James Blish, Cities in Flight series reading order

Question

Is it important to read the four books in order? (are they merely set in the same 'universe', or is it on ongoing saga?)

I've just picked up the fourth book, and I've enjoyed the first few chapters but don't want to continue just yet, in case there's a bigger picture I'm missing.

Missing minor details is fine, but if there's an ongoing storyline I'll seek out the other titles before starting. For example there's little to be gained from reading Asimov's empire series (imo) in order, but it's vital his (first) foundation trilogy is.

I'm trying to avoid checking Wiki, Goodreads, etc. due to possible spoilers.

Thanks

Answer 1

It's an ongoing story but the books are reasonably disconnected and can mostly be read in isolation.

The first book is deep background from the pre-spaceflight era and may even be omitted if you're not interested in that kind of thing. It tells the story of the invention of the spindizzy and the anti-agathic drugs.

The second tells an early story of New York and one of it's earlier prominent characters. Again, it's reasonably disconnected, but if you read them out of order the third one spoilers it a bit.

The third and fourth books are more closely linked.

The whole series has been published in a nice omnibus format a number of times (most recently IIRC as part of the "Sci-fi Masterworks" collection, although I have a much older edition), it should be easily found in any bookstore with a good sci-fi section, so I'd personally recommend seeking that out and reading them in order, although - as I indicated above - the first two, while part of the story, are disconnected enough that they can be skipped or read later as prequels if you wish. The third and fourth should definitely be read in order.