JHEREG: question about series order

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

I read Jhereg as part of the 3 book compilation, The Book of Jhereg. In an introduction, Brust says that many people ask him whether the series should be in publication order or in chronological order, which apparently are not the same. He says he's not the best person to ask but he recommends publication order, as demonstrated by the order of the compiled books.

For those of you who have read the series (and I have not, so please, no spoilers), which do you recommend and why?

Thanks!

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

Speaking as someone who's read the series, parts of it multiple times, I'd say definitely in order of publication. I'm always in favor of that, anyway, but in this series I'd suggest it too. Part of the reason is, simply, that it's by now almost impossible to read it according to internal chronology, because some of the later books have weird structures where, e.g., each chapter consists of three 3 sections, and each of those sections is set in a different part of the overall story than the others, or, in another book, the prologue is set in a different section than the novel, and so on. It takes some real puzzling to read this series according to internal chronology now, so I'd just go with the order of publication, especially for the first time. They're all standalone stories with a beginning and an end anyway, for the most part, so it works out well that way.

[Jim]

I agree with Stefan, but would just say it's impossible to read them in chronological order. Besides, the way the published order leads into discoveries of the world & the characters is half the fun.

[Shel, Moderator]

I agree as well.

[Chris]

I agree with this too.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

The author endorses publication order, FWIW. (There's even a note about this at the beginning of the first omnibus.) I agree that going chronologically would be less fun, and potentially confusing.

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Well, that's pretty unanimous! Thanks.