The Chronicles of William Wilde Books in Order

The Chronicles of William Wilde opens in a version of the late 1980s that feels familiar at first. William is a teenager dealing with grief, school, and the awkward rhythms of ordinary life after losing his family in what he thinks was a car accident. Then Serena Paradiso walks into his world, secrets start surfacing, and the ordinary part ends fast.

That shift is the heart of the series.

The first book, William Wilde and the Necrosed, has a young adult shape on purpose. William is still in high school, his friend group matters, and the early chapters lean into school life, first trust, and the uneasy thrill of discovering that magic is real. But Ashura uses that familiar entry point to set up something much bigger. William is not just another kid who stumbles into hidden power. He is being watched, hunted, and measured by forces tied to an ancient conflict.

As the series grows, so does its world. Earth, or the Far Beyond, is only one part of the map. Arylyn becomes crucial, a hidden island of beauty, memory, and old magic. So does Sinskrill, which offers a much harsher mirror image, built on fear, control, and cruelty. Those settings matter because they shape the whole emotional pull of the books. Arylyn feels like sanctuary, even when it is fraying at the edges. Sinskrill feels like captivity, old trauma, and the kind of place that leaves scars long after someone escapes it.

William himself is easy to root for because he does not arrive fully formed. He starts hurt, confused, and often out of his depth. His friendships with people like Daniel, Jason, Lien, and later Jake help ground the story even when the stakes turn mythic. Serena is just as important. She is one of the series' most complicated figures, because her loyalties, wounds, and secrets keep pressing against the question of whether love and trust can survive a world built on manipulation.

And the books do get mythic.

What begins as hidden-magic adventure opens into war stretching back thousands of years, with undead horrors, ancient rulers, trolls, island societies, resurrected history, and a growing threat from Lord Shet and the Servitor. By the later novels, William is no longer just trying to understand what he is. He is trying to stop a catastrophe that could consume both the people he loves and the fragile peace of entire worlds.

This makes the series a nice bridge inside Ashura's larger body of work. It begins with the quickest, most accessible hook, then gradually becomes full epic fantasy. If you like stories that start personal and keep widening, without losing their emotional center, William Wilde is a very good bet.