Runestone Saga Books in Order

The Runestone Saga is a two-book fantasy set after Ragnarok, which immediately gives it a different feel from most Norse inspired series. The gods' war is already over. What is left behind is the Midlands, a hard, dangerous world full of refugees from the nine worlds, scattered magic, and people trying to live in the wreckage. Chima leans into longships, runes, and old myth, but the series is really driven by the people caught in that aftermath.

One of the main leads is Eiric Halvorsen, introduced in Children of Ragnarok. Eiric comes from a family that has managed to stay relatively prosperous, but his life blows apart when he is wrongly convicted of murdering his mother and stepfather. His half-sister Liv is in danger too, because her interest in seidr, or magic, makes her suspect. A powerful jarl offers Eiric a way out, but only if he leads a mission to the Temple at the Grove, home of the wyrdspinners.

The other major thread belongs to Reginn Eiklund, a spellsinger, musician, and runecaster who has spent her life under the control of Asger, a fire demon she desperately wants to escape. When two wyrdspinners offer her training and freedom at the Temple, it looks like a way out. Of course, in a Cinda Williams Chima series, the safe-looking choice rarely stays safe for long. Reginn, Eiric, and Liv all converge in New Jotunheim, where the magic is real, the beauty is deceptive, and old grudges are still very much alive.

The world is packed with trouble.

Across the duology, the series pulls in demons, dragur, jotun, island politics, blood feuds, and the unsettling idea that the characters may be pieces in someone else's game. Bane of Asgard makes that even clearer. War threatens the Archipelago, Liv becomes tied to a scheme to raise a dangerous goddess, and Reginn is pushed toward the boundary between the living and the dead in search of knowledge that could change everything. The plot has the sweep of epic fantasy, but it stays anchored in questions of trust, family loyalty, and whether freedom is possible when powerful forces keep naming your role for you.

The tone is rough-edged and adventurous. There are sword fights and axe fights, but also music, romance, bargains, and a lot of sharp political maneuvering. Chima uses Norse terms and mythology, yet the books never feel like homework. The characters do a lot of the explaining through what they want and what they fear, which keeps the story moving.

Since this is a duology, it is best read straight through, Children of Ragnarok and then Bane of Asgard. If you want Chima's take on Viking-age atmosphere, magic that feels costly, and a world still trying to survive after the end of the old order, this series is the one to reach for.