List of Alastair Reynolds Books in Order Books Reading Order

Alastair Reynolds is a Welsh author best known for his Revelation Space space-opera science-fiction series. The Revelation Space universe includes numerous novels, novellas, and short stories, all of which take place over several centuries, between CE 2205 to 40 000. The author has also written additional space operas, including Century Rain, which is one of my favorite novels in the genre.

Here are the Alastair Reynolds books in order for his series and standalone novels.

New Alastair Reynolds Books

Bone Silence (Revenger Universe #3), 2020

Revelation Space Series in Chronological Order

To get the most out of the Revelation Space series, here is the recommended reading order. This list includes all books, novellas, and short stories.

Great Wall of Mars – (2205, published 2000) – short story, published in Galactic North
Glacial – (2217, published 2001) – short story, published in SF Spectrum
A Spy in Europa – (ca. 2330 – 2340, published 1997) – short story
Weather – (2358, published 2006) – short story, published in Galactic North
The Prefect – (2427, published 2007) (titled Aurora Rising in the UK)
Elysium Fire – (takes place a few years after The Prefect, published 2018)
The Last Log of the Lachrimosa – (ca. 2500 – 2550, published 2014) – short story
Diamond Dogs – (ca. 2500 – 2550, published 2003) – 2 short story collection
Monkey Suit – (ca. 2511, published 2009) – short story
Dilation Sleep – (ca. 2513 – 2540, published 1990) – short story
Chasm City – (ca. 2517 – 2524, published 2001)
Grafenwalder’s Bestiary – (ca. 2540, published 2006) – short story, published in Galactic North
Turquoise Days – (2541, published 2002) – short story, published in Diamond Dogs
Revelation Space (The Inhibitor Trilogy #1) – (2524 – 2567, published 2000)
Nightingale – (ca. 2600, published 2006) – short story, published in Galactic North
Redemption Ark (The Inhibitor Trilogy #2) – (2605 – 2651, published 2002)
Absolution Gap (The Inhibitor Trilogy #3) – (ca. 2615 – 3125, published 2003)
Galactic North – (ca. 2303 – 40000, published 2006) – collection of short stories

Revelation Space Universe in Publication Order for Each Series

The Inhibitor Trilogy

Revelation Space (The Inhibitor Trilogy #1), 2000
Redemption Ark (The Inhibitor Trilogy #2), 2002
Absolution Gap (The Inhibitor Trilogy #3), 2003

The Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies

The Prefect, 2007 (titled Aurora Rising in the UK)
Elysium Fire, 2018

Standalone Revelation Space Novels and Novellas

Dilation Sleep, 1990
A Spy in Europa, 1997
Galactic North, 2006
Great Wall of Mars, 2000
Glacial, 2001
Diamond Dogs, 2001
Chasm City, 2001
Turquoise Days, 2002
Weather, 2006
Grafenwalder’s Bestiary, 2006
Nightingale, 2006
Monkey Suit, 2009
The Last Log of the Lachrimosa, 2014
Revenger / Revelation, 2018,

Poseidon’s Children Series

Revenger Universe

Doctor Who: Third Doctor Series

Harvest of Time, 2013

Other Alastair Reynolds Books

Century Rain, 2004
Pushing Ice, 2005
Zima Blue and Other Stories, 2006 (short story collection)
Beyond the Aquila Rift, 2008, (short story collection)
House of Suns, 2008
The Six Directions of Space, 2008 (novella)
Terminal World, 2009
Zima Blue, 2009, (novella)
Deep Navigation, 2010, (short story collection)
Troika, 2011, (novella)
Sleepover, 2012, (novella)
Thousandth Night, 2013,(novella)
Slow Bullets, 2015, (novella)
Medusa Chronicles, 2016
Permafrost, 2019 (novella)

About The Revelation Space Universe

The Revelation Space series includes six main books (three in the Revelation Space series, two in the Prefect Dreyfus series, and one standalone novel. It also includes numerous novellas and short stories, which are all listed above.

