Reading order
The State reading order
1
2
3- 7.67.6 / 10102 ratings
- Score
- 3 volumes
- Volumes
- 1976–1987
- Published
- about 15 h
- Reading time
- Completed
- Status
- Science fiction#108
- Genre
Quick answer
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Publication order
3 volumes1976–1987Completed
- Larry Niven’s loosely connected novels set in the future of the State, a world government.
- A World Out of Time follows a man frozen in the twentieth century who wakes in a new body as the State’s property and escapes on a slower-than-light ship into the far future.
- The Integral Trees, which won the Locus Award, imagines descendants of a ship’s crew living on mile-long trees in a ring of air around a neutron star; The Smoke Ring is its sequel.
- Each stands alone.
A plan for the whole series
3 volumes, 845 pages, about 15 hours. At 45 min a day that is 21 days.
Share of volume 1’s readers who reach the last volume. Chance of reaching the last volume: high
Stages
This series fits in one stage. You finish around November 19, 2026.
- Stage 115 h21 daysby November 19, 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 State book is the best?
By reader score, The Integral Trees (7.6/10). The lowest-rated is A World Out of Time (7.6/10).
Which The State book is the longest?
“The Smoke Ring” is the longest at 362 pages; the shortest is “The Integral Trees” with 240 pages.
What should I read after The State?
Other series by Larry Niven: Ringworld series, CoDominium.
