Series · romance

Kingmakers

The Kingmakers series by Sophie Lark has 5 known books (5 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Kingmakers: Year One (2021). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is Kingmakers: Graduation.

Books: 5 known books (5 novels)
Published: 5
First published: 2021
Status: completed
Shelved under: Romance
Last checked: 12 September 2026

Start here: Kingmakers: Year One (2021) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Kingmakers: Year One (2021)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

Book 1:
Kingmakers: Year One
Novel2021
Sophie Lark launched the Kingmakers series on 31 March 2021 with Year One, a 534-page opener that sends Leo Gallo and his lifelong best friend Anna Wilk into Kingmakers Academy, where the sons and daughters of the world's mafia families train in negotiation, combat, and seduction under one absolute rule: no killing on campus.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Kingmakers: Year One
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Book 2:
Kingmakers: Year Two
Novel2021
Year Two followed just over a month later, on 5 May 2021, matching Year One's 534 pages exactly and moving the campus-wide plot forward with a new forbidden pairing while Leo and Anna's storyline continues in the background.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Kingmakers: Year Two
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Book 3:
Kingmakers: Year Three
Novel2021
Year Three , published 16 June 2021, kept the same 534-page length as the two books before it, continuing the series' rapid release schedule within a single year.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Kingmakers: Year Three
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Book 4:
Kingmakers: Year Four
Novel2021
Year Four , released 28 July 2021, is the fourth consecutive Kingmakers novel to run precisely 534 pages -- all four appeared within roughly four months of each other.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Kingmakers: Year Four
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Book 5:
Kingmakers: Graduation
Novel2022
Graduation closes the series on 16 March 2022, nearly eight months after Year Four and, at 534 pages, the fifth straight book to match that exact length.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Kingmakers: Graduation
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About the Kingmakers series

Kingmakers Academy trains the sons and daughters of the world's mafia families in the arts of criminal enterprise — negotiation, combat, poison, seduction — under one absolute rule: no killing on campus. Each book follows a different second-generation heir through one school year, pairing them off with a forbidden match dictated by family alliance, blood debt or a marriage contract nobody asked for. Leo Gallo and his lifelong best friend Anna Wilk open the series with a friends-to-lovers plot shadowed by looming betrayal; the books that follow move through bully romance, arranged marriage, and enemies-to-lovers as new couples take the spotlight while earlier pairs continue in the background, building toward a single graduating class's worth of alliances, rivalries and secrets.

It's a direct sequel generation to Sophie Lark's Brutal Birthright series — the parents of several Kingmakers students are the leads of that earlier duology — but Kingmakers reads completely on its own; you don't need Brutal Birthright to follow it. The appeal is dark mafia romance with a boarding-school hook: morally gray heirs, forced proximity in a campus built for violence, and a slow-burn campus-wide plot that pays off across all five books rather than resetting fully with each new couple. Readers who want organized-crime stakes, posh-and-brutal academy politics, and steamy, high-tension romance per book will find all of that here.

How to read this series

Read Kingmakers in publication order: Year One, Year Two, Year Three, Year Four, then Graduation. Each book centers a new couple but follows the same graduating class across one continuous school year, so earlier couples keep appearing and plot threads (especially around Anna and Leo's storyline) carry through to the finale, Graduation. The books were originally self-published under different character-nickname titles — The Heir/The Freshman, The Rebel, The Bully, The Spy, and Savage — before being repackaged as Year One through Four plus Graduation for wide release; both title sets refer to the same five books in the same order. You don't need to have read Lark's earlier Brutal Birthright series first, though fans of that duology will recognize several Kingmakers parents.

Frequently asked questions

How many books are in the Kingmakers series?

Five: Year One, Year Two, Year Three, Year Four, and Graduation.

What order should I read the Kingmakers books in?

Publication order — Year One through Year Four, then Graduation. The series follows one graduating class across a single continuous school year, so the books build on each other rather than standing fully alone.

Is Kingmakers by Rina Kent or Sophie Lark?

Kingmakers is written by Sophie Lark. It's sometimes mixed up with Rina Kent's dark-academia books because the two authors write similar mafia/dark-romance academy stories, but they are different series by different authors.

Do I need to read Brutal Birthright before Kingmakers?

No. Kingmakers follows the children of Brutal Birthright's characters and is a spinoff generation, but it's written to be read independently.

Are the 'Year One'-'Year Four' books the same as The Heir, The Rebel, The Bully and The Spy?

Yes. Sophie Lark's original self-published titles (The Heir/The Freshman, The Rebel, The Bully, The Spy, Savage) were renamed Year One, Year Two, Year Three, Year Four and Graduation for the series' wide re-release; the story and order are unchanged.