Roses and Thorns

HOW TO DREAMLAND: A GUIDE FOR THE WOEFULLY CONFUSED

I have received a lot of comments over the years to the effect of "I would really like to start your original series but I have no clue where to start" or "I got one paragraph into your original stories and had to stop" aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand while inaccessibility tends to be a flaw of mine it is a flaw I am working on and thus I'm doing my best to remedy the confusion.

To give a rudimentary run-down of what occurs in the following story, the Dreamland series is a high fantasy series set in a world where humans do not exist (though other dimensions do exist and contain humans, they are not relevant here) and where magic is a powerful force that serves both as a spiritual center, a source of great physical power, and a means of structuring society. It is as real as gravity is to us and as essential to culture as the arts. This world is populated by sentient animals (who have creatively decided to collectively refer to themselves as Sentients).

The "main" species are Canii (singular is Canis), who resemble dogs (with horns) and Canira, who more resemble foxes (though the ear shape is notably different). Both species can be seen across the covers of the books in the series. There are other species, some of whom exist as the result of prey species who acquired magic and gained sentience, and dragons and griffins, which are from other dimensions.

(Promise that all shakes out later.)

The series itself follows any number of characters and spans close to the entire timeframe of their civilization. Time periods are measured in "reigns" because for most of their history, a singular, immortal ruler somewhere between a monarch and a prophet has been in charge. Every century or so, said ruler dies and is reborn similar to how a phoenix might be. In earlier books, this ruler is called the "Princess", later, she is renamed "The Auspicia". This is because I've done a fair bit of worldbuilding over the past four years so things have... changed.

So much, in fact, that the newer books are inconsistent with the older books. The Space Between Stars is a complete rewrite of Double Rainbow, however, most of my books are canon to Double Rainbow, not The Space Between Stars. The chronological order is as follows:

Original Timeline:

The Gardenkeeper's Daughters (Pre-Princess era to the coronation of 1st Princess) --> Roses and Thorns* (2nd Princess) --> Double Rainbow (62nd Princess) --> The Cities Have Fallen (63rd Princess)

Revised Timeline:

TGD parallel --> Roses and Thorns* (2nd Auspicia) --> The Dog Day Wars (6th Auspicia) --> The Space Between Stars (62nd Auspicia) --> The Cities Have Fallen Rewrite (63rd Auspicia)

*Roses and Thorns is so close to the "revised" canon in worldbuilding that if you accept the Princess and the Auspicia are two names for the same thing you should be fine. The only other notable difference is that birds are not native to Dreamland in the revised canon, so replace "bird" with "inexplicable small avian mammal" and you should still be fine!

Furthermore, if you're a masochist, you can read the books by order in which they were written:

Double Rainbow --> The Cities Have Fallen --> The Gardenkeeper's Daughters --> Roses and Thorns --> The Space Between Stars --> The Dog Day Wars

My recommended order would be to start with either The Space Between Stars or Roses and Thorns, as those are the best written, but you should be fine wherever as long as you don't start with The Cities Have Fallen, which is close chronologically to Double Rainbow/The Space Between Stars and hence certain plot threads resurface.

WELL NOW I'M MORE CONFUSED

Alright, if this is you, please leave a comment and I'll get back to your questions and post them up here if they're relevant. Furthermore, I'm open for PMs anytime. Thank you for reading!