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Mode
The Mode series by Piers Anthony has 4 known books (4 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Virtual Mode (1991).
- Books
- 4 known books (4 novels)
- Published
- 4
- First published
- 1991
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Science Fiction
- Last checked
Start here: Virtual Mode (1991) — 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:
Virtual Mode
Piers Anthony opened the Mode series with Virtual Mode in 1991, running 329 pages. It introduces Colene, a suicidal teenage girl from Earth who discovers a portal into Proton/Phaze and falls in love with Darius, a man trapped between realities, launching a loose sequel series to Anthony's Apprentice Adept.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Virtual Mode - Book 2:
Fractal Mode
Fractal Mode followed a year later in 1992, the shortest of the four books at 302 pages. It continues Colene and Darius's journey directly from where Virtual Mode left off, introducing a new alternate reality with its own internally consistent physical or magical laws.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Fractal Mode - Book 3:
Chaos Mode
Chaos Mode continued the series in 1993 at 320 pages, its third consecutive annual release. Colene's recovery from suicidal depression and self-harm remains the emotional throughline as she and Darius push further into the widening structure of alternate 'modes' introduced across the series.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Chaos Mode - Book 4:
DoOon Mode
Anthony returned to the series after an eight-year gap with DoOon Mode in 2001, the longest entry at 368 pages. It closes out the four-book arc, resolving Colene and Darius's quest to be together across the widening set of alternate realities the series introduced.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of DoOon Mode
About the Mode series
Colene, a suicidal teenage girl from Earth, discovers a portal into Proton/Phaze, the paired science-fiction-and-fantasy world at the center of Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept series, and falls in love with Darius, a man trapped between realities. Anthony spins this connection into a new four-book arc that pushes the underlying premise of Apprentice Adept even further: rather than two linked worlds, the Mode series proposes an entire structure of alternate realities — 'modes' — each governed by different physical or magical laws, which Colene and Darius must navigate to find a way to be together and to solve the crises threatening the worlds they pass through.
Where Apprentice Adept alternated cleanly between its two paired settings, Mode widens the scope considerably, introducing new realities with their own internally consistent rules each book, while keeping Colene's personal arc — her recovery from suicidal depression and self-harm, treated with unusual directness for the genre — as the emotional throughline connecting the more expansive world-hopping plot. It functions as a loose sequel series to Apprentice Adept, expanding that series' central conceit rather than continuing its original cast's story directly.
Frequently asked questions
How many books are in the Mode series?
Four novels, published between 1991 and 2001: Virtual Mode, Fractal Mode, Chaos Mode, and DoOon Mode.
What order should I read the Mode series in?
Publication order, starting with Virtual Mode. The four books follow a single continuous relationship and quest across a widening set of alternate realities.
Do I need to read Apprentice Adept before the Mode series?
No, though it helps - Mode is set in the same Proton/Phaze universe and connects to that series' characters and premise, but Colene and Darius's story can be followed on its own.
What is the premise of the Mode series?
A suicidal teenage girl from Earth falls in love with a man trapped between realities and discovers a wider structure of alternate 'modes' - realities each governed by different physical or magical laws - that the pair must navigate together.
Is the Mode series finished?
Yes. All four novels were published between 1991 and 2001, with the final volume, DoOon Mode, arriving several years after the first three.
If you like the Mode series
Reading order last verified .