
Darian's Tale (The Owl Trilogy)
fantasy
Series · fantasy
The Valdemar: Family Spies series by Mercedes Lackey has 3 books and is best read in publication order, starting with The Hills Have Spies (2018).
Start here: The Hills Have Spies (2018) — then read straight through in publication order.

The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
Family Spies picks up Mags and Amily's story a generation further on from the Herald Spy trilogy: now parents, the couple find their own children being drawn into the family trade of information-gathering and court intrigue, as new threats to Valdemar require the next generation's help. The trilogy continues the series' shift toward espionage-flavored plotting while adding a family-legacy dimension — watching Mags and Amily navigate parenthood alongside the same kind of high-stakes secrecy that defined their own younger years.
The Hills Have Spies, Eye Spy, and Spy, Spy Again close out the Mags/Amily storyline that began with the Collegium Chronicles nearly a decade earlier, completing an arc that spans eleven books across three connected trilogies-plus-quintet.
Read in publication order: The Hills Have Spies (2018), Eye Spy (2019), Spy, Spy Again (2020). This trilogy is the third and final stage of Mags and Amily's storyline, following the Collegium Chronicles and the Herald Spy trilogy — read both of those first, since Family Spies assumes full familiarity with the characters, their history, and Valdemar's political situation built up across the previous eight books.
Three: The Hills Have Spies (2018), Eye Spy (2019), and Spy, Spy Again (2020).
Yes. Family Spies is the third stage of a single ongoing storyline following Mags and Amily, starting with the five-book Collegium Chronicles and continuing through the Herald Spy trilogy before this one.
Publication order: The Hills Have Spies, Eye Spy, Spy, Spy Again.
Yes — the trilogy shifts some focus to their children being drawn into the family's espionage work, while still following Mags and Amily themselves as central characters.
As of this trilogy's conclusion in 2020, no direct continuation of Mags and Amily's specific storyline has been announced, though the wider Valdemar universe continues through other sub-series like the Founding of Valdemar.
Reading order last verified .