Reading order

This article focuses on recommended reading orders for the works of Alastair Reynolds.

Please note that these are *recommended* reading orders, and we don't think any readers should consider them compulsory while reading Reynolds' work. Take the entire contents of this article as recommendations or guidelines, by the wiki authors and by external writers/reviewers, not as necessities or iron rules.

Because Reynolds' standalone short stories, standalone novellas and standalone novels do not have other installments, this article focuses primarily on Reynolds' works that create distinct story series, from the shortest series (of just two loosely interconnected short stories) to the longest series (which features a closely or loosely interconnected mosaic of short stories, novellas and novels).

## *Revelation Space* series

The Revelation Space universe and the Revelation Space series set within it is Reynolds' most expansive work, the result of outright decades of gradual writing and conceptualizing.

Alastair Reynolds writes and constructs the series in a manner that is closest to a "future history mosaic". Characters, events and themes often (re)appear across multiple short stories, novellas and novels, tying the setting closer together, while many especially short fiction works in the setting expand upon it through one-off stories with non-recurring casts. For these reasons, some readers might be unsure on where to start reading the series.

First, we'll consult Reynolds' own opinion on the matter, based on information at his official website.

To quote Alastair Reynolds' own words on his website:
*Of my books to date, six are set in the same “Revelation Space” universe. The reading order isn’t that critical, in my view, but it probably improves things to read REVELATION SPACE, REDEMPTION ARK and ABSOLUTION GAP in that sequence.*

*THE PREFECT (AURORA RISING) and ELYSIUM FIRE may be read alone or jointly, but should best be read in the above order. CHASM CITY, as well as the collections DIAMOND DOGS, TURQUOISE DAYS and GALACTIC NORTH, can be read at any point.*

We ourselves, on this wiki, would recommend a roughly chronological order to reading the works in the series, starting with those set earliest in the series' future history, and then moving forward to future. However, bear in mind that this cannot be always absolute, because a handful of stories can cover vastly different timeframes in the overall history of the setting.

If you are adamant about getting into the Revelation Space universe by starting at its earliest history, the short fiction of the setting is fairly indispensible for getting a clearer picture. One of the best places to start is the anthology *Galactic North*, which collects all of the short stories and novellas of the Revelation Space series that were written between 1990 (the first published story of the setting) and 2006 (when the anthology was first published). There are eight stories in total, with the first four short stories and novellas (*Great Wall of Mars*, *A Spy in Europa*, *Glacial*, *Weather*) covering the earlier history of the setting, and the other four stories (*Dilation Sleep*, *Grafenwalder's Bestiary*, *Nightingale*, *Galactic North*) set roughly around the time of the main novels in the RS series. You can read the first half of the anthology, put it away for a while, read some of the other works set before the main novel sequence, then finish the second half of the anthology at a later time, once you're reading the main novel sequence in the series. Of course, you can also read the entire anthology in one go, even if you'll be jumping ahead in the chronology a bit with some of the later-set stories.

After you complete reading either the first half or the entirety of the *Galactic North* anthology, you can choose to go in two possible directions. Read the anthology *Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days, consisting of the two titular novellas (*Diamond Dogs *and* Turquoise Days*), or read the* A Prefect Dreyfus Emergency *series of spinoff novels, set in the vicinity of one of the major planetary colonies of the setting. Alternatively, if you want to be even more strictly chronological, read the* A Prefect Dreyfus Emergency *novels first, then the* Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days *anthology second. You can also completely skip the* A Prefect Dreyfus Emergency *novels until you've read more of the series, and return to them later.*

Before you start reading the main novels of the Revelation Space series, you might want to read the short story *Night Passage*. It gives some further insights about certain events and concepts that'll transpire in the setting as rather important, including in the main novels. You can find *Night Passage* in the anthologies *Infinite Stars* (the only Reynolds story featured there) and *Belladonna Nights and Other Stories* (which also features two other recent shorter stories from the Revelation Space series).

Then you can easily move onto the main novels. As we're being sticklers for chronology, we recommend reading *Chasm City* first. It'll conclude the process of providing the reader insights into the earlier history of the setting, and will reveal much more to the reader about the titular Chasm City and the planet Yellowstone, as well as the history of the planet Sky's Edge. Two characters introduced in *Chasm City* will later play important roles in the following novels.

