I devoured them in order and felt that worked really well, but I’ve also wondered if that needs to be done and what the experience might be of reading them in another order. I think any combination might need to end with The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, it really felt it was the solid final keystone, but I could be wrong about that too. So, any weirdos out there?
The connections were so tangential, any of them could be a standalone. I felt the last book was by far the weakest, but that wasn’t because of any factors outside the book itself. The third book was my favorite, its exploration of the Exodus Fleet both from the inside and the outside felt the most real.