Heretical Fishing Books in Order: All 5 Books and Book 6
8 min readBy LevelUpShelf EditorialLast reviewed
TL;DR: Read books 1 to 5 by number; there is nothing to slot in between. Together they are 2,276 Kindle pages or 107 hours 45 minutes of Heath Miller on Audible. Book 6 is listed on Audible and Goodreads, but on October 11, 2026 it had no Kindle or Audible edition and no confirmed ebook date.
Here are the Heretical Fishing books in order: five books by Haylock Jobson, from Heretical Fishing (March 12, 2024) to Heretical Fishing 5 (February 17, 2026 on Kindle), all narrated by Heath Miller on Audible. Below are the Kindle dates and page counts, the audio lengths and ratings, and what the listings say about book 6, as of October 11, 2026. No spoilers past the book 1 blurb.
Key Takeaways
- 5 books out: Amazon's Kindle pages call book 5 "Book 5 of 5", checked October 11, 2026.
- Same subtitle every time: each of the five books is A Cozy Guide to Annoying the Cults, Outsmarting the Fish, and Alienating Oneself, so the number is the only way to tell them apart.
- One narrator: Heath Miller, the voice of He Who Fights with Monsters, reads all five for Podium Audio.
- Book 6 is listed, not out: Audible shows it as not available, and the author's site still leads with book 5.
- Book 4 is the low point in ratings: 3.99 on Goodreads and 4.44 on Audible, against 4.8 on Audible for book 5.
Overview
Heretical Fishing is a LitRPG comedy by Haylock Jobson, published in Kindle, paperback and audio by Podium. The book 1 blurb opens: "A world abandoned by the gods, mystifying cosmic forces, unimaginable power for those willing to ascend, and a hero who would rather . . . go fishing???" The hero is "summoned to a fantastical world and granted powers by a broken System", and the blurb is clear about him: "Fischer isn't like most MCs. In fact, he doesn't want to be a hero at all."
The story started on Royal Road, where the prologue and first chapter are dated April 13, 2023. Royal Road tags it LitRPG, Progression, Cultivation, Comedy and Slice of Life, among others. It came second in the tally behind our cozy LitRPG books list, after Beware of Chicken.
Cover: Audible product page (Podium Audio)
Every Heretical Fishing Book in Order
"Kindle" is the publication date and print length on each book's Amazon Kindle page. "Audiobook" is the Audible release date and length. Ratings were read on Audible and on the Goodreads series page on October 11, 2026, and will drift.
| # | Title | Kindle | Pages | Audiobook | Length | Audible rating | Goodreads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heretical Fishing | Mar 12, 2024 | 533 | Mar 12, 2024 | 23 h 56 m | 4.71 (6,120) | 4.17 (12,559) |
| 2 | Heretical Fishing 2 | Jul 9, 2024 | 534 | Jul 9, 2024 | 23 h 36 m | 4.75 (3,206) | 4.29 (5,606) |
| 3 | Heretical Fishing 3 | Nov 12, 2024 | 409 | Nov 12, 2024 | 19 h 8 m | 4.77 (2,511) | 4.32 (3,661) |
| 4 | Heretical Fishing 4 | Aug 26, 2025 | 450 | Aug 26, 2025 | 22 h 47 m | 4.44 (1,301) | 3.99 (1,696) |
| 5 | Heretical Fishing 5 | Feb 17, 2026 | 350 | Apr 14, 2026 | 18 h 18 m | 4.8 (815) | 4.27 (923) |
| 6 | Heretical Fishing 6 | none found | not on Audible | 5.00 (1) |
All five released books carry the subtitle A Cozy Guide to Annoying the Cults, Outsmarting the Fish, and Alienating Oneself. The books get shorter as the series goes on: the first two are about 533 pages and 24 hours each, and book 5 is 350 pages and 18 hours 18 minutes. The five released books add up to 2,276 Kindle pages.
Cover: Audible product page (Podium Audio)
Step-by-Step: How to Read Heretical Fishing
1. Start with Heretical Fishing (book 1): 533 Kindle pages, or 23 hours 56 minutes on Audible. It is the only book without a number in its title.
2. Read books 2 to 5 by number: Goodreads lists six primary works and six total works, so it shows no side stories, and Amazon's Kindle series stops at "Book 5 of 5". The subtitle never changes, so check the number before you buy.
3. Wait for book 6: it is listed, but not out in ebook or audio (details below). If you want to know when it lands, watch the author's site and Audible's series page.
4. Keep track on the series page: the Heretical Fishing series page has every book with a checklist for the ones you have finished.
The Audiobooks
Heath Miller narrates all five audiobooks for Podium Audio. By our sum of Audible's lengths, books 1 to 5 run 107 hours 45 minutes, about 21 and a half hours per book; Podium's own series page gives "107 hr, 47 min", two minutes more than our sum.
The audio kept pace with the ebook for most of the run. Books 1 to 4 came out on Audible the same day as on Kindle. Book 5 was the exception: Kindle on February 17, 2026, audio and paperback on April 14, 2026, 56 days later.
The narrator is the main reason many listeners find the series. Of the 46 comments naming Heretical Fishing in the Reddit threads we save, 14 bring up the narrator, and 22 mention He Who Fights with Monsters or its hero, Jason. If you came from Heath Miller's work there, our He Who Fights with Monsters reading order has his other long series.
Cover: Audible product page (Podium Audio)
Heretical Fishing 6: What We Know
Here is what each source said when we checked on October 11, 2026:
- Audible: the series page lists "Heretical Fishing 6" as book 6, marked "Not Available on Audible.com". Audible's own note says it either cannot offer the title in a region "or the audio version hasn't been recorded yet."
