Reading order
Manifold Trilogy reading order
1- 7.77.7 / 1071 ratings
- Score
- 4 volumes
- Volumes
- 1999–2002
- Published
- about 35 h
- Reading time
- Completed
- Status
- Science fiction
- Genre
Quick answer
Publication order
4 volumes1999–2002Completed
- Stephen Baxter’s hard science fiction thought experiment: three novels, each with the same hero, the astronaut and entrepreneur Reid Malenfant, set in a different universe that gives a different answer to the question of why we have not met aliens.
- In Time we are alone, and humanity may soon end; in Space the galaxy teems with life; in Origin a strange red moon appears in the sky.
- Phase Space collects related stories.
- Huge ideas in deep time.
- They can be read in any order.
A plan for the whole series
4 volumes, 1,787 pages, about 35 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 6 weeks.
Stages
2 stages, with 1 short book from outside the series between them. You finish around December 16, 2026, 4 days later than in one go.
- Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.8
- Stage 216 habout 3 weeksby December 16, 2026
- The end of the series
We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.
How this plan is calculated
The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →
Every volume in order
Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026
Frequently asked questions
Which Manifold Trilogy book is the longest?
“Space” is the longest at 464 pages; the shortest is “Phase Space” with 426 pages.
What should I read after Manifold Trilogy?
Other series by Stephen Baxter: Destiny's Children, Time's Tapestry, Xeelee Sequence.
