In this article, "Vadim Panov," The Secret City ". All books in order ”, all volumes of the cycle are laid out on shelves, and in what order they need to be read so as not to get lost in this huge universe.
Brief background. A very, very long time
No one realizes that Moscow is a city in a city where for many centuries the descendants of ancient, almost extinct civilizations have lived side by side with ordinary people. These peoples were once rulers of our world, but as a result of bloody wars for mutual destruction only their miserable remnants survived, a very long time ago hidden in the Secret City, which thousands of years later became Moscow. From the first rulers, Asurov, there was nothing left, only crumbs of memories. Their people at the root were destroyed by the dark and majestic Nava, which in turn were able to overcome the bright green-eyed Luda. Escaping the Nava, the first to discover the Secret City. The survivors of Luda, who were defeated by the red-haired warlike Miracles, also went there later. However, the rule of the latter was also short-lived. Man came to Earth.
Everything secret must remain secret
The story is gradually revealed if you read the works written by Vadim Panov (The Secret City), in order. Three former great nations founded the three Great Houses: Chud, People and Nav. They hid, disappeared into a crowd of people and continue to live. Intrigue weave, periodically fighting among themselves. They use ancient magic, the source of which everyone has their own, but they do not disdain the scientific achievements of people, actively adapting them to their needs. They assimilated, but they observe the purity of blood. They are in full view, but no one in his life will ever guess that he is a representative of a different race. Respect for privacy is the most important and indestructible rule for everyone.
The beginning of the story. Mercenaries Cast
In addition to the main races, the Great Houses have vassal families, such as the Shas, ends, wasps, bailiffs, Red Caps, hvans and others. But some of the chosen people also know about the Secret City, and for the most part these are mercenaries. The best known and best is Cortes. In the first book , his team is formed, and they become one of the key characters in the plot and play an important role in the Secret City, are constantly in the thick of the confrontation between the Great Houses. Actually, in the series written by Panov (The Secret City), all books in order should be started from the novel “Unlucky Start Wars”. This is the first volume that came out in 2001. In the same year, a sequel came out under the name "Commander of War", in which the best detachment of mercenaries received their permanent composition: Cortes, Artem and Yana. The following year, 2002, “Attack by the Rules” and “All Shades of Black” were released, in the plot of which the fourth member of the team, the witch Inga, joins the team. And the reader gets acquainted with the massans and learns about a new, rare form of creature called metamorphs. The next works written by Panov (The Secret City, books in order) are “And there are heroes in hell” (2002) and “Concubines of hatred” (2003). These novels are united by a storyline associated with hyperboreans, and Yana Mannerheim is not quite Yana. What follows is the “Inquisitor's Shadow” (2004), which reveals the true power of faith, and the “Wanderers' Chair” (2004), where the author finally opens the curtain on the mystery of the Outer Worlds.
Anthologies: author's stories and fan fiction
Also in 2004, the first anthology book, The Rules of the Blood, was published, it contains both small stories by the author himself and the best creations of fans of the series, written around the world of the Secret City, which Panov himself selected. The order of the Secret City books in the anthology cycle is a little disturbed. It is also worth immediately pointing to other anthologies in the series because they all do not intersect chronologically with the rest of the plot, since they are collected from stories related to different time periods. These are the Web of Confrontation (2010), the Mystery of Vengeance (2013) and The Ermine Hunt (2014). They can be read both in order and scatter.
A variety of stories. Cortes team fades into the background
Vadim Panov (The Secret City) continues the book in order with the novel The Royal Cross (2005). It is about the dire consequences of addiction to gambling with fate. The King of the Hill (2005) was published as the twelfth book in the series, here for the first time the reader gets to know the Sabbath vampires closely, and the Red Caps recall their roots. The very first prince of the Dark Court appears in Dragon Day (2006). After two whole years, a new novel is released in a cycle written by Vadim Panov (The Secret City). Reading all the books in order is important in order to understand the general outline of the plot, despite the fact that each novel has a new story. In “The Smell of Fear” (2008), an acquaintance is made with a certain person who was able to frighten Santiago himself, the commissar of the Dark Court, and in “Rebus Gall” (2009) with a real deity. “Dizziness” came out only in 2012, after four years and one anthology, a certain Avenger decided to challenge the Great Houses and went unnoticed. “In the circle of times” (2013), and the chela again checked the Secret City for strength, now it is a former mercenary, at one time a legend. St. Petersburg has become a testing ground for a new bloody virtual-real game in the work “Wild Persians” (2014). And in “Green Gambit” (2014), the first prince Navi again tries to seize power in the Secret City. Two novels, published in 2015, which are currently the last, were co-written: “Fools die first” with Viktor Tochinov, and “Vampire Hunters” with Igor Pronin. However, in both cases, events unfold in chronological sequence with the main storyline, and the main author is still Panov. "The Secret City", all the books in order presented above were published in a logical sequence, without prequels and other branches of the plot.