Hades and Persephone Books in Order: Scarlett St. Clair Reading Order (2026)
Hades and Persephone books in order means two series, not one, and the question every Scarlett St. Clair reader asks is whether to read Hades’s books alongside Persephone’s. The Hades x Persephone Saga tells the story from her side across four books; the Hades Saga retells and extends it from his. With A Touch of Chaos closing her story, an illustrated collector’s edition of A Touch of Darkness out November 10, 2026 and a holiday novella, A Christmas of Chaos, due December 1, it is a good time to start or reread. Below are both series in order, the combined reading order, St. Clair’s other series (Adrian x Isolde, the fairy tale retellings and Blood of Lilith), the heat level and what’s coming next.
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Hades and Persephone Books in Order: Where to Start
Start with A Touch of Darkness. Persephone is the goddess of spring in name only: flowers wilt at her touch. She lives quietly in New Athens as a mortal journalist, which works until she sits down at a card table with Hades, God of the Dead, who runs a gambling empire in the mortal world. One bargain later she is bound by a contract: create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever. It is a modern-mythology bargain romance, and the bargain is with the one god she was raised to fear. Our books like A Touch of Darkness list has readalikes for when you finish.
The Hades x Persephone Saga in Order (Her Story)
- A Touch of Darkness (2019): the card game, the contract and the Underworld. Persephone has to grow something where nothing grows, while the God of the Dead makes it very hard to concentrate.
- A Touch of Ruin (2020): book two, picking up after the contract that started everything.
- A Touch of Malice (2021): book three, building toward the finale.
- A Touch of Chaos (2024): the conclusion of the saga and the end of Hades and Persephone’s main story.
The Hades Saga in Order (His Story)
Same couple, Hades’s point of view. These books show what he was doing while Persephone was narrating and fill in what her books only hint at.
- A Game of Fate (2020)
- A Game of Retribution (2021)
- A Game of Gods (2023)
Three Ways to Read Hades and Persephone
1. Persephone only (fastest). A Touch of Darkness, A Touch of Ruin, A Touch of Malice, A Touch of Chaos. A complete story with a complete ending. Come back for Hades’s books if you want more.
2. Combined publication order (most popular). A Touch of Darkness, A Game of Fate, A Touch of Ruin, A Game of Retribution, A Touch of Malice, A Game of Gods, A Touch of Chaos. Alternating lets each Hades book fill in what the Persephone book just covered, and it is the order most reading guides list for a first full pass.
3. Persephone first, then Hades as a reread. Read all four Touch books, then all three Game books. You lose a little of the back-and-forth but get Hades’s books as a payoff with the whole picture in your head.
The holiday novella A Christmas of Chaos (December 1, 2026) is best read after the main saga. Hecate has always kept the Kallikantzaroi, a gang of gremlins, out of the Underworld, but this year a mistake by Hermes threatens Christmas across New Greece, and Hades and Persephone have to restore order before Yuletide. It is a short, 178-page paperback from Bloom Books.
How Spicy Are the Hades and Persephone Books?
Explicit from the first book, open door and frequent, around 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️. Expect possessive-god energy and a Hades who is very aware of what he does to her. The later books carry heavier material, so check content warnings as you go if that matters to you. Our romance spice levels guide explains the scale.
Scarlett St. Clair’s Other Series in Order
Adrian x Isolde
St. Clair’s vampire court fantasy, following Adrian and Isolde. A separate world from the Hades books, so you can start it any time.
- King of Battle and Blood (2021)
- Queen of Myth and Monsters (2022)
- Kingdom of Spirit and Shadow (book three, no confirmed date)
A prequel novella, Born of Flames and Sacrifice, is also planned. In August 2024 St. Clair said the prequel was scheduled for May 2025 and Kingdom of Spirit and Shadow for January 2026; both dates have passed, and book databases now list them tentatively for 2027.
Fairy Tale Retellings
- Mountains Made of Glass (2023)
- Apples Dipped in Gold (2024)
Blood of Lilith
Terror at the Gates (July 8, 2025) is a feminist retelling of Lilith and the Garden of Eden. Lilith, estranged from her powerful family, steals for a living in a district built on sin and gets pulled into a dangerous mystery. Book two, Coiled at the Roots, is listed for 2027. Her early YA paranormal mystery, When Stars Come Out (2018), stands alone.
More Hades and Persephone After Scarlett St. Clair
The obvious next series is Katee Robert’s Dark Olympus, which opens with Neon Gods. It is a contemporary political take on the same myth: Persephone flees an unwanted engagement to Zeus, crosses into the forbidden lower city and makes a deal with Hades, who offers protection and a very public way to humiliate the family that tried to control her. Where St. Clair builds a mythic world, Robert builds a city of power brokers, and the heat is every bit as high. Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ explicit. Our books like Neon Gods list keeps going from there.
