Era 1: The First Empire

Era 1 refers to all books and events set before Era 2: Age of Fairies. While the Era 2 books fall into 2 tidy trilogies, the first era books are not as clearly defined. Fans generally group the Era 1 books in 3 unofficial series. The First Empire and The Spider-Jellyfish Wars together as a duology. Cosdoren and Eylore, Grendo the First, and The Nine Sages as a trilogy, because Cosdoren and Eylore and Grendo the First happen co-currently it is a hotly debated topic which new readers should read first. The Ocean Crisis as a stand alone.

Books in Era 1

 * The First Empire
 * The Spider-Jellyfish Wars


 * Cosdoren and Eylore
 * Grendo the First
 * The Nine Sages


 * The Ocean Crisis

Notable Events
Establishes The Archoknights as the defenders of The First Empire.

Docenus becomes the host of The Spider God.

The First Empire executes Beligrad's mother.

Beligrad joins the The Xenurian Order.*

The Spider-Jellyfish Wars begin. The First Empire joins the Wars.

Characters in Era 1
Beligrad

Cosdoren

Docenus

Eyelor

Grendo the First (Character)

The Reading Order Debate
Fans have argued about the reading order for Era 1 books extensively since their publishing. (though not as extensively as Era 3: The Seventeen Kingdoms books). While the majority of the Era 1 books were published in chronological order, Cosdoren and Eyelore was published a year and a half before Grendo the First book book take place over the same 3 years.

The publishers added to the reading confusion even more after initial printing. The 2nd edition books marked the spine of Grendo the First #3 in the series, while the 4th edition books marked Cosdoren and Eyelore as #3.

Fans that believe Cosdoren should be read first cite the earlier publishing date as their reasoning. The argument in favor of reading Grendo first was originally that the 2nd edition was correct and an unfounded rumor that Gendo the First was written before Cosdoren even though it was published after. Since the introduction of Grendo in Era 3, that makes Grendo the First (Character) more relevant to the series overall than Cosdoren and Eyelore and therefore should be read first.

Additional Media set in Era 1

 * The Ocean Crisis (2018). Generally considered the most atmospheric and self contained of the Era 1 novels, The Ocean Crisis was chosen to be the first Empire's Tribute book to be adapted into a graphic novel.