Zodiac Academy Reading Order By Author

Start here if you just want the series in the right order

You open a series page and find twelve books, several decimal numbers, a prequel, and something told from the boys’ point of view. Somewhere nearby, another reader insists you need to finish five books from a separate series before continuing.

The simplest Zodiac Academy reading order by author has nine main books in the core arc, written by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti. If you only want Tory and Darcy’s central story, read those nine in numbered order.

The fuller path can include companion books, novellas, Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, and Darkmore Penitentiary. Those books add context and crossover recognition, but you don’t need all of them to understand the basic Zodiac Academy story.

For a first read, this is the order I’d use:

1. The Awakening
2. Ruthless Fae
3. The Reckoning
4. Origins of an Academy Bully, optional
5. Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, strongly recommended here if you want the wider world
6. Shadow Princess
7. Cursed Fates
8. The Big A.S.S. Party, optional
9. Fated Throne
10. Heartless Sky
11. Sorrow and Starlight
12. Beyond the Veil
13. Restless Stars
14. Live and Let Lionel, optional collection
15. Darkmore Penitentiary, safest after the main arc

You can also read The Awakening As Told By The Boys any time after finishing The Awakening. I wouldn’t place it immediately afterward unless you enjoy alternate perspectives enough to pause the main plot just as it’s beginning.

The full Zodiac Academy reading order by author

A Zodiac Academy reading order by author gets complicated because Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti wrote several connected series in the same world. Publication order, internal chronology, and the smoothest first-time order aren’t quite the same thing.

Internal chronology begins with prequel material and Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, which takes place before Zodiac Academy. Darkmore Penitentiary falls later. Reading strictly by fictional date, however, can expose you to characters and ideas before the books were written to introduce them.

Publication order is the safer principle, but the authors released connected strands alongside one another. The lists below keep each strand in publication order while showing where it fits in a practical reading path.

Core Zodiac Academy books

This is the central nine-book sequence. You can copy this list and ignore every decimal-numbered companion if you want an uninterrupted main arc.

1. Zodiac Academy 1: The Awakening
2. Zodiac Academy 2: Ruthless Fae
3. Zodiac Academy 3: The Reckoning
4. Zodiac Academy 4: Shadow Princess
5. Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates
6. Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne
7. Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky
8. Zodiac Academy 8: Sorrow and Starlight
9. Zodiac Academy 9: Restless Stars

Zodiac Academy book 1 needs no preparation. The Awakening introduces Solaria, the academy, the elemental magic, and the central conflicts from the sisters’ point of view.

The books are long, melodramatic, and increasingly crowded. They also use cliffhangers freely, so stopping between later volumes can feel less like taking a break and more like leaving a door open during a storm.

Spin-offs and connected series

Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac is the connected series most likely to affect your reading experience. It takes place several years before The Awakening and follows a different central cast.

Read it in this order:

1. Dark Fae
2. Savage Fae
3. Vicious Fae
4. Broken Fae
5. Warrior Fae

The series isn’t required for the main Zodiac Academy plot. It does, however, make later appearances and references feel intentional rather than like new names dropped into an already busy cast.

After The Reckoning is a good place to pause and read all five. By then, you understand Solaria well enough that the second series doesn’t have to teach you everything again, and you haven’t reached many of the more noticeable connections.

Darkmore Penitentiary is another connected series:

1. Caged Wolf
2. Alpha Wolf
3. Feral Wolf
4. Wild Wolf

Its place in the fictional timeline is later than Zodiac Academy, and it carries connections to the other Solaria books. Saving it until after Restless Stars is the least complicated choice for a new reader, especially if avoiding indirect spoilers matters to you.

Novellas and extras

The companion books vary widely in importance. Some are brief pieces of background, while others sit close to the main plot.

• Origins of an Academy Bully: Helpful, but optional. This prequel gives context for an important academy relationship. Read it after The Awakening, not before, so you meet the characters through the main story first.
• The Awakening As Told By The Boys: Optional. This revisits the first book through alternate viewpoints. It adds motivation and context, but it repeats familiar events and can slow your early momentum.
• The Big A.S.S. Party: Optional. Place it after Cursed Fates. It’s side material rather than a required bridge between numbered books.
• Seth on the Moon: Skippable as a separate interruption. This short piece is bonus material and is also associated with the later collected extras.
• Beyond the Veil: Strongly recommended. Treat it as book 8.5 and read it after Sorrow and Starlight, before Restless Stars. It isn’t one of the nine numbered books, but it sits much closer to the central arc than most bonus material.
• Live and Let Lionel: Optional collection. It gathers bonus content and adds companion material. Read it after the main arc if you want everything without breaking the pace of the numbered books.

