th century, when rumours of plague, war and strange phenomena lead many people to believe that the end of the world is near. The books follow a small travelling band who are officially meant to investigate signs of evil but gradually begin to question what they are really serving.

The story starts in Changeling, with seventeen year old novice Luca Vero expelled from his monastery for heresy and recruited into a secret church order. His task is to examine cases of alleged witchcraft and supernatural events to see whether they are truly demonic. His first mission takes him to a remote nunnery where another teenager, Isolde of Lucretili, has been shut away so she cannot inherit her father’s lands. When the nuns begin fainting, sleepwalking and bearing mysterious wounds, Luca and Isolde must decide whether to blame the devil, human cruelty or something in between.

In Stormbringers the group – Luca, Isolde, her companion Ishraq and Luca’s servant Freize – reach a coastal town gripped by excitement around a child prophet leading a march of children to the Holy Land. When the sea appears to part and then a devastating wave strikes, Isolde and Ishraq are labelled “stormbringers” and accused of causing the disaster, forcing Luca to confront both mass hysteria and his own feelings for his companions.

Fools’ Gold sends them to Venice to investigate a counterfeiting scheme that may involve attempts to create the Philosopher’s Stone, a substance said to turn base metals into gold and grant eternal life. Here religious anxiety meets financial greed, and the line between true alchemy and clever fraud is dangerously thin.

In Dark Tracks they arrive in an Austrian village where people are seized by a compulsive, deadly dance. As they search for the cause of the “dancing sickness” and try to save Isolde from it, they also witness rising hatred against a nearby Jewish community, making clear that human fear can be more deadly than any curse.

Across the series the tone mixes eerie legend with grounded detail from late medieval Europe. Readers who like quests, slow burn friendships and stories that sit between history and fantasy will find plenty to enjoy.