Riftwar: The World On The Other Side Books in Order

Riftwar: The World On The Other Side is another name for the Empire Trilogy, the set of novels that retell the era of the first Riftwar from the Kelewan side. Instead of battlefields in Midkemia, these books delve into the courtyards, council chambers and hidden assassin halls of the Tsurani Empire.

The central figure is Mara of the Acoma, a young woman yanked from a near‑cloistered life and told, in a single devastating moment, that her father and brother are dead. As Ruling Lady of a weakened House, she faces annihilation under the unwritten but very real rules of the Game of the Council, where nobles wage war with contracts, marriages and honor duels as much as with soldiers.

In Daughter of the Empire, Mara scrambles to keep House Acoma alive, using loopholes in tradition, alliances with disgraced warriors and a risky partnership with an insectoid cho‑ja hive. Nothing is simple: every clever move wins her ground but also enrages enemies who feel the very order of Tsurani society is under attack.

Servant of the Empire finds her more secure yet no less threatened. Mara is now a major player, balancing old allies, a growing family and the dangerous affection she develops for Kevin, a captured Midkemian noble. Through his eyes, she sees the Empire’s cruelty and blind spots more clearly, which pushes her toward reforms that make her even more of a target.

By Mistress of the Empire, Mara’s personal story and the fate of Kelewan are tightly bound together. Assassins from the Hamoi Tong, rival Houses and the powerful Assembly of Magicians all converge on her. To survive, she has to reach beyond the Empire’s borders, strike new bargains with the cho‑ja, and challenge institutions that have stood for centuries.

Unlike the more battlefield‑driven Midkemian sagas, this trilogy lives on strategy, negotiation and the emotional cost of power. Victory often means accepting outcomes that would have horrified the younger Mara of the opening chapters. The magic is present—Black Robes, alien species, gods who occasionally brush against mortal affairs—but it rarely solves problems cleanly.

For readers, the “world on the other side” offers a grounded, character‑driven counterpoint to the classic war story told in the original Riftwar books. You see some of the same events and names from a completely different angle, and by the end it’s hard not to feel that the larger saga would be incomplete without Mara’s part of it.

This series page is here to situate those books in the overall chronology, explain their themes and stakes, and help you decide when to weave them into a full Riftwar reread.