The Planetfall series by Emma Newman has four novels, Planetfall (2015), After Atlas (2016), Before Mars (2018) and Atlas Alone (2019), plus a 2023 short story collection, Before, After, Alone. Newman recommends reading them in publication order with the collection last, although each novel is a standalone set in the same near-future universe. Her main advice is to read After Atlas before Atlas Alone, which picks up about six months later with several of the same characters.
Newman describes the books as interlinked, mostly in minor ways, with the occasional recurring character. The novels move between a colony on a distant planet, an Earth run by corporate-owned governments and a base on Mars.
Planetfall series order
This is the order Newman recommends on her official books page, and it matches publication order. Years are first publication.
- Planetfall (2015)
- After Atlas (2016)
- Before Mars (2018)
- Atlas Alone (2019)
- Before, After, Alone (2023), a collection of ten short stories
Penguin published the novels in the US, the first two under its Roc imprint and the last two under Ace, and Penguin Random House’s current listings, including its page for Planetfall, name Ace for all four. Gollancz published the UK editions.
Publication order or a different route?
Newman says the books could be read in any order, and her site offers a second sequence that she calls viable, simply a different experience: After Atlas, Atlas Alone, Before Mars, Planetfall, then the collection. Both orders put After Atlas before Atlas Alone and save Before, After, Alone for last.
Two notes help. The official blurb for Atlas Alone gives away events from After Atlas and Before Mars, as Newman warns on her site, so newcomers should skip it. And Before Mars connects to After Atlas in ways that reward reading After Atlas first. For a first read, publication order is the simplest choice.
The Planetfall books, one by one
Each premise below stops at the opening setup.
Planetfall (2015)
First published: November 3, 2015, by Roc in the US as a paperback original.
Renata Ghali, known as Ren, gave up everything to follow Lee Suh-Mi, her lover, to a distant planet that Suh-Mi believed would reveal the truth about humanity’s place in the cosmos. When the colonists arrived, Suh-Mi went into the alien structure they call God’s City and never came back. More than two decades later, Ren works as the colony’s 3D printer engineer at the foot of that structure and keeps a devastating secret. Then a young stranger arrives, born too late to have been on the original voyage, and he looks strikingly like Suh-Mi.
Planetfall followed Newman’s Split Worlds urban fantasy novels, and she has said she was “really scared before writing Planetfall.” Ren tells the story in the first person. Robert H. Bedford at Tor.com called it “a fascinating character study” and a novel about how buried secrets can damage a small colony, while Charlie Jane Anders at io9 wrote that its second half becomes as much a psychological drama as an alien exploration. Newman narrates the audiobook herself. Recognition: shortlisted for the 2016 Gaylactic Spectrum Award for Best Novel.
After Atlas (2016)
First published: November 8, 2016, by Roc in the US.
Gov-corp detective Carlos Moreno was a baby when the ship Atlas left Earth to seek the truth among the stars, and its departure shaped his life: it took his mother away and led Alejandro Casales, leader of a religious cult called the Circle, to his door. On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the launch, Casales is found dead in his hotel room, and Carlos is put in charge of the investigation. Bourke wrote at Tor.com that, were it not for the background presence of the departed Atlas and what it means to readers of Planetfall, it would be easy to classify as a dystopian noir murder mystery. Recognition: shortlisted for the 2017 Arthur C. Clarke Award, and named by Publishers Weekly among the best science fiction, fantasy and horror books of 2016.
Before Mars (2018)
First published: April 17, 2018, by Ace in the US; Gollancz published the UK edition.
After months of travel, Anna Kubrin arrives on Mars for a new job as a geologist and de facto artist-in-residence, leaving her husband and baby on Earth for more than a year. In her room on the base she finds a note in her own handwriting, one she cannot remember writing, warning her not to trust the colony psychologist. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Swapna Krishna called it “a psychological thriller wearing the cloak of a gripping sci-fi story.” Recognition: shortlisted for the BSFA Award for Best Novel.
Atlas Alone (2019)
First published: April 16, 2019, by Ace in the US.
Set about six months after the end of After Atlas and following several of its characters, the novel centers on Dee, a dedicated gamer searching for a “mersive,” an immersive game, good enough to let her escape her trauma. A designer asks her to play-test his new game, which is unlike anything she has played before, and soon a death inside the game appears to be mirrored by a death in the real world. Ana Grilo, writing for Kirkus Reviews, called it “a deeply, deeply unsettling horror novel.” Recognition: shortlisted for the BSFA Award for Best Novel; Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and called it a “superb fourth volume.”
