Galactic North - reading order for Revelation Space series.txt
The reading order for Reynolds' Revelation Space universe stories is altogether more complex, with the novels overlapping with the short stories (collected in Galactic North) and the two novellas (collected in Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days).
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ORDER A
This is the chronological order for the short stories, novels and novellas:
01 - Great Wall of Mars *
02 - Glacial *
03 - A Spy in Europa *
04 - Weather *
05 - Dilation Sleep *
06 - The Prefect
07 - Diamond Dogs **
08 - The Monkey Suit
09 - Turquoise Days **
10 - Grafenwalder's Bestiary *
11 - Nightingale *
12 - Chasm City
13 - Revelation Space
14 - Redemption Ark
15 - Absolution Gap
16 - Galactic North *
* Story in Galactic North
** Novella in Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days
Whether this is the best reading order for the books or not is debatable. I think it mostly works, although The Prefect may have more impact if read after the trilogy (Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap) when the reader is more familiar with the Conjoiner and Ultra factions. Also 'Weather' contains the answer to a major mystery from the trilogy about the Conjoiner lighthugger drives and may benefit from being read later on.
What I would say is that 'Great Wall of Mars' and 'Glacial' should definitely be read before the trilogy, as they introduce characters who otherwise show up out of nowhere in Redemption Ark, and 'Galactic North' (the story) should be read after everything else as it explains the (somewhat puzzling) ending to Absolution Gap and puts something of a full stop on the whole series and story. Chasm City can be read before or after the trilogy, but benefits much more from being read before as some of its characters play a role in Revelation Space.
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A slightly different order in the middle.
ORDER B
01 - Great Wall of Mars (2205, published February 2000)
02 - Glacial (2217, published March 2001)
03 - A Spy in Europa (ca. 2330 - 2340, published 1997)
04 - Weather (2358, published 2006)
05 - The Prefect (2427, published 2007)
06 - Diamond Dogs (ca. 2500 - 2550, published 2001)
07 - Monkey Suit (ca. 2511, published 2009)
08 - Dilation Sleep (ca. 2513-2540, published 1990)
09 - Chasm City (ca. 2517-2524, published 2001)
10 - Grafenwalder's Bestiary (ca. 2540, published 2006)
11 - Turquoise Days (2541, published 2002)
12 - Revelation Space (2524 - 2567, published 2000)
13 - Nightingale (ca. 2600, published 2006)
14 - Redemption Ark (2605 - 2651, published 2002)
15 - Absolution Gap (ca. 2675-3000, published 2003)
16 - Galactic North (ca. 2303 - 40000, published 1999)
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Your choice. ENJOY ! ! ! !
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