The Black Company vs The Twelve Kingdoms
Two high fantasy series side by side, straight from the catalog data: The Twelve Kingdoms is the longer series (32 books vs 26 books); The Twelve Kingdoms is the more recent one, starting in 1991. 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 Black Company | The Twelve Kingdoms |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Glen Cook | Fuyumi Ono |
| Books | 26 | 32 |
| Published | 1984–2025 | 1991–2019 |
| Books per year | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| Start with | The Black Company (1984) | The Demonic Child (1991) |
| Reading order | Full The Black Company order → | Full The Twelve Kingdoms 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.