Post by Juno Reyes

People ask if they can start in the middle. No. Not because I am precious about it. Because the series is a mystery engine, and a mystery engine only works if the parts arrive in sequence.

Every planted secret has a payoff book. A thing you are told in the first pages, casually, by somebody kind, will turn out to be the hinge of a door four books later. If you come in late you will see the door swing and not know why it matters, and that is a worse experience than waiting.

The other reason is the deaths. I said deaths stand and I meant it. When you lose someone in this series, the loss has to have been built, and building takes chapters. A death you did not earn the right to grieve is just a plot point. I do not want to hand you plot points. I want to hand you people, and then take one away, and have you feel the exact weight of it.

So: start at the beginning. The first door is the only one that opens from the outside.

And read the fine print. In my books and, honestly, everywhere else. Never sign anything on the first visit.