Split Worlds Books In Order

Publication Order of The Split Worlds Books

The Split Worlds series is a series of novels by Emma Newman an author of dark urban fantasy novels, science fiction, and short stories. The Splits Worlds series is one of her most popular series of fantasy fiction novels with a dash of evil fairies, fantastical magic, and noir. Newman published the first novel in the series “Between Two Thorns” in 2013, which went on to spawn several more titles in the series. An avid gamer herself, Newman portrays incredible world building skills in the novels. The novels are set in the fictional world of Exilium, Nether, and Mundanus. Exilium is the land of magic separated from Mundanus by the Nether, where society is frozen in a mirror like state of Mundanus. However, before anyone can go live in magical Exilium they need to be born and raised in Mundanus, where they live in houses straddling the two worlds. The characters in the series recur over the course of the novels with many characters moving across the different worlds over time. The most important characters in the novel are the Fae lords of Exilium who lord over their human servants in the Nether. The novels tell the story of Catherine a daughter of the Rhoeas-Papaver, one of the most powerful families of the Fae, who runs away to go live in the real world. Catherine is rebelling against the patriarchal society back at home that imposes outdated Victorian restrictions on women. In essence, the novels are tales of rebellion, independence, and freedom from familial control as portrayed by the lead protagonist.

The series presents a good mix of characters with both good and bad people even as they have differing personalities and motives. Cathy the lead character is deemed by most an ugly duckling, particularly in the Nether where everyone is obsessed by beauty. She finds her fantasyland in Mundanus, where beauty is not so much celebrated, and where she can live as she wants. Engaged to the well-meaning but obviously culturally compromised William Reticulate-Iris, Cathy shows the backwardness of Nether society. On his part, William who is betrothed to Catherine without her consent, does not fit the definition of a cookie cutter misogynist. In fact, he believes that by marrying her he would be saving her from the emotional and physical abuse meted out to her by her father. Cathy sees herself as having a bigger mission and by rebelling against her father’s wishes; she believes that it would make men like Will acknowledge the need for change in their society. Over the course of the series, the characters grow a lot as they reach the high points of their careers, lives, and ambitions. All the characters experience pathos, tragedy, triumph, change, and real growth as the narratives progress. Max, William, and Sam go through lot together and experience firsthand how the decisions made by others and by themselves have the power to change the life of others. Catherine grows from the young woman seeking a fantasy life to a champion of woman rights, as she changes her world one day at a time.

Emma Newman combines all the elements of fantasy and science fiction including alternate worlds, fairies and other worldly creatures in her Split World series. Using a nuanced cast of characters, she uses the novels to offer a pointed critique of patriarchal societies. The Nether world is stuck in an age-old Victorian era societal structure, which is horrifying and charming at the same time. A few noble families that get their power and authority from the Fae of Exilium rule the Nether world. The family politics that influence the citizens of Nether mirror those of any society with too much power imbalances, though Newman puts more emphasis on the negative effect of patriarchal imbalance on society. Even as entertainment and lovely fashion adorn the streets, underneath the mask, men are holders of property and title, and have more freedom. As for the women, they are nothing better than glorified pets used to strike alliances through marriage between families. Mundanus, which is supposedly a more backward culture, does not subscribe to such old-fashioned cultural nuances as the Nether. Newman has included it all in the Split Worlds series with familiar sites remodeled, a crazy mix of domains, a dose of modern politics and culture, a fairyland and a Victorian world. She combines these aspects with interlocking desires, wants and needs, rivalries and jealousies to make for a gripping fantasy fiction read.

“Between Two Novels”, the first novel in the Split Worlds series is an intriguing novel that introduces the real world of Mundane, Exilium a magical land, and the Nether which is a type of barrier between the two lands. The noble that rule the Nether each have a patron in Fae as reflected in the surnames they take such as Rhoeas-Papaver family, which is under the protection of Lord Poppy. Between the worlds are the Arbiters and Sorcerers, who keep the peace and balance of things to make sure that the Mundanes and the Fae do not interact. The Nether is a world set in the Victorian era, which is a perfect fit given that it is mostly set in the Nether reflection of Bath – Aquae Sulis. The story starts with Catherine’s rebellion against her life and family, and subsequent flight to freedom in the Nether. She does not have any powers but has a strong will she uses to air her perspectives against the suppressive patriarchal society back home.

“Any Other Name” is the sequel to Between Two Thorns which sees Cathy dragged back home by her Fae family, and married off to Will a man she does not love. But even her husband Will does not have it easy, as his patron lord wants the Londinium throne, making it necessary for the new family to move to Nether’s London. Cathy now has to mingle and make new friends in London while Will is engaged in building alliances to aid his bid for becoming duke. Even as he has the best of intentions towards Cathy his wife, he has dark desires and temptations that frequently draw him off the path of virtue. Meanwhile, the Agency is under investigation from Max the arbiter, as he seeks to find out the mystery of a bizarre Bath Chapter incident. It is an amazing sequel to the first novel in the series as the characters are fleshed out even more, with their motivations, wants, and desires even clearer.

