Do I need to read all the supplementary material for The Expanse, and in what order?

Question

I want to read The Expanse, but I'm kind of confused about which to read first and what I actually need to read. So far as I can tell The Expanse is a series of novels that fall in roughly chronological order, but there's also a number of novellas and short stories which jump around the chronology.I figure the shorter stuff is going to be harder to find (published in magazines, etc). Does it matter what order I read the non-novel material in? Can/should I skip the non-novel material entirely?

Answer 1

Yes, you do and the most efficient way to go about it, is by reading them in chronological order, this will help you to follow the chain of events in the stories and link them in a way that will enhance your understanding and avoid confusion. As such, below is an outline one may want to use;

Leviathan Wakes - 2011

The Butcher of Anderson station - 2011

Caliban's War - 2012

gods of Risk - 2012

Drive - 2012

Abaddon's Gate - 2013

The Churn - 2014

Chibola Burn - 2014

Nemsis Games - 2015

The Vital Abyss - 2015

Babylon's Ashes- 2016

United Expanse Novella

Persepolis Rising

I hope I did not leave out any. Many Thanks.