The Cloven Books in Order

The Cloven begins with James "Tuck" Tucker, a young man who wants the same basic things many young people want: room to breathe, a chance to pass as normal, maybe even a little love. The problem is that Tuck was created in secret and has goat hooves. He is the most successful genetically modified human organism ever produced, which makes normal life hard to hold onto for long.

Tuck is not trying to become special. He is trying to stay alive.

The series is set in the Pacific Northwest, and that choice really matters. Seattle, Vashon Island, wooded back roads, fringe communities, and damp urban corners give the books a mood that is part conspiracy thriller and part modern folktale. Matthew Southworth's art leans into that atmosphere, so the world feels rainy, shadowy, and a little off even before the plot turns wild.

On one level, these books are fast science fiction. There are labs, money, cover-ups, and people who see the Cloven as a breakthrough, a weapon, a business opportunity, or a problem to erase. On another level, this is a coming-of-age story about someone whose body makes other people decide what he is before he gets to speak for himself. The books keep asking who gets called natural, who gets called monstrous, and who has the power to make that call.

Tuck's search for safety is what drives the action, but he is not the only person carrying the series. The story opens outward to include reporters, scientists, insiders, and drifters, especially Jake Arthur, whose digging starts to uncover just how deep the Cloven story goes. By the time you reach The Cloven: Book Two, the plot has widened into secret histories, armed pursuit, and a strange network of elite people who want access to the truth without having to answer for it.

The books also have a social streak running under the surface. They are interested in outsider life, in what powerful institutions hide, and in how easily vulnerable people can become targets when money, fear, and bad science get mixed together. Even the weirder turns of the series tend to circle back to control: who owns a life, who tells the story, and who gets sacrificed when an experiment becomes inconvenient.

It gets stranger on purpose, but it never forgets the human cost.

That balance is what makes the series work. The Cloven can be dark, funny, paranoid, sad, and absurd, sometimes all on the same page. It has chase scenes and big ideas, but Stein does not treat Tuck like a gimmick or a joke. Beneath the mutant premise is a lonely kid trying to understand where he came from and whether there is any place that will let him stay. If you like graphic novels that mix action with identity, satire, and real emotional pressure, this series has plenty to chew on.