Author

Martha Wells

Q: What should I read first by Martha Wells?

Start with the The Books of Ile-Rien series, since it is the first on file, then read it in publication order.

Martha Wells has 26 known credited books (26 published) across 4 series. Start with The Books of Ile-Rien.

Martha Wells is an American science fiction and fantasy author whose Murderbot Diaries has become one of the genre's most acclaimed recent series, following a self-hacked security android -- who privately calls itself Murderbot -- as it tries to watch its favorite soap operas in peace while reluctantly getting drawn into protecting the humans it's contracted to guard. Beginning with the novella All Systems Red in 2017, the series has won a remarkable run of Hugo and Nebula Awards, prized for its dry first-person voice and its unusually thoughtful handling of autonomy, anxiety, and found family through a nonhuman narrator.

Before Murderbot's breakout success, Wells had already built a long career writing epic fantasy, including the Books of the Raksura series and the standalone novel The Death of the Necromancer, as well as media tie-in novels for Star Wars and Stargate: Atlantis. Murderbot brought her a much wider readership relatively late in a career that had already earned deep respect within genre fiction circles.

A new reader should start with All Systems Red, the short, self-contained novella that launches the series and remains its most-recommended entry point. The Murderbot Diaries was adapted into a television series for Apple TV+, premiering in 2025 with Alexander Skarsgard in the title role.

Series: 4
Credited books: 26
Published: 26
Latest published book: Platform Decay 5 May 2026
Active: 1993–present
Best known for: The Books of Ile-Rien

Key facts about Martha Wells

Martha Wells has 26 books on our list. 22 of them belong to a series, while 4 stand alone. Since all 26 are out now, every book here is ready to read. Their series sit on our fantasy and science fiction shelves.

Martha Wells has 4 series on file. The Books of Ile-Rien has 5 books, while The Books of the Raksura has 5 books. The Murderbot Diaries has 10 books, starting in 2017.

The Rising World has 2 books, starting in 2023. In particular, The Murderbot Diaries is the longest series on file.

The Books of Ile-Rien starts with The Element of Fire, while The Books of the Raksura starts with The Cloud Roads. The Murderbot Diaries starts with All Systems Red.

Since The Books of Ile-Rien is the first series on file, it is the place to start. Their first published book on file came out in 1993. Meanwhile, Platform Decay is the latest published book, out on 5 May 2026.

There are also 4 standalone books. You can read them in any order, since each one stands alone. The newest one that is out is Emilie and the Sky World, from 2014. The oldest on file is City of Bones, from 1995.