The Banned and the Banished vs The Sharing Knife
Two high fantasy series side by side, straight from the catalog data: The Banned and the Banished is the longer series (5 books vs 4 books); The Sharing Knife is the more recent one, starting in 2006. There's no wrong answer — pick the shape that fits your reading appetite, and Shelfmark will keep your place in either (no account needed).
| Statistic | The Banned and the Banished | The Sharing Knife |
|---|---|---|
| Author | James Rollins | Lois McMaster Bujold |
| Books | 5 | 4 |
| Published | 1998–2002 | 2006–2009 |
| Books per year | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| Start with | Wit'ch Fire (1998) | Beguilement (2006) |
| Reading order | Full The Banned and the Banished order → | Full The Sharing Knife order → |
Numbers come from the Shelfmark catalog (Wikidata + Open Library). "Books per year" is catalogued books divided by the publication span — a rough cadence, not a quality score.