Once upon a time, Hunter Healer King was a simple trilogy. It told the story of a cowgirl with a knife and a doctor with a gun and a royal destiny. They hunted monsters together, and fell in love. Then, I got interested in telling the story of the doctor’s parents, and that became my upcoming release, Phantom Queen. If you’re new to the series, here’s the order I’d read it in:
- Wolf’s Trail: Chloe frees the wrong man, and gets turned into a werewolf for her pains. Maxim turns out to be the only doctor who can cure her.
- Undead Flight: Maxim is to be crowned aboard an airship. A monster is lurking somewhere aboard, and Chloe must help him destroy it in between coming to terms with her feelings for him.
- Dragon’s Teeth: Chloe’s marriage to Maxim may be doomed before it begins. That won’t stop them from facing down a killer in the city, and a dragon flying over it.
- Phantom Queen: Eighty years earlier, Maxim’s father drills into a dying kingdom and meets the woman who will become Maxim’s mother. Out November 16.
That’s publication order, and it’s also the order I’d choose.
The books connect. Each has its own monster-hunting case, but the romance and the kingship carry through all three, and Dragon’s Teeth opens with the aftermath of Undead Flight. Starting with book two might theoretically work, but you’ll be a little behind, and it’s more fun to start at the start.
Why Phantom Queen goes last. It takes place eighty years before Wolf’s Trail, so I understand why a numbering system might put it first. I decided against that for a practical reason. The book can be read on its own, without reference to the first three. But personally, I feel like it’s a richer, more interesting experience for people who already know the world and care about Maxim and his family.
There’s also a plainer reason. Some of the characters you meet in Phantom Queen are people you’ll already know from the trilogy, and you’ll read their scenes differently when you know what’s coming. It’s a better book read fourth, and that’s the order I wrote it for.
If you’ve already read the trilogy, you’re set. Phantom Queen is a story you can pick right away, and you’ll get the most out of it.
Heat level and tone: All four books are dual POV gaslamp fantasy with monster hunting, a slow-burn romance and an unlikely king. No explicit content.
Where to start today: If you’re new to the series, Wolf’s Trail is where you would want to begin. Read it and the other two books today, so you can be ready for the arrival of…the Phantom Queen!