Is it necessary to read Immortal Coil before Cold Equations?

[CaffeineAddict]

I've heard that Cold Equations follows on from The Body Electric. Is this correct?
If so, as I am almost up to Cold Equations in reading through the novels, is it necessary to pause and read that first?

Edit: I meant Immortal Coil, not The Body Electric.

 

[Sci]

Re: Is it necessary to read The Body Electric before Cold Equations?

No, Cold Equations is a trilogy of which The Body Electric is the finale.

The first two Cold Equations novels are The Persistence of Memory and Silent Weapons.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Re: Is it necessary to read The Body Electric before Cold Equations?

Doh, I'm getting my titles mixed up, I actually meant Immortal Coil.

 

[Sci]

Oooh, okay.

The Cold Equations trilogy does follow up on Immortal Coil. Everything you need to know from Immortal Coil is included in Cold Equations, but I'd recommend reading Immortal Coil first -- mostly because it's an awesome, awesome book that I think you'll really enjoy.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

OK, thanks, I'll do that then.

 

[Christopher]

Is it necessary to read Immortal Coil first? No.

Is it desirable? Hell, yes, absolutely.

 

[Relayer1]

What Sci and Christopher said.

I went one further and read an old adaptation by DC Fontana of TV pilot by Gene Coon and Gene Rodenberry - it sort of connects in. You don't need to read that one though...

 

[Christopher]

^You mean The Questor Tapes, right?

 

[Relayer1]

^You mean The Questor Tapes, right?

It really would have helped if I had mentioned that...

 

[Mage]

As stated, certainly don't have to. But Immortal Coil is a damned good read!!!

 

[Section 31]

I read Immortal Coil first and was glad I did. While Cold Equations does provide a recap of the earlier work's plot points that the newer story draws from, I think that reading Immortal Coil first would provide you with a greater sense of context than you would have without it.

 

[Patrick O'Brien]

^Agreed, I found Immortal Coil, added to my enjoyment of the trilogy

 

[Paris]

I third the sentiment. I wasn't going to read it first, changed my mind, and was quite happy that I did. Immortal Coil is a fantastic read and makes the enjoyment of Mack's trilogy even better

 

[Kertrats47]

I see you've already gone ahead and read it, but I just wanted to chime in and echo the sentiments up-thread. Immortal Coil was an excellent novel, and I'm really glad that David Mack made his trilogy a sequel to that story as it brought it to my attention. I did a quick read of it before I started in on The Persistence of Memory and enjoyed it immensely. I probably wouldn't have read it (yet) otherwise.

 

[Reanok]

Immortal Coil is a really good character study of Data an the Cold Equations books stories are kind of a sequel to this novel.There really some of the best novels I've read about Data in a long time.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Well thanks for the reccomendations, I just finished Immortal Coil and really enjoyed it.

 

[thribs]

I never did and I understood it fine, but I just came off reading the Enterprise novels where he is featured as well so he was fresh in my mind.

 

[tomswift2002]

Even though I’ve had “Immortal Coil” since it came out, I still haven’t read it, but I have read “The Cold Equations” and “The Light Fantastic” and “Control”, and I’ve been fine. Everything you need to know is recapped, which made sense since there was about a decade between the release of Coil and the trilogy.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Five years later: Yes.