Nine doorstopper novels (a tenth on the way), a stack of novellas, a prequel series, a sequel series, and one shared universe called Solaria - the Zodiac Academy reading order is genuinely confusing, and it's about to get worse in the best way: book 10 arrives this October as a literal advent calendar, with 24 sealed chapters you tear open one day at a time. Here's the whole universe untangled - every book in order, which novellas earn their page count, and where the spinoffs slot in.
The quick list: Zodiac Academy books in order
The main series is one continuous story - read it in publication order, no exceptions:
- The Awakening (2019)
- Ruthless Fae (2019)
- The Reckoning (2020)
- Shadow Princess (2020)
- Cursed Fates (2020)
- Fated Throne (2020)
- Heartless Sky (2021)
- Sorrow and Starlight (2022)
- Restless Stars (2024)
- On the Cursed Day of Christmas (October 13, 2026)
That's the spine. Everything else - novellas, prequels, sequels - hangs off it.
Do you need the novellas?
No novella is required to follow the plot, but two of them are genuinely worth the detour:
- The Awakening as Told by the Boys is book one retold from the Heirs' point of view - and the fandom's favorite piece of bonus content. It spoils later reveals, so read it after Fated Throne (book 6), not alongside book one.
- Beyond the Veil (8.5) sits between Sorrow and Starlight and Restless Stars. If book 8 wrecked you - it wrecked everyone - this is the recovery chapter. Read it in sequence.
- The Big A.S.S. Party (5.5) is a low-stakes party novella between books 5 and 6. Fun, skippable.
- Origins of an Academy Bully is a short prequel best saved for after you finish the series - it plays differently once you know who these people become.
- Live and Let Lionel is pure bonus material for finishers.
Fast path: the ten numbered books straight down. Completionist path: slot the novellas in at 5.5, 6+, and 8.5 as above.
What is Zodiac Academy actually about?
Spoiler-light: twin sisters Tory and Darcy Vega grow up mortal, then get dragged into a fae academy in a kingdom that considers their bloodline a threat - and the four Heirs of Solaria, the academy's untouchable elite, are assigned to break them. What starts as open warfare curdles into something much more complicated, which is why this series is BookTok's favorite gateway into bully romance and one of the longest enemies to lovers arcs in romantasy. Fair warning the fandom gives every new reader: the Heirs are genuinely awful for a long stretch - this is morally grey played for keeps, and the groveling, when it comes, is the payoff.
Where does book 10 fit?
After Restless Stars, in December, one chapter a day. On the Cursed Day of Christmas lands October 13, 2026 as a holiday-shaped return to Solaria: 24 chapters sealed behind perforated pages, designed to be opened advent-calendar style through Christmas. Nobody is expecting readers to actually wait a day between chapters. Everybody will pretend to try.
The spinoffs: Ruthless Boys and Darkmore Penitentiary
Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac (Dark Fae, Savage Fae, Vicious Fae, Broken Fae, Warrior Fae) is a five-book prequel set about five years before the twins arrive - a vampire girl undercover at a rougher academy, four dangerous shifter boys, one murder to solve. It's also the universe's why choose series, where the main saga is not. You can read it before or after the main series; after is the popular route, since the crossover cameos land harder.
Darkmore Penitentiary (Caged Wolf, Alpha Wolf, Feral Wolf, Wild Wolf) jumps about five years past the academy era into a supernatural prison. Darker, spicier, and best read after the main series for the same cameo reasons.
Full universe order for maximalists: main series → Ruthless Boys → Darkmore, with the complete series list as your checklist.
What to read after Zodiac Academy
If the fourteen-book commitment is the appeal, the Shatter Me reading order is the other saga-sized rabbit hole BookTok keeps handing people. If it's the fae courts and slow-ruin tension, the best romantasy books list has your next obsession.
And if the specific withdrawal is Heir-shaped - the beautiful, cruel elite who picked you as a target and lost the plot somewhere along the way - Swoony keeps that door open: the High Lord of Night who rules everything except the way you look at him, or the prep-school bad boy who made your life hell right up until someone else tried to. Closed-door, all warfare, and the groveling arrives on your schedule.
The short version
- Main series: The Awakening through Restless Stars, in publication order - it's one continuous story
- Book 10 (On the Cursed Day of Christmas) arrives October 13, 2026, built as a 24-chapter advent calendar
- Novellas are optional - but read As Told by the Boys after book 6, and Beyond the Veil between 8 and 9
- Ruthless Boys (prequel, why choose) and Darkmore Penitentiary (sequel, prison) are best saved for after the main saga
- Total commitment: 19 books and counting. Solaria does not do small
