The Kingsbridge series is a masterpiece that spans hundreds of years and tells seemingly unconnected stories that revolve around a single location in England. They’re meaty reads and can seem intimidating, but this series is worth reading from start to finish just to experience the amazing storytelling within its pages.
The series is now pretty well-known because the first two books were made into TV shows, and some have been translated into musicals. You can even play through Pillars of the Earth‘s game adaptation if you just can’t get enough of the story, though I’m still waiting to pick up a copy of the 2008 board game. This is what the Kingsbridge series does to you after you’ve read it, but you’ve got to go through it in the right order if you want to understand the story.
How to read the Kingsbridge series in order
To read the Kingsbridge series in order, you need to read every book in publication order. While there are always reasons to read a series in chronological order, Ken Follet’s Kingsbridge series is one I firmly believe doesn’t work when read that way for the first time.
You can get away with it after your first read through every book, but you miss connections between characters and the advancements or origins of certain parts of the titular location that are hinted at or dropped in by Follet as he researched and created these books. With that in mind, the list below is the best way to read the Kingsbridge series in order.
- Pillars of the Earth (1989)
- World Without End (2007)
- A Column of Fire (2017)
- The Evening and the Morning (2020)
- The Armor of Light (2023)
The publication order works so well as a reading order because Follet has scattered details about characters, their families, and Kingsbridge very deliberately as he’s written each book. If you read them out of this order, you miss that because you’ll be reading some references that you won’t catch because you don’t have the context for them.
How to read the Kingsbridge series in chronological order
While I believe you should read the Kingsbridge series in publication order to get the most out of it, reading it in chronological order can keep it fresh if it’s been a few years and you want to reread the books but change up how you go through them. To read the series in chronological order, use the following list.
- The Evening and the Morning (2020)
- Pillars of the Earth (1989)
- World Without End (2007)
- A Column of Fire (2017)
- The Armor of Light (2023)
