Zen Cho Books In Order

Publication Order of Sorcerer Royal Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Author Zen Cho was born and raised in Malaysia in the year 1986. She writes science fiction, fantasy, and romance. She read law at Cambridge and lives in London, where she works as a lawyer and writes stories.

Getting time to write is tough for her. She tries to write a bit every day, but never at the cost of her social time. Zen feels that when she dies, she wants to look back at her life and see that she spent as much time as possible with her loved ones and that she had written many stories.

She started writing stories when she was only six years old, after learning how to read at around age three or age four.

As a child, she read a lot of nineteenth century North American and British fiction while growing up in Malaysia during the twentieth century. It taught her to enjoy stories that were set in alien worlds that featured strange people that spoke another language, and had intricate, mysterious social customs.

Her debut novel, “Sorcerer to the Crown”, the first book of her “Sorcerer Royal” series, was released in the year 2015. In the year 2014, she released her first short story collection called “Spirits Abroad”.

Before writing “Sorcerer to the Crown”, she had written two “drawer novels”, and finds that she is really still learning how to write a novel. She grew used to finishing and starting to shop them around in a quick time in the past, and focusing all her writing time and energy on a single novel that may not sell was something difficult for her emotionally. She spent a long time revising, working with her agent for a year.

Cho focused on new characters for “The True Queen” because after trying to write about Zacharias and Prunella for three long years, she had a tough time making things feel fresh. “Sorcerer to the Crown” was inspired by Regency romances and it is tough to stretch a romance over more than a novel without annoying the readers. If they have a romance in the first book, you won’t want to see them argue in the second.

She has won the British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer and the Crawford Fantasy Award. “The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo” was nominated for a John W. Campbell Award for Best Book. “Sorcerer to the Crown” was nominated for Best Novel by the British Fantasy Society.

“Sorcerer to the Crown” is the first novel in the “Sorcerer Royal” series, which was released in the year 2015. Zacharias Wythe (eminently skilled magician and freed slave) is at his wit’s end, and goes to the border of Fairyland to find out why all of England’s magical stocks are drying up. He is a Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers, which is one of the most respected organizations in all of Britain.

His adventure brings him in contact with a woman with immense power and an unfathomable gift, a most unusual comrade. He starts out on a path which is going to change the nature of sorcery in all of Britain, as well as the world.

This is a wonderful and charming novel with some characters who are wonderfully alive. The story was satisfying and the atmosphere is delicious and makes it feel like you are in Regency era England. Despite its length, some were able to get through the entire book in just a single day. Even with some weightier themes, the novel can be lighthearted, too. The style of humor is tough to pull off, but the author does a great job of using it.

“The True Queen” is the second novel in the “Sorcerer Royal” series, which was released in the year 2019. Muna and Sakti, sisters, wake up on a peaceful beach on the island of Janda Baik. They are unable to remember anything, only that they are bound like only sisters can be. The two have been cursed by some unknown enchanter, and slowly Sakti begins to fade away. The only hope to save her is to travel to Britain, where Sorceress Royal has started an academy to train women in magic.

If Muna is going to save her sister, she will have to get through high society, and trick English magicians to believe she is really a magical prodigy. While she is drawn into their intrigues, she has to uncover secrets from her past, and navigate a world with a lot more magic than she ever dreamed.

For some readers, this is the sequel they didn’t know they wanted for this series. It has some excellent characters, great setting, strong dialogue, and ends with a very satisfying conclusion. Cho expertly describes the places she takes her characters to better allow you to picture where they are at any given time. It truly feels like you are there where her characters are.

“The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo” is the first stand alone novel, which was released in the year 2012. For Jade Yeo, a writer, the Roaring Twenties are starting up with more of a purr. She is more than happy to be making a living writing up articles about what all the well-dressed woman is currently wearing. After she pillories one of the leading literary luminaries in all of London in a scathing review, she may have made the mistake of her entire career.

Sebastian Hardie is tall, handsome, and dark, as well as more intrigued than annoyed. Jade is drawn irresistibly to the prospect of the adventure he is offering. If she succumbs to temptation, she would risk losing the freedom she fought so hard for, and her best chance for love.

Jade is an interesting young woman that has a refreshing, often hilarious view on life. She is earnest about simply wanting to live her life by her own rules, and no one else’s. Even though the story is set a hundred years in the past, it is still entirely relatable for readers. These clever and memorable observations make the lovable heroine that much more lovable.