Left Behind Series Reading Order Calculator & Guide

Find the right order for reading a series of books can be hard. Some pages on the net list the books by author, then by characters or title of the series. For instance, if one looks at the author Lee Child, it leads to the series about Jack Reacher.

When it works one finds both the order of publication and the timeline of the stories. Usually there is a short explanation about every group, together with linked series.

How to Find the Right Order to Read a Book Series

Order of publication and time order not always match. The Chronicles of Narnia show that well. C.S.

Lewis first wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but later added a prequel called The Magician’s Nephew, that became almost the last. Some versions list it as first book, while others put it in the sixth place. Everything depends on what stands on the cover.

Books written later in a series almost always build on the earlier ones. So the publishing order commonly fits with the internal flow of the story. Simply reading by publication widely works.

For the books of Chrestomanci, start with Charmed Life and the book about Christopher Chant works well, because following the tiem of the events fills the gaps nicely.

Even so not every series requires strict reading order. The Wayfarers of Becky Chambers, the Hainish Cycle of Ursula K. Le Guin and the Culture series of Iain M. Banks all intend to be mixed freely. The Earthsea books of Le Guin are great page-turners, that one can read in any order.

The books of Elizabeth Chadwick also stand alone, although they follow time.

The series about Will Trent happens in Atlanta, with main agent Will Trent, his partner Faith Mitchell and Angie Polaski. The first too books are called Triptych and Fractured. The series of Monica Murphy includes The Callahans and Lancaster Prep, and one finds guides for them also.

Goodreads helps well for checking reading order. Searching there usually shows lists of time order and publishing order. It gets annoying when a series does not show clearly anywhere.

Sometimes Wikipedia not even points out that a group of books forms a series. A simple search with the name of the series plus “order of books” most commonly isuseful.

LibraryThing also helps for following series. It shows what books in groups one already read. Pages about series can have sections for big works, stories and main books.

The page about The Lord of the Rings shows this setup. Starting a series in the middle happens more often than one thinks, especially before digital books made the first book much more easy to find.