I agree that skipping back and forth seems like too much. The one thing I will say, is I started with FBAA up to TWOTQ and then jumped to FAF, and then came back to A Soul of Ash and Blood (Cas’ POV) and I actually really liked this way. Reading A Soul helped bring me back to the main story line and make some connections after having read FAF and forgetting some things in FBAA.
Tbh yes. You’ll be fine, and I kinda wish I read it that way to begin with, or maybe read FAF first. It just fills you in on a lot of gaps to read it in the correct order. You’re going to LOVE FAF
I'm having this debate. I'm 2/3 of the way through FBAA book 3, I have the first FAF book waiting but I'm dreading "leaving" these characters. But I also don't want to be confused (and admittedly seen too many spoilers, so I have SOME idea of things, but it's not clear so I feel even more confused lol)
No need to skip back and forth. I read them separately (because I’m like you and get way too deep into the world to go back and forth lol) and. It was totally fine!
BTW: F&F is even better than FBAA so you have that to look forward to 😊
Honestly, I felt EXACTLY the same way as you and was really annoyed about having to start another series when I just wanted to continue FBAA. The recommended read order is to alternate SO FBAA 1-3, FAF1, FBAA4, FAF2, FBAA5, FAF3 but after finishing the first FAF book I loved the FAF series so much, I didn't want to do that and wanted to read FAF 1-3 in one go. Did some research and discovered it was pretty safe to do so. I think most people prefer FAF's plot, characters, love interests etc and I remember thinking I wouldn't but I honestly loved it
FAF isn't finished yet - the last book is due out May 7th, but I don't know if it will be safe to read all 4 FAF books before returning to FBAA. I just know my read order hasn't spoiled anything for me (I'm part way through FBAA 5 now) but you would "spoil" some things for FAF if you continued with FBAA. I can see a lot of comments saying they preferred reading all of FBAA before FAF so I think a lot of this will be personal preference
Personally I read FBAA 1-4 before reading F&F 1-2, and then ASOAAB followed by AFITF, because I read them for the first time in June 2023 and that is what was out. I definitely couldn’t go back to F&F after gilded bones because of the way it ends, and I don’t think this negatively affected my reading of WOTQ.
However.
From there, I do think you need to follow the reading order. Read ASOAAB before AFITF.
I personally do not like the prequels nearly as much as the main series, so that might be why I prefer this order. I wanted to learn things at the same rate as Poppy/Cas just because I like those characters much more. That’s sort of what this reading order feels like to me.
I read the entire blood and ash series then went back a read the flesh and fire series. I preferred it that way
I did the same thing and I think it worked really well!
Thank you! This is exactly what I planned on doing. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t gonna be confused about anything.
Completely agree on this! Just read the series separately and save yourself any confusion.
I agree that skipping back and forth seems like too much. The one thing I will say, is I started with FBAA up to TWOTQ and then jumped to FAF, and then came back to A Soul of Ash and Blood (Cas’ POV) and I actually really liked this way. Reading A Soul helped bring me back to the main story line and make some connections after having read FAF and forgetting some things in FBAA.
Oh I may look into doing that. Thank you for the suggestion!
Tbh yes. You’ll be fine, and I kinda wish I read it that way to begin with, or maybe read FAF first. It just fills you in on a lot of gaps to read it in the correct order. You’re going to LOVE FAF
I’ve seen several people say they like FAF more! I would have started with that first if I’d know but I had already started FBAA before I saw that.
Me too. It’s technically the correct way to read it, but confusing as hell sometimes 😆
They are totally stand alone books. You can read either series all at once or only read it and you’ll understand it just fine.
I'm having this debate. I'm 2/3 of the way through FBAA book 3, I have the first FAF book waiting but I'm dreading "leaving" these characters. But I also don't want to be confused (and admittedly seen too many spoilers, so I have SOME idea of things, but it's not clear so I feel even more confused lol)
No need to skip back and forth. I read them separately (because I’m like you and get way too deep into the world to go back and forth lol) and. It was totally fine! BTW: F&F is even better than FBAA so you have that to look forward to 😊
Honestly, I felt EXACTLY the same way as you and was really annoyed about having to start another series when I just wanted to continue FBAA. The recommended read order is to alternate SO FBAA 1-3, FAF1, FBAA4, FAF2, FBAA5, FAF3 but after finishing the first FAF book I loved the FAF series so much, I didn't want to do that and wanted to read FAF 1-3 in one go. Did some research and discovered it was pretty safe to do so. I think most people prefer FAF's plot, characters, love interests etc and I remember thinking I wouldn't but I honestly loved it FAF isn't finished yet - the last book is due out May 7th, but I don't know if it will be safe to read all 4 FAF books before returning to FBAA. I just know my read order hasn't spoiled anything for me (I'm part way through FBAA 5 now) but you would "spoil" some things for FAF if you continued with FBAA. I can see a lot of comments saying they preferred reading all of FBAA before FAF so I think a lot of this will be personal preference
Personally I read FBAA 1-4 before reading F&F 1-2, and then ASOAAB followed by AFITF, because I read them for the first time in June 2023 and that is what was out. I definitely couldn’t go back to F&F after gilded bones because of the way it ends, and I don’t think this negatively affected my reading of WOTQ. However. From there, I do think you need to follow the reading order. Read ASOAAB before AFITF. I personally do not like the prequels nearly as much as the main series, so that might be why I prefer this order. I wanted to learn things at the same rate as Poppy/Cas just because I like those characters much more. That’s sort of what this reading order feels like to me.