Before, After, Alone (2023)
Published on March 30, 2023, by Emmington Press as an ebook and audiobook, this collection gathers ten short stories set before, during and after the four novels. Several focus on characters from the books, including Mack from Planetfall, Arnolfi from Before Mars, and Travis and Carl from After Atlas and Atlas Alone. It also includes an interview in which Newman answers crowd-sourced questions about the setting.
Planetfall awards: won versus nominated
- The Planetfall series: finalist for the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Series. The Expanse by James S. A. Corey won.
- Planetfall: shortlisted for the 2016 Gaylactic Spectrum Award for Best Novel.
- After Atlas: shortlisted for the 2017 Arthur C. Clarke Award. Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad won.
- Before Mars: shortlisted for the BSFA Award for Best Novel. Gareth L. Powell’s Embers of War won that year.
- Atlas Alone: shortlisted for the BSFA Award for Best Novel. Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Ruin won that year.
In the award records kept by the ISFDB and the Science Fiction Awards Database, none of the Planetfall entries is a win. Penguin’s cover copy calls Newman a Hugo Award winner, and that win came for her podcast: Tea and Jeopardy, presented by Newman with Peter Newman, won the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Fancast.
Emma Newman’s other work
- The Split Worlds: a completed five-book urban fantasy series that Newman says must be read in order: Between Two Thorns, Any Other Name and All Is Fair (all 2013), A Little Knowledge (2016) and All Good Things (2017). It began at Angry Robot and is now published by Diversion. Between Two Thorns was nominated for two 2014 British Fantasy Awards, for best fantasy novel and best newcomer.
- Industrial Magic: two gaslamp fantasy novellas, Brother’s Ruin and Weaver’s Lament (both 2017), set in 1850s England, where magic rather than science powers the industrial revolution. Brother’s Ruin was a 2018 British Fantasy Award nominee for best novella.
- The Vengeance (2025): a fantasy swashbuckler published by Solaris in May 2025. As of October 2026, no release date has been announced for its sequel, which Newman wrote in March 2026 had been delayed.
- Podcasts: Tea and Jeopardy has ended, and since 2025 Newman has co-hosted Starship Alexandria with Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Books like Planetfall
Each pick comes from a comparison drawn by a professional reviewer.
- The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996): reviewing Planetfall for Tor.com, Bedford was reminded of Russell’s novel and its sequel, Children of God, in the way science and religion are at odds yet work together to drive parts of the plot.
- Foreigner by C. J. Cherryh (1994): the same review compared Planetfall‘s limited perspective and minimal detail to Cherryh’s first Foreigner novel.
- The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (2014): at io9, Anders called Planetfall very different from Faber’s novel but said it has a similar feeling: as strange as the alien world is, the strangest thing on it is the humans.
- Grass by Sheri S. Tepper (1989): reviewing Before Mars for Den of Geek, Megan Crouse said its look at marriage and relationships at times reminded her of Grass.
- The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley (2019): in Kirkus Reviews, Grilo paired Atlas Alone with Hurley’s novel, since both deal with oppression, revenge and the ethics of taking matters into one’s own hands, though she noted that The Light Brigade ends on a more hopeful note.
For other authors and series, browse more reading orders.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Planetfall series order?
Read Planetfall (2015), After Atlas (2016), Before Mars (2018) and Atlas Alone (2019), then the short story collection Before, After, Alone (2023). This is publication order and the order Emma Newman recommends.
Can you read the Planetfall books out of order?
Yes. Newman calls the four novels genuine standalones that could be read in any order. The one caution is Atlas Alone, which follows on six months after After Atlas with several of the same characters; Newman says it can be read first but recommends reading After Atlas beforehand.
Is After Atlas a sequel to Planetfall?
Not in the usual sense. It is set on Earth, forty years after the ship Atlas departed, with a different cast, and Bourke noted at Tor.com that in strict chronological terms its events come before those of Planetfall.
Will there be a fifth Planetfall book?
None has been announced as of October 2026. Newman’s books page has said she would love to write another book in the Planetfall universe but that there are no publishing offers to support one.
Did the Planetfall series win a Hugo Award?
No. It was a finalist for the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Series, which The Expanse won. Newman’s Hugo win is the 2017 Best Fancast award for Tea and Jeopardy.
Lead photo: Emma Newman, guest of honor at Åcon 2018. Photo: Henry Söderlund, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
