Every Resident Evil Novel in Order, and Which Are Canon

There are three groups of Resident Evil novels: S. D. Perry's seven books from 1998 to 2004, which adapt the early games and add two original stories; the novelisations of Paul W. S. Anderson's Milla Jovovich films; and a set of Japanese novels that were never published in English. None of them has been declared canon by Capcom in anything we could find, and Perry herself says the games overtook her books almost as soon as they came out. This page lists every one in publication order with the year, says what each covers, and explains how far to trust them as lore. (An Interview with Resident Evil Novelization Author, S.D. Perry)

S. D. Perry's novels in order#

Perry's books are the ones most people mean by "the Resident Evil novels". Her editor asked for four at the start, two game adaptations and two originals, and the series grew to seven. Pocket Books, part of Simon & Schuster, published them all. Titan Books took over the licence later and reprinted the set, with new covers, from 2012. (An Interview with Resident Evil Novelization Author, S.D. Perry; Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy)

1. The Umbrella Conspiracy (1998). The first game, with Jill Valentine's and Chris Redfield's routes through the Spencer Mansion merged into one story. It introduces Trent, a stranger who corners Jill before the mission with information about the mansion and the people tied to it, and gives Jill a past as a cat burglar. (Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy)
2. Caliban Cove (1998). An original story. Outlawed after the mansion, the surviving S.T.A.R.S. members decide to fight Umbrella on their own, and Rebecca Chambers joins a new team sent to an Umbrella lab hidden under the cliffs of Caliban Cove, Maine. (Resident Evil: Caliban Cove)
3. City of the Dead (1999). Resident Evil 2, with Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield fighting through Raccoon City and its police station. (Resident Evil: City of the Dead)
4. Underworld (1999). The second original. Leon, Claire, Rebecca and the Caliban Cove survivors are diverted by Trent to an Umbrella facility in the Utah desert, where they must cross a set of huge artificial test environments to steal a codebook that could expose the company. (Resident Evil: Underworld)
5. Nemesis (2000). Resident Evil 3, with Jill and Carlos Oliveira trying to get out of the city while Nemesis hunts her. (Resident Evil: Nemesis)
6. Code: Veronica (2001). Code: Veronica, following Claire from an Umbrella facility in Paris to Rockfort Island, and Chris coming after her into a clash with Albert Wesker. (Resident Evil: Code: Veronica)
7. Zero Hour (2004). Resident Evil 0, with Rebecca and Billy Coen the night before the mansion. It was published as Book 0, so it comes first in story order. (Resident Evil: Zero Hour)

If you want the story in order, start with Zero Hour and then read the rest by publication date. The series stopped there. There's no English novel of Resident Evil 4 or any later main game. (Resident Evil: Zero Hour; Resident Evil: Code: Veronica)

Are the S. D. Perry novels canon?#

No, as far as anything Capcom has published goes. We couldn't find a Capcom statement placing any Resident Evil novel in the game canon. (An Interview with Resident Evil Novelization Author, S.D. Perry)

Perry's own account explains why. In a 2024 interview with Exposition Break she said the hardest part of writing them was not knowing any canon beyond the games, so a new game would come out and make parts of a book moot or wrong. She said Capcom had leased the rights to Pocket and rarely dealt with her: beyond a backstory correction on her first outline and some character sketches, she didn't remember getting much at all. (An Interview with Resident Evil Novelization Author, S.D. Perry)

She also said she and her editor, Marco Palmieri, eventually added a disclaimer to the books asking readers to accept that the companies working on the material weren't necessarily working together. When fans tell her the books aren't canon, her answer is that she knows. (An Interview with Resident Evil Novelization Author, S.D. Perry)

The clearest sign is Trent. He runs through the whole series as the hidden hand helping the heroes against Umbrella, and he doesn't exist in any game. The two original novels, Caliban Cove and Underworld, sit between the games and were simply passed by as Capcom kept telling its own story. (Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy; Resident Evil: Underworld; An Interview with Resident Evil Novelization Author, S.D. Perry)

The film novelisations#

The live-action films with Milla Jovovich got their own books, which follow the films' separate continuity rather than the games. For the films themselves, see the Anderson films guide. (Resident Evil: Genesis; Resident Evil: Apocalypse)

1. Genesis (2004), by Keith R. A. DeCandido, adapts the first film, Resident Evil (2002). (Resident Evil: Genesis)
2. Apocalypse (2004), by DeCandido, adapts Resident Evil: Apocalypse. (Resident Evil: Apocalypse)
3. Extinction (2007), by DeCandido, adapts Resident Evil: Extinction. (Resident Evil: Extinction)
4. Retribution (2012), by John Shirley, published by Titan Books, adapts Resident Evil: Retribution. (Resident Evil: Retribution)
5. The Final Chapter (2017), by Tim Waggoner, also from Titan, adapts Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter)

Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) is the one film in the series with no English novelisation. (Resident Evil: Extinction; Resident Evil: Retribution)

The Japanese novels#

Japan has its own run of Resident Evil novels, none of them officially translated into English. (Biohazard: The Beginning)

• Biohazard: The Beginning (1997), by Hiroyuki Ariga, is a short prelude to the first game in which Chris looks into the disappearance of a friend. It came in a book given away with pre-orders of the Sega Saturn version of the first game, and it was the first Resident Evil novel of any kind. (Biohazard: The Beginning)
• Hokkai no Yoju (1998), by Kyu Asakura, an original story whose title translates as "The Strange Beast of the North Sea". (Biohazard: Hokkai no Yoju)
• To the Liberty (2002), by Suiren Kimura, and Rose Blank (2002), by Tadashi Aizawa, two more originals. Both were later translated into German. (Biohazard: To the Liberty; Biohazard: Rose Blank)
• Biohazard (2002), by Osamu Makino, a Japanese novelisation of the first film, unrelated to DeCandido's. (Biohazard)
• The Umbrella Chronicles Side A (2007) and Side B (2008), by Makino, a two-part adaptation of the Wii game Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. (Biohazard: The Umbrella Chronicles Side A; Biohazard: The Umbrella Chronicles Side B)
• Damnation (2012), by Makino, and Vendetta (2017), by Makoto Fukami, books based on the CG films of the same names. (Biohazard: Damnation; Biohazard: Vendetta)

For how the CG films fit the game story, see the CG films guide, and for the games themselves the Resident Evil games in order list. (Biohazard: Damnation; Biohazard: Vendetta)