While the main trilogy includes around 300 years, between CE 2427 and 2727, the whole universe spawns several centuries, ranging from CE 2205 to 40 000. In an interview, the author mentioned that in his books he likes to include elements that might be at some point possible. For example, he doesn’t believe that we’ll be close to FTL travel anytime soon. Hence, his series doesn’t have any FTL travel, and his work mostly borrows from his knowledge and work experience, and his belief of what will be possible in the near or distant future.

He said in a podcast, “We’re trying to keep reasonably close to Newtonian physics or Einsteinian physics rather than Star Trek physics.”

Reading the Alastair Reynolds books in order especially for the Revelation Space universe is important to get the most out of the series. Even reading the short stories if you can track them down will be beneficial. If you can’t ge those, at least try to read the Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies series, followed by the main trilogy.

Alastair Reynolds Biography

C.C. Photo by Robert Day

Alastair Reynolds was born in 1966, in Barry, Wales, however, he grew up in Cornwall, and then moved to other northern areas of England and Scottland over the years. He enrolled at Newcastle University, where he studied space science in the form of physics and astronomy. Later on, he went to the University of St Andrews, from where he got his PhD in astronomy in 1991. After school, he moved to the Netherlands in Noordwijk, which is where he also met his French wife, Josette.

While in the Netherlands, he worked for the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA) as a research astronomer, working on various aspects of binary stars. He worked there until 2004 when he decided to pursue his dream of writing books full time. In 2008, he moved back home to Wales, and he currently lives near Cardiff.

Alastair Reynolds began writing his first stories between 1989–1991, while he was still a graduate student. The first four sci-fi stories got published between 1990 and 1992. While working for ESA, he began working on his first full-length novel to become Revelation Space, which would eventually be published in 2000. In 2009, the author signed a 10-book deal with the publishing house Gollanz, from where he got an advance of £1 million.

Over the years, Reynolds wrote and published numerous books, novellas, and especially short stories (around 50 written to date), all in the New Space Opera subgenre of science fiction. Some of the prevailing themes in his works are climate change, globalization, suppression of personal freedom, technological races, different intellectual systems, and memory implants.

Alastair Reynolds Awards

For his books, Alastair Reynolds won and was nominated for several awards over the years. Especially his list of nominations is impressive.

Revelation Space nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award Best Book, 2001
Chasm City winner of the British Science Fiction Association Best Novel, 2001
Absolution Gap nominated for the British Science Fiction Association Best Novel, 2003
Pushing Ice nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award Best Book nominee, 2006
The Prefect nominated for the British Science Fiction Association Best Novel, 2007
House of Suns nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award Best Book, 2009
Blue Remembered Earth nominated for the W Campbell Memorial Award Best Novel, 2013
On the Steel Breeze nominated for the John W Campbell Memorial Award Best Novel, 2014
The Medusa Chronicles nominated for the John W Campbell Memorial Award Best Novel, 2017
Revenger nominated for the Philip K Dick Award Best Book, 2017

Praise for Alastair Reynolds

Elysium Fire is a tremendously assured read, a fast-paced page-turner that delivers a well thought out story and characters you’ll come to care about. (The Guardian)
Revenger is classic Reynolds-that is to say, top of the line science fiction, where characters are matched beautifully with ideas and have to find their place in a complex future. More! (Greg Bear)
[Reynolds] is the most gifted hard SF writers working today. (Publishers Weekly)
Reynolds has sketched in a galaxy littered with the relics of former civilizations (human and alien), with plenty left to the reader’s imagination, and room for a sequel (Library Journal on Revenger)
Intensely compelling; darkly intelligent; hugely ambitious. (Paul J. McAuley on Revelation Space)
An inventive, wide-ranging, fascinating and exciting space adventure…The best first novel I’ve ever read since A Canticle for Lebowitz. (Don D’Ammassa on Revelation Space)
A delight. A refreshing and entertaining reconsideration of some of the genre’s oldest tropes. An impressive first novel, quite possibly the space opera of the year. (Jonathan Strahan on Revelation Space)

References

Books Reading Order » Science Fiction Authors » List of Alastair Reynolds Books in Order