Sequels And Prequels

Two equally valid reading orders:

first, we read a novel about characters in their youth;

then, we read a sequel in which they reminisce -

- or:

first, we read a novel whose characters reminisce about their younger days;

 

then, we read a, sometimes later-written, prequel about those younger days.

Even before The Time Machine, fictional narratives were able to reverse the temporal order.

In the original reading order of Poul Anderson's Technic History, Mirkheim, in which Sandra Tamarin's son by Nicholas van Rijn is an adult, came before The Man Who Counts, in which Sandra and van Rijn were originally together on Diomedes whereas, in The Technic Civilization Saga, the entire future history series is published in chronological order of fictitious events so that whatever happened first is read first. It is good to have a choice, especially when rereading.