The Sunset Warrior Cycle
science fantasy
Series · science fiction
Cluster
The Cluster series by Piers Anthony has 5 known books (5 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Cluster (1977).
- Books
- 5 known books (5 novels)
- Published
- 5
- First published
- 1977
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Science Fiction
- Last checked
Start here: Cluster (1977) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Cluster
Cluster opens Piers Anthony's series with Flint of Outworld, a young man from a backward human colony recruited by a dying interstellar civilization to transfer his Kirlian aura -- his life force -- into alien bodies and broker alliances across a hundred-world galactic cluster. Published in 1977, it runs 272 pages.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Cluster - Book 2:
Chaining the Lady
Chaining the Lady , the longest book in the series at 340 pages, followed in 1978, widening Flint's personal mission into the larger conflict against the Andromeda galaxy's forces trying to seize the cluster.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Chaining the Lady - Book 3:
Kirlian Quest
Kirlian Quest , also published in 1978 -- Anthony's second Cluster release that year -- runs 336 pages and continues the Kirlian-transfer premise's exploration of alien biology and identity across new bodies and species.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Kirlian Quest - Book 4:
Thousandstar
Thousandstar , published in 1980 after a two-year gap, brings a new Kirlian-aura traveler into the widening galactic conflict at 294 pages, connecting back to events from the earlier volumes.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Thousandstar - Book 5:
Viscous Circle
Viscous Circle closes the series in 1982 at 266 pages, its shortest entry, bringing the Kirlian-transfer saga's exploration of identity and interstellar warfare to a close.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Viscous Circle
About the Cluster series
In the Cluster universe, a person's life force — their Kirlian aura — can be transferred across interstellar distances into another body, human or alien, letting a single consciousness inhabit wildly different physical forms and even species over the course of one adventure. Flint of Outworld, a young man from a backward human colony, is recruited by a dying interstellar civilization to travel this way through a hundred-world galactic cluster, occupying alien bodies to broker alliances and fight covert wars against the Andromeda galaxy's forces, who are attempting to seize the cluster from within. The premise lets Anthony indulge his fascination with genuinely alien biology and psychology — each new body Flint (and later other Kirlian travelers) inhabits comes with its own sensory experience, reproductive customs, and moral logic, explored with real curiosity rather than treated as set dressing.
Across five novels published between 1977 and 1982, the series widens from Flint's personal mission into a genuinely galaxy-spanning conflict involving multiple protagonists, competing empires, and the Kirlian transfer technology's implications for identity, loyalty, and what it even means to be a single continuous self when your body is interchangeable. It's ambitious, idea-driven 1970s science fiction that treats body-swapping as a serious philosophical premise rather than just a plot device, wrapped around a fast-moving espionage-and-warfare plot.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Cluster series?
Five novels, published between 1977 and 1982: Cluster, Chaining the Lady, Kirlian Quest, Thousandstar, and Viscous Circle.
What order should I read the Cluster series in?
Publication order, starting with Cluster. The books advance a single ongoing galactic conflict even as they shift focus between different characters and alien worlds.
What is the premise of the Cluster series?
A person's life force, their Kirlian aura, can be transferred into another body across interstellar distances - human or alien - letting characters travel a hundred-world galactic cluster by occupying different bodies to broker alliances and fight covert wars.
Is the Cluster series connected to Piers Anthony's other science fiction series?
No, it's self-contained, with no shared characters or setting with his other series like Bio of a Space Tyrant or Incarnations of Immortality.
Is the Cluster series finished?
Yes. All five novels were published between 1977 and 1982, and Piers Anthony has not added further entries.
If you like the Cluster series
Reading order last verified .