We now have a title and release date for the third Craft Wars book (formerly trilogy, now quartet): Dead Hand Rule, due to be published 28 October 2025.

As of the date of writing, that is about 8 months away. If we get more information, I’ll update this article and the Dead Hand Rule page here.

Read on for every detail we currently know about Dead Hand Rule and the rest of the Craft Wars quartet.

What’s going to happen in Dead Hand Rule?

Great powers clash and epic action unfolds in book three of the Craft Wars.

If we want to survive, we must join together now.

There is a crack in the foundation of the world. Markets crash and cities burn as a new god struggles to be born. Ancient hunters skitter across space, eager and hungry. Dark forces conspire to undermine anything that might stand in their way. Divided, the world of the Craft will fall.

In Alt Coulumb, Tara Abernathy has gathered the great powers for a last chance at an alliance. Empires, divinities, and corporate Concerns take seats at the table. After centuries of betrayal and war, can gods and immortal necromancers put aside their differences to save the world? And even if they try: what parts of it will they save, and for whom?

Spies and saints, prophets and advocates, lovers and fighters, teachers and students, rebels and knights and kings—all will face a choice, before the end.

We also have this STUNNING cover from the iconic Goñi Montes:

Isn’t it glorious? I reiterate my request for these to be sold as prints, because my walls NEED them.

What else do we know?

Well, not much really, but Gladstone has told us the following:

This is a big one, friends: the second-to-last Craft book, building to crescendo. And it’s been a lot of fun to write. Not-so-alternate titles included Fear and Loathing at Wizard Davos, You Can’t Spell Conference Without Cataclysm , and Black Diamond Bay But With Way More Skeletons. I’m putting the finishing touches on the line edit today, and expect to have the last book drafted before this one hits stores. The scope of this book, the range of it, the places it takes our characters, old friends and new: I can’t wait to share it with you, and have you along for the ride. Thank you so much for your support.

Ngl, I think I’ll be calling this book “Fear and Loathing at Wizard Davos (But With WAY More Skeletons)” because that’s hilarious even if it wouldn’t fit on a book cover.

Taking nominations for renaming all the other books in this style.

What does the title mean?

Not 100% sure but I did do some research!

According to my research (coughgooglecough), dead hand RULE isn’t a specific phrase (well done for SEO, Gladstone and Tor) but dead hand LAW is.

According to the Legal Information Institute:

Mortmain is a French term meaning “dead hand” which is used in reference to inalienable land or tenements held by the “dead hand” of a church or corporate entity. Alienation of land to a corporation in mortmain, which would render it inalienable as corporations do not die, historically used to be called amortization. Such attempts at deadhand control of property for indefinite periods extending far beyond the death of decedent title holders ran counter to public policy, leading to the emergence of the Rule Against Perpetuities as a remedy to this disfavored practice.

I’m no lawyer, but this seems to mean property or assets owned by a religious institution, and thus never becoming taxable. This feels very Craft-y, but Seril knows I’m not sure how it fits in.

When is Dead Hand Rule coming out, and how can I get my hands on it?

At the moment we expect Dead Hand Rule to be released on 28 October 2025 in the US. International release dates TBC, but kindle copies are usually available on the US dates. In the UK, in my experience, you can order the books in but the system REALLY doesn’t like it, and I’ve had to talk to Tor.com for both Dead Country and Wicked Problems. That being said, I will be pre-ordering multiple copies at my local bookshop.

Gladstone has specifically shared the following:

You can pre-order it through Bookshop.org, your local indie (my nearest is Porter Square Books), Barnes & Noble, and wherever else books are sold. And as luck would have it, today is the last day of Barnes & Noble’s pre-order sale—so if you order now from Barnes & Noble you get an extra 25% off. You just need a Rewards membership (free) and the coupon code PREORDER 25.

(We’ve talked a lot about the value of pre-orders over the years—they clue booksellers in to demand for a book, which leads, in success, to more orders, a higher print run, and more sales, all of which are great for an author’s career. Receiving a pre-ordered book feels like getting a present from my past self. And you’ll have it on launch day!)

I cannot take advantage of the B&N sale, but my local shop will be getting a visit as soon as feasible.

Do we know anything else?

Not for certain, but I have THEORIES which will be coming out in the next few months so… keep an eye out for that.

In fact, I may try to speed write one next week because INSPIRED.

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