How many Harry Potter books are there?

If you want to really get lost in the Harry Potter world, read the books in the right order. It makes the story hit deeper. You’ll follow the characters as they grow.

Most people say start with the publication order. That’s how the author meant for you to read them. You get the suspense built up the same way. The character arcs unfold naturally.

Read them in that order and you won’t miss a thing. Plot twists land better. New characters show up when they should. The magical world grows step by step. It all makes sense in context. You’ll feel closer to Harry and his friends.

George R.R. Martin is still writing it. He's said it's a priority, but he's also been open about how huge the story is and how long it's taking.

So for now, there's no confirmed timeline. The book still isn't out, and there's no window for when it might be.

Since The Winds of Winter isn't out yet, everything we know comes from the author and the sample chapters he's shared. It's the sixth book in the series, and it picks up right after A Dance with Dragons.

The story opens with two massive battles. The book kicks off with the Battle of the Ice in the North (Stannis vs. the Boltons) and the Battle of Slaver's Bay in Essos (Daenerys's forces vs. the slavers).

Major cliffhangers get resolved early. The book will quickly address the fallout from A Dance with Dragons, including Jon Snow's stabbing, which may not play out like it did on TV.

The Others and the North take center stage. Winter has arrived. The story will go further north than ever before, showing much more of the mysterious ice threat and the looming danger of the Others.

Storylines will diverge sharply from the TV show. Many characters who died on Game of Thrones are still alive in the books, and their paths will be very different. Characters like Stannis Baratheon, Barristan Selmy, and book-only figures like Young Griff and Arianne Martell still have big roles to play.

Tyrion's path inches closer to Daenerys. While they won't fully unite right away, Tyrion's storyline will move him nearer to Daenerys, with more political scheming in Meereen expected along the way.

It's a darker, more magical chapter. The political game continues, but the story is shifting into a colder, more violent, and more magical phase as the threats from the North and beyond become impossible to ignore.

Ultimately, The Winds of Winter is the penultimate chapter of the saga, setting the stage for the final book, A Dream of Spring.

George R.R. Martin is still writing it. He’s said he’s made real progress, but he’s also been open about how huge the story is and how long it’s taking.

He’s also made one thing very clear. If he can’t finish it, he doesn’t want another writer stepping in to do it for him.

Honestly, yes. You really should read the other ACOTAR books first. While Nesta's story is its own thing, the plot and all the emotional baggage come directly from the earlier books. You'd be pretty lost without that context.

Plus, the novella A Court of Frost and Starlight specifically sets up Nesta's story. So don't skip that one either—it's short and important.

Yeah, this one’s the spiciest book in the ACOTAR series. The sex scenes are explicit and pretty frequent. They don’t fade to black. Nesta and Cassian have a lot of tense buildup, and the payoff is very steamy. So if you want heat, you’ll get it. If not, you may want to skim those parts.

So, A Court of Silver Flames focuses on Nesta Archeron, Feyre's sister. She's having a really hard time after everything that happened in the war. She's angry, traumatized, and pushing everyone away.

The story really kicks off when her family basically forces her to train with Cassian, the Illyrian warrior. They're stuck together, and the tension between them is immediate—both the angry kind and the romantic kind. A lot of the book is about Nesta working through her trauma and learning to accept herself, and Cassian's help is a big part of that.

There's also a bigger plot going on. The human queens are making dangerous new alliances, and Nesta and Cassian are key to stopping them. So it's a mix of personal healing, a spicy romance, and some high-stakes fantasy action.

1. Dungeon Crawler Carl
2. Carl's Doomsday Scenario
3. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
4. The Gate of the Feral Gods
5. The Butcher's Masquerade
6. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
7. This Inevitable Ruin
8. A Parade of Horribles

That's all eight books that are out so far. The series isn't finished yet, though. There are more books planned to wrap up the story. So just start at the top and work your way down.

1. Dungeon Crawler Carl
2. Carl's Doomsday Scenario
3. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
4. The Gate of the Feral Gods
5. The Butcher's Masquerade
6. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
7. This Inevitable Ruin
8. A Parade of Horribles

That's all eight books that are out so far. The series isn't finished yet. The author plans to wrap it up with one more story split into two books. So just start at the top of that list and work your way down.