Once *Chasm City* is read, one can move on move to reading *Revelation Space*, then *Redemption Ark* and then *Absolution Gap*. They will only makes sense when read in that order. Note that if you read *Chasm City* between *Revelation Space* and *Redemption Ark*, that's not a problem at all, as the novel doesn't directly interfere with revealing too much about the events of these novels. Though these three novels share many characters, events and themes and form the *de facto* main story of the Revelation Space universe, they are more of a loose trilogy, rather than a tightly-knit trilogy. Reynolds himself considers the "trilogy" as such, with each novel having its own identity, despite following up on the previous one. The one relatively direct sequel to this loose trilogy is the novel *Inhibitor Phase*, which follows a largelly new cast of characters, but frequently references earlier events seen in the loose trilogy.

If a reader decides to read the short story *Galactic North* after the novel *Absolution Gap*, they will receive answers (or hints of answers) to some of the mysteries raised by the more distant events described in that novel. It doesn't particularly matter whether one reads the short story before or after *Absolution Gap*, but if read after, it might provide several interesting surprises to the reader.

Revelation Space series short stories not collected in the two main anthologies can be largelly read at any timepoint in the series. The one possible exception (maybe) would be *Night Passage*, which might be more impactful if read before *Revelation Space*, whereas the other more scattered stories (*Plague Music*, *The Last Log of the Lachrimosa*, *Monkey Suit*) aren't as important to read in sequence.

The short story *Open and Shut* is set between the *A Prefect Dreyfus Emergency* novels *Aurora Rising* and *Elysium Fire*, and is best read between those two novels (akin to a short story interlude between the two).

Another possible gateway into the setting could be following its publication order, albeit not completely absolutely. The best course of action in that case would be to read Revelation Space first, Chasm City second, Redemption Ark third, Absolution Gap as the fourth, or swapping the order slightly, by reading Chasm City first, Revelation Space second, Redemption Ark third, Absolution Gap as the fourth. After that, one can read the Galactic North and Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days anthologies, the remaining short fiction not included in those anthologies. Finally, one could then read either the novel Inhibitor Phase, which follows up on Revelation Space, Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap (after some amount of in-universe time), or the *A Prefect Dreyfus Emergency* spinoff series of novels.

## *House of Suns* series

A much smaller series compared to the Revelation Space series, the *House of Suns* series currently consists of the eponymous single novel, *House of Suns*, and the novellas, *Thousandth Night* and *Belladonna Nights*.

TBA

## *Merlin* story series

This story series about wandering space adventurer Merlin, seeking answers for defeating the enigmatic 'Huskers', currently consists of four interconnected novellas. Much like the Revelation Space series, the Merlin series was written and published largelly outside of the chronological order of its overall storyline.

The first novella in the series is *Hideaway*, followed by *Minla's Flowers* and *The Iron Tactician*, and concluding in *Merlin's Gun*.

(Alastair Reynolds first wrote *Merlin's Gun*, followed fairly shortly afterward by *Hideaway*. Some years later, *Minla's Flowers* became a story nestled between the two, and several more years later, Reynolds added *The Iron Tactician* as a story set after *Minla's Flowers* but before *Merlin' Gun*.)

Though the stories are novellas, they are often of a substantial length.

## *Poseidon's Children* trilogy

The reading order of this novel trilogy is simple and straightforward: Follow the order of publication.

*Poseidon's Children* trilogy:
 *Blue Remembered Earth* (first novel), *On the Steel Breeze* (second novel), *Poseidon's Wake* (third novel)

## *Revenger* trilogy

The reading order of this novel trilogy is simple and straightforward: Follow the order of publication.

*Revenger* trilogy: *Revenger* (first novel), *Shadow Captain* (second novel), *Bone Silence* (third novel)

## Carrie Clay story series

This is currently the tiniest series by Alastair Reynolds, consisting only of two short stories. They are loosely connected by the character of Carrie Clay, a main character in the first of the stories, and a minor character in the second story.

If you are reading the anthology *Zima Blue and Other Stories* (regardless whether it's the shorter 2006 edition by Night Shade Books or the expanded and more definitive 2009 edition by Gollancz), you don't have to worry about reading these stories in order. The first story in this anthology is the first story involving Carrie Clay is the first story in this anthology

## Standalone works

These are self-explanatory. As they are one-offs, readers don't need to be concerned about any reading order.

To quote Alastair Reynolds' own words on his official website (again):

*CENTURY RAIN, PUSHING ICE, HOUSE OF SUNS and TERMINAL WORLD are all unrelated standalone novels. I have vague intentions to return to the universes of PI and HOS, but nothing firm, and I don’t intend to return to the worlds of CR or TW, much as I’m fond of those books. There are three books in the REVENGER sequence.*

That answers the remaining word order questions.

## External links

* A note on reading order - A quick little note on a possible reading order, at Alastair Reynolds' official website (last three paragraphs, under "Novels")
* Where to start reading the books by Alastair Reynolds - Short article by Orbit Books, providing some (though hardly complete) insights into some possible reading orders