Claudette Gabbs asked Michael J. Sullivan:

Which series do I read first? The Riyria Revelations or The Riyria Chronicles?

Michael J. Sullivan That depends. The Chronicles were written AFTER Revelations but the events occur BEFORE. When I wrote the new series, I wanted to make sure people could get a satisfying experience (although a slightly different one) either way. So, the real question is: "Are you the type of person who enjoys reading chronologically or in the way the author wrote the books?"

Both are legitimate ways of going about it. Personally, I like order of publication for a few reasons.

1. It's the way I intended people to be introduced to the characters and world. Now, one thing I should mention...because I wrote the entire series before releasing any of the books I structured it so that I would expose character background and world-building a bit at a time, so each book would have some more to fill you in on. In theory, that was a good way to go, but for some, they find Theft of Swords a little "light on details" and they think it's not coming. What they don't know is that it's there, just spread out.

2. It's a better value - Revelations has 6 books but they were released as 3, 2-book omnibus editions. So you get 2 full-length novels for the price of 1.

3. To reward "veteran" readers, I put a few Easter eggs in Chronicles for them to find. These aren't anything that effects the plot, and those who haven't read Chronicles won't be lost or confused. They are just little winks and nods to people "in the know."

4. Lastly, there were a few characters in Revelations that I always wanted to hear more from (and learn more about their histories). I couldn't really do that in the first set of novels, but when I wrote Chronicles it gave me an opportunity to revisit with these people, and having seen them as secondary characters first, you might be more interested when they become main characters.

Now, all that said, I've heard from A LOT of people who read in chronological order who insist their way was "the best." And they make some very compelling arguments for it. That's good, because it let's me know that my goal of making both satisfying worked out.

So...the TL:DR answer is if you REALLY prefer your stories told chronological then start with The Crown Tower. If that's not a high priority to you, then I'd start with Theft of Swords. I hope that helps.

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