The Split Worlds series is an urban fantasy series written by one of the reputed novelists from The United Kingdom named Emma Newman. It is comprised of a total of 5 books, which were released between the years 2013 and 2017. The 5th is yet to be published and is expected to come out any time soon in the coming days. Author Newman has written the books of this series with a dash of fantastic magic, noir, and evil faeries. The people depicted by her appear to live peacefully, or at least they try to do so. The central theme of the series shows dynastic families indulging in feuds through the ages. By doing so, they tend to further increase the agendas related to the supernatural patrons. As per the descriptions of author Newman, the beautiful people do not turn out to be what show themselves to be and the innocent ones are protected by the monsters. The overall series is filled with fae magic, sorcery, and the feuding families who try to outplay the others and become the power holders. The series’ every next book continues from where the previous book ends.

The debut book of the Split Worlds series written by author Emma Newman was released under the title of ‘Between Two Thorns’. This book was released in the year 2013 by the Angry Robot publication. Author Newman has this book’s plot in Aquae Sulis, a fictional mirror city located secretly in Bath. She has introduced the main characters in the role of Max and Catherine Rhoes-Papaver. In the opening lines of the book, it is depicted that something wrong is happening in the secret city of Aquae Sulis. Just when the new season is about to begin, the Ceremonies’s Master goes missing. In order to find the Master, the task is given to an Arbiter from the Split Worlds named Max. To accompany him on the mission, he has a mad sorcerer and a dislocated soul. Max comes across a witness, but it appears that his memories are bound by some sort of a magical chain, which could only be broken by the enemy. Max comes across an ally to help him in this situation in the form of a rebellious woman who tries to escape from her own family. But, Max wonders whether she could be trusted. Before letting her help him, he tries to know why she wants to give up her privileged life and eternal youth that she has been born with. Author Newman has described two different worlds in the plot of the book. One is dwelled by humans and is called Mundanus, and the other is called Exilium and is filled with Faes.

In between these two worlds lies a mirror world known as Nether. In the world, England’s 19th century social structure is preserved by the families touched by the Faes. These families always remain loyal towards their master, who do not undergo aging. Catherine Papaver is depicted to have been born into such a world. But, she does not like it at all and wants to escape with the hope of living a normal life among the humans of Mundanus. She desperately wants to be free strictures of the Fae touched society and her parents. For preventing her from doing so, her parents drag her into a forceful arranged marriage that entails all the trappings of the high society. When Catherine finally manages to escape, she crosses her paths with Max. She finds him policing the boundaries between the worlds of humans and Faes. His primary and important task is to keep the innocent people safe and sound from the faes. Soon, a series of kidnappings take place. Also, one of the Arbiters of Max gets murdered while he proceeds ahead for the important task given to him. When Max sees that he has no other option but to take the help of Cathy, he agrees. Cathy too shows willingness to help him unravel a high profile disappearance from within the boundaries of Nether. However, Max does not seem to realize the fact that getting involved in the Fae machinations may turn out to be fatal for him as well as his companions.

The next book to have been published in the series is titled ‘Any Other Name’. The Angry Robot publishers released this book too in 2013. This book appears to have a wonderful, inventive, thought provoking story and filled with mystery and treachery. In the book, Max, Cathy, Will, and Sam are pulled deep into the unusual world of the society touched by Fae. At the start of the book, Newman has shown that Cathy gets married reluctantly into the high class Iris family. She shifts to Londinium, which is London’s magical reflection of Nether. After her marriage, Cathy is set on a course to witness and experience the social circles of the high pressure society that demand obedience and propriety from her. But, the free spirited and vocal Cathy seems unable to abide by such things. Seeing her discomfort, her husband, Will, tries to look for a compromise. However, he comes to hear some whispers that urge him to go towards the darker deeds. On the other hand, Sam is depicted as being determined to return back to the world of the Exilium in order to rescue the innocents. While attempting to do this, he crosses paths with Max and Cathy one more time.

Teaming up with Sam, Max finds out much more information related to a mysterious Agency as well as the event chain that caused the wiping out of the Bath Chapter. This mysterious organization called Agency is known to play the rule of its own. And none of the actions taken by this organization prove to be favorable to the society. Back in Mundanus, Sam seems to have discovered something very peculiar about the employer of his wife. This discovery could very well cause a huge change in the lives of everyone living in both the worlds. The further plot of the book is marked by terrible deals, dreadful revelations, and sacrifices. Just like the debut book, this book too was well appreciated for its depiction of urban fantasy. The readers all over the world seemed impressed by the story and the unique setting developed by author Newman. She was praised a lot by the critics for her determined efforts. This gave her a huge boost before attempting to write the series’ next book. And riding on the success of both the initial books, author Newman went on to pen down three other interesting urban fantasy books as a part of this series.