If what you loved was the contract more than the mythology, the bargain at the heart of A Touch of Darkness is the same engine that drives most arranged-marriage and debt-contract romance, and the Fractal Enigma picks below lean all the way into it.
All Hades and Persephone Books in Publication Order
- A Touch of Darkness (2019)
- A Game of Fate (2020)
- A Touch of Ruin (2020)
- A Game of Retribution (2021)
- A Touch of Malice (2021)
- A Game of Gods (2023)
- A Touch of Chaos (2024)
- A Christmas of Chaos (December 2026, holiday novella)
- Temptress of Fire and Fury (Aphrodite and Hephaestus, date TBA)
What’s Next: Aphrodite, Collector’s Editions and Adaptation News
The next full book in the world is Temptress of Fire and Fury, Aphrodite and Hephaestus’s story. St. Clair has said it opens on the same chapter where A Touch of Chaos ends, with Aphrodite’s point of view of the coronation; no release date has been announced. She has also floated possible short stories for Apollo and Hyacinth and for Thanatos and Lexa, with nothing confirmed.
For collectors, Bloom Books publishes an illustrated hardcover A Touch of Darkness Collector’s Edition on November 10, 2026, with full-color endpapers, interior art, author footnotes and foiled edges, and A Christmas of Chaos follows on December 1. As of October 2026 we could find no announced film or TV adaptation of the Hades and Persephone books.
See A Christmas of Chaos on Amazon →
Read Next: Hotter Picks From Fractal Enigma
Hades and Persephone readers want the bargain, the contract, the dark ruler who only softens for one person and a heroine whose touch is the problem. These Fractal Enigma reads keep the terms and take the heat to Inferno.
The Demon’s Tithe — Rowan Black
They poured demon blood into Kaelen Ashward’s open wounds and called it a gift. Now he is a demon-blooded hunter with silver scars tracing his veins and a reputation that makes villagers bar their doors, and Seraphine is the woman who stops being afraid of him. An MF dark fantasy romance with an ancient entity, a morally grey hero who falls first and a power exchange that goes both ways. Free with Kindle Unlimited.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Monster Hunter, Morally Grey Hero, Enemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Touch Starved, Power Exchange, He Falls First, Obsessive Love
Start reading The Demon’s Tithe →
A Curse Made for Two — Maeve Hollow
Her touch has burned everyone for a hundred years. Jo Rook appraises cursed objects for a living and never touches anything with her bare hands, until she is hired to value a snowbound Vermont manor and grabs the hand of the witch who lives there. She doesn’t even blister. Persephone’s withering touch, flipped: a sapphic gothic romance about the one person who can hold on.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Touch Starved, Witch x Appraiser, Immortal x Mortal, Ice Queen, Gloves, Gothic, Haunted Manor, Snowed In, Forced Proximity
Start reading A Curse Made for Two →
Collateral — Jace Wilder
Julian Ellis walks into billionaire Silas Vane’s office with a payment plan for his father’s gambling debts and walks out with a contract: six months of total surrender, and five million dollars disappears. A dark MM billionaire romance for readers who loved the card-table bargain in A Touch of Darkness and want the contract to be the whole book.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Billionaire, Age Gap, BDSM, Power Exchange, Captive Romance, Morally Grey Hero, Praise Kink, He Falls First
Sugar Mommy Clause — Aurora North
Emory Sato is broke, overqualified and one overdraft from losing everything when she signs a six-month companionship contract with Vivian Cross, the CFO of a publicly traded tech company. Eight thousand a month, sign the NDA, wear the dress, don’t catch feelings. A sapphic age-gap contract romance where the powerful one rewrites every rule to keep her.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Age Gap, Sugar Arrangement, Contract Romance, Praise Kink, Power Exchange, Class Difference, Possessive MC
Start reading Sugar Mommy Clause →
FAQ: Hades and Persephone Reading Order
Do you need to read the Hades Saga to understand the Persephone books?
No. The four Touch books are a complete story. The three Game books add Hades’s side and are best read alternating with hers or as a reread.
Which Scarlett St. Clair book should I read first?
A Touch of Darkness. If you want vampires instead of gods, start Adrian x Isolde with King of Battle and Blood.
How spicy is A Touch of Darkness?
Explicit and open door, around 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️, and the series stays there. Every Fractal Enigma pick above is Inferno.
Is there a Hades and Persephone TV show or movie?
Not that has been announced as of October 2026. The 2026 news is the illustrated collector’s edition of A Touch of Darkness and the A Christmas of Chaos novella.
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