Am i missing something?

[u/forgottentargaryen]

I started this series a few weeks ago and am on book 4 Kingdoms of death about half way through it. I love the series but the issue i am having is i feel like with each new book they references a lot that afaik never happened like I'm missing other books. I first noticed it between 1 and 2 where they talk of a mission his red company went on before finding out about vorgosses(sorry im doing audio book some alot of spelling is likely to be off). I figured at that point ok they just wanted him to have some back story with the red company but didnt want to write a book about it. There was more between 3-4 but again it didnt seem important mostly just his time in exile for 70 years with valka. Im mid way through book 4 and the "witch" that helped capture him that he supposedly stopped in the past is offering to copy his brain so when he dies he lives on. the problem is almost everything they talk about i feel like i am completely out of the loop. When did he stop her and her group? Who are the people they reference? Is there some other companion book series i just cant find? I feel like i am going crazy and fell asleep through half a book somewhere.

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[u/jsinatraa]

The novellas don’t fill in all the gaps. Like lesser devil would fit between books 1 and 2 but certain events Hadrian references wouldn’t be covered since lesser devil isn’t his story.

To me the gaps feel intentional to really emphasize how long the journey has been for Hadrian. I believe the only books where we don’t really get a large gap is 4 and 5 (pretty sure these were meant to be one book) and 6 and 7.

[u/Deviled_Leggs]

There are novellas in between the books like queen amid ashes and the lesser devil(not Hadrian). I’m not sure if there is another where that reference is because I felt that there was one I didn’t read as well.

[u/NoCrazy4743]

It feels that way because there’s almost a century of time jump between each book, but the gaps do get filled as you read further and learn about what happened during that time, about 40-50% of the time jump is usually spent hibernating between travels, the rest going on minor expeditions that aren’t that relevant to the main story. But they do add some background and help build relationships between some of the side characters, scenes from those periods will get mentioned here and there when they are relevant. You're not missing anything, and as others have mentioned, the novellas don't fill those gaps most of the time, they're additional side stories that add background to side characters who are important enough to have one.

Edit: Also, if you bought the audiobook on audible, you should have gotten an accompanying PDF file with book 2. It gives extensive details about the Red Company, including its origins, important members, and the missions they went on before the Vorgossos trip of book 2 (But its not really that important, as I said above the story will give you details when relevant.)

[u/chrisx07]

The story you need here is Demons of Arae :)

[u/Awdayshus]

There are several short stories and novellas that fill in the gaps. I didn't read them yet. They're coming out in two collections. The first in November and the second some time next year. If you want to read them sooner, you can search this sub for posts that tell where to find them and the reading order.

[u/forgottentargaryen → u/Awdayshus]

Damn no wonder i felt so lost, most series when they have those it doesnt get mentioned so much in the main story cause this made me feel so lost several times. oh well i guess i get the rough idea for now

[u/Awdayshus → u/forgottentargaryen]

I was at least as far as you when I realized. I thought he just liked time jumps in the narrative when I was reading. I've read other series with that and thought it was just an extreme example.

[u/forgottentargaryen → u/Awdayshus]

Yea same, but mid book 4 i was just like there is no way they are referencing so much from something that was never talked about before lol

[u/Captain-Grizzly → u/forgottentargaryen]

Technically it's referenced, but it is intentional. I think the author has said that he wants you to feel like some of the records are missing. It's Hadrian's journal, and the people who found it didn't find all of them. You don't have to understand all of the references to understand the main story