Series Guide
The Grand Game
Every book in Tom Elliot's The Grand Game, in order, with the honest map of where the early con-artist era gives way to traditional progression, and the A-high verdict through Book 5.
Start here
Book 1, The Grand Game. The gods play their game through mortal champions, Michael wakes on the wrong god's board with his past erased, and the only way out of Erebus's territory is charm, disguise, and leaving as few bodies as possible. The full review explains why that restriction produced some of my favorite chapters in the genre.
Verdict on the series
A-high — Worth Starting.
A-high through Book 5, and the review flags openly that it was a coin flip with A-peak: the deciding factors are the unread back half and the natural fading of the con-artist flavor I loved most. Understated fanfare, a fanbase that quietly swears by it, and the genre's best answer to its laziest class.
What it does best. Earned victories: no lucky rescues, no plot armor, no god putting a finger on the scale. And a genuinely low-powered world where alliances and preparation stay meaningful all the way up.
Where it sags. If you need an overpowered lead, this is deliberately the other thing. And the early-book heist register you may fall for, like I did, gives way to more traditional progression as Michael grows.
Books in order
| # | Title | Published | Runtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Grand Game | August 28, 2021 | 15 hrs 49 min |
| 2 | Way of the Wolf | May 21, 2024 | 16 hrs 29 min |
| 3 | The World Nexus | May 21, 2024 | 20 hrs 1 min |
| 4 | House Wolf | May 21, 2024 | 16 hrs 8 min |
| 5 | Wolf in the Void | November 10, 2023* | 19 hrs 51 min |
| 6 | A Scion's Duty | June 10, 2024 | 16 hrs 43 min |
| 7 | Ancient Debts | September 11, 2024 | 15 hrs 57 min |
| 8 | The Lost Reclaimed | April 9, 2025 | 22 hrs 6 min |
| 9 | Dreams of Power | February 15, 2026 | 13 hrs 38 min |
Wolf in the Void: the audiobooks in this series were produced out of sequence, so this volume reached audio before an earlier one did. The dates shown are the real release dates, not an error in the list.
Book data above is pulled from my full review — updated automatically as new entries publish.
Next audiobook: the series is ongoing, but no next release has been announced.
Andrew Tell narrates the whole run. Book 1 came out through Spoken Realms in 2021; everything from Book 2 on is Royal Guard Publishing.
Who's who (spoiler-safe)
Deliberately short: Michael's hidden past is the series' central mystery, and the gods watch everything.
- Michael — wakes in enemy territory with his past locked away and a charisma-rogue kit in a world that kills his kind on sight. What he doesn't know about himself matters as much as what he does. (Book 1.)
- Erebus — the god whose territory Michael wakes in, whose followers eliminate threats like him on principle. (Book 1.)
The gods' board fills with more players as the books go on; meeting them cold is part of the fun.
Is the series complete?
No, ongoing, ten books in with a steady cadence. The review updates when I catch up past Book 5; the tier's peak question gets settled then too.
Where to go next
- King's Dark Tidings (Kel Kade) — the opposite end of the assassin spectrum: overpowered instead of under, and the same proof that commitment beats novelty.
- The Path of Ascension (C. Mantis) — the neighboring A-high, steadier and larger-scale where this is tense and close-quarters.
- Archemi Online (James Osiris Baldwin) — the review's counterexample of the same class played without commitment; instructive back to back.
Full verdicts on the reviews page.