Subject: (urth) Which order?

From: Nigel Price <nigel.aprice at virgin.net>
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 20:55:20 +0000

Oren asked...

>>I have a quick question. Would it be
>>terrible if I read the Short Sun
>>sequence after finishing the New Sun
>>one? Or must I read the Long Sun in
>>between?

It's up to you, but I really think that you'll get much more out of it if
you read the books in sequence and read Long Sun before Short Sun. They are
intimately related. To do it the other way round would be like reading _Urth
of the New Sun_ before _The Book of the New Sun_. Once you start reading
Short Sun, you'll want to go off and read Long Sun anyway, so why not take
them in order in the first place?

Or let me put it another way. Long Sun is brilliant, so why miss out on a
treat?

Nigel

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From: Gareth Jelley <gjelley at btopenworld.com>
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 20:58:21 +0000

> Once you start reading

This is true, and I do indeed want to read the Long Sun now I've started on
the Short Sun; but the other point I'd make is that 'On Blue's Waters' is a
beautiful novel in its own right, and reading it without any other knowledge
of 'Urth' wasn't detrimental (for me, at least). The quality of OBW as a
really marvellous work of literature, in its own right, shone through, and
it never felt incomplete, as a novel. If that makes sense... And this, I
think, is what was at the heart of my devil's advocacy :o)

Best,

G.

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