The Books of Barakhai Books in Order

The Books of Barakhai is a two-book fantasy series about an ordinary man dropped into a place where magic has changed daily life in a very literal way. It starts with a gateway between worlds and quickly becomes a story about identity, responsibility, and what it means to belong somewhere strange.

Benton Collins, usually called Ben, is a graduate student when he enters Barakhai. He is not a chosen warrior arriving with a perfect plan. He is a visitor trying to understand a realm whose people transform into animals every day, whether they want to or not. That involuntary shapeshifting is not just a colorful detail. It affects family life, safety, social roles, and the way people see themselves.

The royal family is an exception to the magical change that affects everyone else, which gives the setting an immediate political edge. Ben arrives as an outsider, but he becomes tied to people whose problems are no longer distant or abstract. The first novel, The Beasts of Barakhai, focuses on discovery: how the realm works, whom Ben can trust, and how a person from Earth might survive when the local rules make very little sense.

The story keeps its footing in character relationships. Barakhai can be dangerous, but Reichert also makes room for the awkwardness of being new somewhere, the relief of finding allies, and the worry of leaving people behind. Ben's lack of magical experience helps the reader enter the world without a giant wall of lore.

In The Lost Dragons of Barakhai, Ben has returned to his own world and believes the adventure is over. It is not. Friends in Barakhai need him again, and he must go back to join their desperate search. The sequel shifts from introduction to commitment, asking whether Ben can walk away from a place that has become important to him.

Expect accessible portal fantasy with a strong shapeshifter premise, magical politics, and a protagonist who has to learn by doing. The books are much more interested in the everyday effects of enchantment than in treating magic as a shortcut around consequences.

Begin with The Beasts of Barakhai. It establishes Ben, the gateway, and the unusual rules of Barakhai before the second book raises the stakes for the friends he has made there.