The Recommended Reading Order: Where to Start
If you are looking to dive into the eerie literary world of Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNaF), the best starting point is undoubtedly the original novel trilogy co-authored by franchise creator Scott Cawthon and Kira Breed-Wrisley. Beginning with The Silver Eyes introduces you to the core human elements, lore concepts, and atmospheric horror that define the written universe. From there, you can branch out into the shorter horror stories of the anthologies and the game-adjacent interactive novels.
Here is the recommended path for readers looking to experience the narrative and lore evolution of the books:
- Step 1: The Original Novel Trilogy – Read The Silver Eyes, The Twisted Ones, and The Fourth Closet in sequence. This introduces the character of Charlie and sets up concepts like remnant and illusion discs that are crucial to understanding the rest of the universe.
- Step 2: The Fazbear Frights Anthologies – Read the 12-volume anthology series starting with Into the Pit. These books expand the universe with standalone cautionary tales and the overarching Stitchwraith stingers.
- Step 3: The Interactive Novels – Jump into the choose-your-own-adventure style interactive novels such as The Week Before and Escape the Pizzaplex, which put you directly in the shoes of characters trying to survive their shifts.
- Step 4: Guidebooks and Movie Tie-ins – Dive into companion files like The Freddy Files or The Security Breach Files to cross-reference game mysteries and check out the official movie novelization.
What to Know Before You Start: Canon vs. Continuity
One of the most important aspects to understand before reading the Five Nights at Freddy's books is how they relate to the hit indie video games. Scott Cawthon has clarified that while the books are "canon" to the broader FNaF franchise, they do not all share the exact same timeline or continuity as the games. The original trilogy acts as an alternate-universe retelling of the lore, introducing familiar characters like William Afton and Henry Emily, but taking their stories in entirely different directions.
Conversely, later collections like the Fazbear Frights series and the interactive novels are highly debated within the fandom. Many readers treat these stories as puzzle pieces meant to fill in specific narrative blanks in the games, while others view them as standalone creepy tales. When reading, it is best to treat the books as companion pieces that explain the "rules" of the FNaF universe (such as how possessed animatronics and supernatural elements function) rather than direct, linear game adaptations.
The Original Novel Trilogy
The original trilogy forms a complete, self-contained story arc that shifts the focus of the franchise from silent video game survival to a character-driven mystery. Co-authored by Scott Cawthon and Kira Breed-Wrisley, these books follow Charlie, a teenage girl haunted by the tragic events of her childhood.
- The Silver Eyes (2016): Charlie returns to her hometown of Hurricane, Utah, ten years after a series of murders took place at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza—a restaurant once co-owned by her father, who built the animatronics. Along with her childhood friends, she decides to explore the abandoned pizzeria, only to discover that the animatronics are still active and harbor a dark, bloodthirsty secrets.
- The Twisted Ones (2017): One year after the terrifying events at the pizzeria, Charlie tries to move on. However, a series of new, bizarre murders occur, featuring victims with wounds that are painfully familiar. Charlie is dragged back into the nightmare as she faces new "twisted" animatronics that use auditory illusion discs to alter their appearances.
- The Fourth Closet (2018): The final book in the trilogy wraps up Charlie's story with massive revelations. As her friends try to uncover what really happened to her at the end of the previous book, they are forced to confront the dark machinations of William Afton and a mysterious new animatronic circus.
Fazbear Frights Anthologies
Following the completion of the main trilogy, the franchise transitioned to the anthology format with the Fazbear Frights series. Spanning 12 volumes published between 2019 and 2022, each book contains three short stories and a brief epilogue. These tales are faster-paced, leaning into a style reminiscent of classic teenage horror like Goosebumps.
While the stories are largely standalone, they are connected by recurring themes of greed, obsession, and haunted technology. More importantly, the epilogues of books 1 through 11 construct a serialized narrative known as the "Stitchwraith Stinger," which follows a detective investigating a mysterious hooded figure collecting haunted objects. Volume 12, Felix the Shark, serves as a bonus collection of previously unreleased stories that do not tie into the Stitchwraith plotline.
Interactive Novels
The newest addition to the FNaF library is the Interactive Novel series, which introduced a "choose-your-own-adventure" mechanic. In these books, readers make decisions at the end of chapters to guide the protagonist through dangerous shifts, leading to multiple endings and hidden lore secrets.
- The Week Before (2024): Written by Scott Cawthon and E.C. Myers, this book is highly praised for its direct tie-in to the original game. It follows Ralph (commonly known to fans as the "Phone Guy") during his final week as the night guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza before the player's arrival.
- Return to the Pit (2024): Written by Adrienna Kress, this interactive novel retells the events of "Into the Pit" (the first story from the Fazbear Frights series), allowing readers to play as Oswald and navigate the terrifying 1985 timeline.
- Escape the Pizzaplex (2025): Co-authored by Scott Cawthon and Lyndsay Ely, this book takes readers into the modern era of the franchise, setting up survival challenges inside the massive Mega Pizzaplex from the Security Breach game.
Guidebooks, Graphic Novels, and Adaptations
For fans who want to visually experience the horror or dive deeper into game secrets, Scholastic has published several companion works:
- Graphic Novels: The original trilogy (The Silver Eyes, The Twisted Ones, and The Fourth Closet) has been adapted into graphic novels, featuring art that brings Charlie's fight for survival to life.
- Guidebooks: Books like The Freddy Files (and its updated editions) act as official guides to the gameplay and lore, while the Survival Logbook features interactive prompts that fans have used to solve long-standing community mysteries.
- Movie Novelization (2023): Adapting the live-action feature film, this book follows the story of Mike Schmidt as he takes a job as a night guard and uncovers the truth behind the missing children.
Publication Order vs. Chronological Order Caveats
Due to the anthology structure and varying continuities, a strict chronological reading order of the entire franchise is practically impossible and not recommended. For instance, while stories in the interactive novel The Week Before take place in the early 1990s, other stories in Fazbear Frights hop between the 1980s, modern day, and a futuristic sci-fi aesthetic.
Because the books build on concepts introduced over time, reading in publication order is the safest and most rewarding path. It allows you to learn the rules of the supernatural elements gradually, preventing confusion when advanced concepts like digital cloning, illusion discs, and remnant are referenced in later spin-offs.