Tuesday 29 November 2011

The Adventures of Ulysses Quicksilver - reading order

A few people have asked me, now that there are so many Ulysses Quicksilver novels and novellas out there, what is the correct reading order?

First off, I would like to point out that every novel is a standalone story and so you can pick up the series anywhere, without fear of not knowing what's going on.

However, if you are keen to enjoy every snippet and nuance of the developing story arc, or you just like to start a new series at the beginning, then here is the order in which the stories should be read, which is chronological order in which the stories take place... kinda...

1) Unnatural History (novel) - May-June 1997
2) Leviathan Rising (novel) - July-August 1997
3) Fruiting Bodies (novella) - September 1997
4) Vanishing Point (novella) - October 1997
5) Human Nature (novel) - November 1997
6) Christmas Past (novella) - December 1997
7) Evolution Expects (novel) - February 1998
8) Blood Royal (novel) - March-April 1998
9) White Rabbit (novella) - May 1998
10) Proteus Unbound (novella) - May 1998
11) Dark Side (novel) - June 1998
12) Anno Frankenstein (novel) - September-October 1943
13) Red-Handed (The first part of Time's Arrow) - May 1998

(The novella Conqueror Worm is set in 1797 and stands apart as it is not about Ulysses Quicksilver at all.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just a small problem with this. I'm reading the Omnibus version of the first three novels and am half way through the 2nd book [Leviathen Rising]. There have been clear referalls in both Unnatural History and Leviathen Rising to events that occured prior to these books [The Himmalayas events and The Cornish coast events to be specific] and I note that in the 'blurb' on Jonathan Green on the books final page 'Human Nature' is recorded as the third ABADDON title, but the fourth in the series. What is then this first mystery title, not produced by ABADDON, but whose events are clearly referred to in the pages of the Omnibus that comprise the first three ABADDON titles?

Jonathan Green said...

I don't have 'Human Nature' to hand right now, but it's probably referring to the fact that it is my third Abaddon title but the fourth Pax Britannia book. This is because Al Ewing wrote one after I wrote 'Unnatural History' called 'El Sombra'. Although it's set in the same world, it has nothing to do with the adventures of Ulysses Quicksilver. Those previous escapades you refer to have yet to be recorded for posterity...

Anonymous said...

I am an avid reader of the series, and whenever people who come to me wanting a good read with lots of action and a good story, I tell them to pick up the Pax Britannia series. Myself, I found the series by accident while browsing through Amazon, and after reading "Unnatural History" fell in love wtih all of them. My favorite as of now, is Time's Arrow. What I want to know is, is there going to be another installmet, seeing that "Time's Arrow" left us wtih a cliff-hanger??...Because I read and re-read this series over and over again and it never EVER gets old to me.

Jonathan Green said...

Hi Anonymous

What a great review. Thank you. (Any chance of popping something similar up on Amazon?)

I've actually been talking to Abaddon about what happens next with the adventures of Ulysses Quicksilver, so there might be some more news some time next year...