The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series List

The Reading Order for J.R. Ward's Brotherhood Books

If you're trying to figure out the right order to read The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series List, there's a straightforward publication order that works for most people. The series started in 2005 and has been ongoing for nearly two decades, so the list is long. Here's the core series in order. 1. Black Dagger (2005) 2. Bound in Blood (2006)

3. Lover Reclaimed (2006) 4. Lover Awakened (2007) 5. Lover Eternal (2007)

6. Lover Enchanted (2008) 7. Lover Evoked (2008) 8. Lover Unbound (2009)

9. Lover Mine (2009) 10. Blood (2010) - wait, that's wrong. It's Lover Forever (2010) 11. Lover At Last (2011)

12. Heir to the Throne (2011) - novella 13. A Journey to the Dark (2012) - anthology 14. Blood Rise (2013)

15. Blood Fury (2014) 16. Blood Vows (2015) 17. Blood Oath (2016)

18. Blood Reign (2017) 19. Blood Legacy (2018) 20. Blood Coronet (2019)

21. Blood Reckoning (2020) 22. Blood Surrender (2021) 23. Blood Rites (2022)

24. Blood Ascendant (2023) I've seen a lot of people get tripped up by the novellas and anthologies. The Heir to the Throne novella slots between books 11 and 12 if you want chronological story flow. The anthology A Journey to the Dark contains standalone short stories that aren't essential but add worldbuilding. I used to recommend skimming those, but honestly, they're fine to skip if you just want the main plot. One thing nobody warns you about: the later books get increasingly interconnected. By book 15 or so, character callbacks from book 3 matter more than most readers expect. If you're starting fresh at book 20, you'll probably need to flip back and catch up on which brother is which. The cast is large. Twelve core brothers, plus supporting characters who appear in multiple books across the entire run.

There's also a spinoff series called the Queen of the Underworld books that take place in the same universe. Those are technically optional but they cross-reference Brotherhood characters. I'd read them after you finish the main series, not before. For where to actually get the books, you've got your standard options. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, local bookstores. The books are widely available in paperback, hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats. J.K. Simmons narrates the audiobooks and he does a decent job with the accents, though some listeners find his performance inconsistent across the later titles. That's more of a personal preference thing. If you're looking for a complete digital copy of the full reading list or a downloadable PDF checklist, those circulate on fan forums and Reddit communities more than official channels. I don't have a direct link to share since those tend to move around, but searching "Black Dagger Brotherhood reading order pdf" on Google will pull up several fan-maintained versions. Just be aware that some of those lists get out of date when new releases drop.

The series is still ongoing so the list will keep growing. Keep that in mind if you're trying to organize everything into a spreadsheet or bookmark collection. I started tracking the series back in 2007 and I've had to update my notes at least a dozen times since then. It's not the most exciting administrative task but it helps when you're trying to remember which book introduced which character. Bottom line: read them in publication order. Don't overthink the novellas. Don't worry too much about the spinoffs until you're caught up. And expect the later books to demand more attention to continuity than the early ones do.