Friday, 25 March 2016

Overlapping Trilogies II

See here.

The Correct Reading Order?
"The Children's Hour"
"The Asteroid Queen" (FTL introduced)
"Iron"
"In The Hall Of The Mountain King" (Tyra's father referenced)
"Inconstant Star" (Tyra's father rescued)
"Pele"

My only uncertainty is whether "Iron" belongs before or after "In The Hall..." If the latter, then the reading order can be summarized as:

the Pournelle-Stirling trilogy
the Anderson trilogy

Further rereading and other readers' comments should clarify this point.  

Man-Kzin Wars X: The Wunder War, a tetralogy by Hal Colebatch, is also relevant. These ten works could be re-presented in three volumes. But there are many more Man-Kzin Wars installments. Meanwhile, Ringworld has become a tetralogy and the Fleet of Worlds has become a trilogy. Known Space is vast indeed.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I don't know when I'll get to the Man/Kzin wars books in any major way, but I have finished rereading Pournelle's WEST OF HONOR. And I rediscovered that story comes before THE MERCENARY. The last pages of WEST OF HONOR shows us Captain (and then Brevet Major) Falkenberg explaining to Hal Slater just why the Fleet Marines had been fighting on Arrarat. Briefly, just once in a while, despite the best efforts of corrupt or cynical politicians to prevent it, the Fleet manages to do SOMETHING good. And, above all, the Fleet keeps the peace, both on and off Earth. How long the CoDominium Fleet can do that is another question.

Will soon be starting the second volume of David Wingrove's CHUNG KUO series: DAYLIGHT ON IRON MOUNTAIN. That's the last volume of CHUNG KUO I've not read before the series was suspended due to poor sales.

I think one problem was the surprisingly high price per volume: 27.95 US for DAYLIGHT. Trade paperbacks cost more than regular paperbacks, I know, but you have to be a hard core fan to pay that much! IF prices per volume had been ten dollars less the series might not have been suspended.

Sean