- Amazon: the Kindle series is "Book 5 of 5"; we found no Kindle edition of book 6. A paperback page for Heretical Fishing 6 gives "Publication date August 18, 2026" and 320 pages, but marks it "Out of Print--Limited Availability" and labels it "Book 4 of 5", so the listing looks unreliable.
- Indigo: a paperback product page reads "Pre-order Now: Available August 18, 2026", 320 pages.
- Goodreads: six primary works; book 6 had a single rating.
- The author: his site's home page still reads "Heretical Fishing 5 is Out Now!", and the last post on Royal Road, on January 20, 2026, is titled "Book 5 stubbing in 24 hours & short hiatus".
Put together, book 6 exists as a title, but there was no ebook or audiobook to buy and no date from the author or Podium for one. It has been 236 days since book 5 came out on Kindle; the longest earlier gap between Kindle books was 287 days, between books 3 and 4.
Cover: Audible product page (Podium Audio)
Reading It on Royal Road
The Royal Road page (fiction 67114) is labeled "Original" and "STUB" and keeps 12 entries: the prologue and early chapters from April 2023, an index, a March 12, 2024 post titled "Heretical Fishing book 1 live on Amazon!" and the January 2026 hiatus post. The description opens: "Book 1 is available on Amazon, KU, Audible, and print!"
The page showed 5,787 followers, 2,651 favorites, 1,997 ratings and 695,147 total views when we checked on October 11, 2026. For the whole story, use the books.
What Readers Say
Most of the praise is for the tone and the voice. u/Moeftak summed it up for a He Who Fights with Monsters fan in 2024: "Heretical Fishing - similar style to a degree as HWFWM but more slice of life - very little fighting in it. Fun and wholesome." (comment, August 12, 2024). u/Badbrainz75 was briefer: "Heath Miller is fantastic in the Heretical Fishing series. Bonus points for the Aussie accent." (comment, February 21, 2026).
Heath Miller is fantastic in the Heretical Fishing series. Bonus points for the Aussie accent.
Not everyone stays. u/SlyReference noted that the hero tends to walk away from plot hooks and go back to his routine: "That doesn't make them bad series (though I finally got tired of it in HF in the 3rd book), it's just different from the usual fantasy expectations." (comment, September 20, 2026). Others point to the series that inspired the comparison: "If the goofiness of heretical fishing was the problem, have you tried beware of chicken?" (u/Zegram_Ghart, comment, January 13, 2026). Our Beware of Chicken reading order covers that one.
Tips Before You Start
- Go by the number. All five share one long subtitle; the cover art and the number are the only differences.
- The first books are the longest. Books 1 and 2 run nearly 24 hours each on Audible; book 5 is under 18 and a half.
- Expect comedy over combat. Readers describe it as slice of life with little fighting; if you want constant action, it may not fit.
- Spoilers: later blurbs give away earlier events; the book 5 blurb on the author's site opens with a development from the earlier books. Read only the blurb of the book you are about to start.
Our take
Based on the facts above, Heretical Fishing is an easy series to plan right now: five numbered books with no side stories, one narrator, and audio that came out the same day as the ebook for four of the five. At 107 hours it is longer than Beware of Chicken (78 hours 44 minutes), a series readers also compare it with, and our LitRPG reading orders page has the rest side by side. The ratings dip at book 4 and recover at book 5, so a slow patch there is not a sign the series is fading. The open question is book 6: it is listed, but with no ebook, no audiobook and a paperback page we do not trust, plan on reaching the end of book 5 and waiting.
How we checked this
On October 11, 2026 we opened the Audible product data for the five audiobooks and the Audible series page (including the book 6 entry); the Amazon Kindle pages for books 1 to 5 and the paperback pages for books 1 to 6; the Goodreads series page; the Royal Road fiction page and its table of contents; Podium's series page; the author's home and books pages; and Indigo's book 6 page. Reader comments and counts come from Reddit thread data saved on October 10, 2026. Totals and day counts are our own arithmetic. A site-agent then compared every number in this article with our source table before publication.
Related Reading
- Best LitRPG audiobooks: the series listeners name most, with narrators and book 1 ratings.
- Books like He Who Fights with Monsters: where Heretical Fishing comes up for He Who Fights with Monsters readers.
- Unbound series reading order: a 12-book series whose last listed book came out in June 2026.
- All reading-order guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Heretical Fishing reading order? Books 1 to 5 by number, starting with Heretical Fishing (2024).
How many Heretical Fishing books are there? Five out in ebook and audio as of October 11, 2026, with a sixth listed.
When is Heretical Fishing 6 coming out? No confirmed ebook or audiobook date as of October 11, 2026.
Who narrates the Heretical Fishing audiobooks? Heath Miller, on all five.
Can I read Heretical Fishing for free on Royal Road? Only the opening; the Royal Road page is a stub.
Is Heretical Fishing LitRPG or cozy fantasy? Both: it has a System, and its subtitle calls it a cozy guide.
References
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The LevelUpShelf desk reads the store pages and the reader threads so you can pick book 1 with the numbers in front of you. Every count is dated and linked.
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LevelUpShelf is independent: no ads, no sponsored posts, and nobody pays to be on a list. Some store links are affiliate links: we may earn a commission if you buy through one, and it never decides what we list (affiliate links). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Book counts, release dates, audiobook lengths and ratings are snapshots from the date we checked them; publishers and stores change listings, so check the store page before you buy. Recommendations come from cited reader discussions, not from reading we claim to have done. Articles are researched and written with AI tools, and every fact is checked against its source before publishing. See how the desk works and how we use AI.