Some readers use tandem-reading plans for Sorrow and Starlight and Beyond the Veil. On a first read, keeping them separate is easier. Finish book eight, read Beyond the Veil, then continue to Restless Stars.

Which books actually matter for the main arc?

The main plot lives in books one through nine. Beyond the Veil is the one companion I’d be reluctant to skip because of where it sits and how closely it relates to the late series.

The other extras deepen viewpoints, relationships, and side characters. Missing them may make a reference less satisfying, but it won’t leave you unable to follow the sisters’ story.

There are three sensible approaches:

• Main arc only: Read Zodiac Academy books 1 through 9, adding Beyond the Veil between books 8 and 9.
• Fuller experience: Read the main arc, Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, Origins of an Academy Bully, and Beyond the Veil.
• Completionist: Add every alternate viewpoint, bonus story, collection, and Darkmore Penitentiary.

If you only want the central story

Read The Awakening through Restless Stars in numerical order. Put Beyond the Veil between the final two numbered books.

You don’t need Ruthless Boys before starting Zodiac Academy. You also won’t miss the basic rules of Solaria, the central relationships, or the main conflict if you never read the spin-offs.

This is a valid way to read the series.

If you want the full world

Read the first three Zodiac Academy books, then pause for the five Ruthless Boys books. Return to Shadow Princess afterward and continue through the core sequence, placing the companions where listed above.

That pause is substantial. Five books can make the opening Zodiac Academy conflicts feel distant, especially if you’re already caught by Tory and Darcy’s story.

Still, readers who enjoy a shared cast often find the delay worthwhile. Familiar names carry more weight, crossover moments stop feeling random, and Solaria seems larger than one school and one conflict.

Are there 9 or 12 books in Zodiac Academy?

There are nine numbered books in the main Zodiac Academy arc.

The number twelve usually appears when a retailer, reading app, or reader includes books such as Origins of an Academy Bully, The Awakening As Told By The Boys, and Beyond the Veil. Other lists reach an even higher total by adding The Big A.S.S. Party, Live and Let Lionel, or the connected series.

This is why answers on Reddit disagree. One person is counting the numbered story, another is counting everything filed under the Zodiac Academy name, and a third is counting the whole Solaria setting.

So when someone says there are twelve Zodiac Academy books, check what they mean by “book.” The main arc still has nine numbered entries, even if their list includes twelve volumes.

How publication order changes the experience

A name appears halfway through a later book, and the scene treats it as if recognition should arrive before explanation. If you’ve read the connected books, it does. If you haven’t, you simply meet another person in a series already full of them.

Following the broader Zodiac Academy publication order gives character introductions and crossover references more room to land. This is why many long reading orders place Ruthless Boys before the middle and late Zodiac Academy books, even though the central plot doesn’t depend on it.

Release order also creates pauses. Alternate perspectives can be revealing, but returning to the start of The Awakening immediately after finishing it may feel repetitive. A party novella between two cliffhanger-heavy books can test your patience.

For most new readers, story momentum matters more than perfectly recreating publication history. Read the numbered books in order, add Ruthless Boys after book three if you want the connections, and keep most brief extras for later.

What readers ask before they start book 1

You can begin The Awakening cold. There’s no required prequel, no lore guide to study, and no earlier series you need to finish.

The first book sets up a dark academy fantasy with elemental magic, bullying, romance, rivalry, and a deliberately hostile school environment. Its tone is heightened and abrasive on purpose. If bullying plots or antagonistic romance wear you down, the opening stretch may be the hardest part of the series.

You don’t need a separate reading-order chart beside you. For the main arc, nine numbered books and Beyond the Veil before the finale are enough. The longer list matters only when you decide you want every corner of Solaria.

The next choice is whether to continue into the spin-offs immediately after the core arc or save them until you miss the setting enough to return.

Once you’ve settled on a Zodiac Academy reading order by author, familiar names can still become half-memories across a long series. Fantasy Read gives you spoiler-free context on characters, places, relationships, and concepts in EPUB books you upload, limited to the point you’ve reached and never beyond.