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The State Books in Order
Below you'll find the complete list of The State books in publication order. This is generally the recommended reading order for the series.
Reading order verified: April 2026
Quick Answer
What order should I read the The State series? Start with "A World Out of Time" (1976) and follow publication order through all 23 books.
The complete The State reading order is listed below in publication sequence.
Publication Order
A World Out of Time
1976
The Integral Trees
1983
The Smoke Ring
1987
All the Myriad Ways
1968
The Shape of Space
1969
Inconstant Moon
1971
The Flight of the Horse
1973
A Hole in Space
1974
Convergent Series
1979
Limits
1985
N-Space
1990
Playgrounds of the Mind
1991
Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale (With: John Byrne,Matt Webb)
1992
Three Books of Known Space
1996
Scatterbrain
2003
The Magic Goes Away Collection
2005
The Draco Tavern
2006
Stars and Gods
2010
The Best of Larry Niven
2010
Madness from the Inconstant Moon
2017
A Relic of the Empire
1966
The Locusts (With: Steven Barnes)
1979
The Return of William Proxmire
1989
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