Do the books in the Xanth and Incarnation of Immortality series have to be read in order?

Thanks, in advance, for your thoughts.

Ideally, yes read both series in order.

The Xanth books progress in time, so characters in early books are the parents of characters in some of the later books. They can be read on their own as individual stories but the lineage helps with understanding them.

The Incarnation of Immortality series are also individual books but events in each book are key to the overall storyline.

Hope that helps

Thanks for responding. I'll now have to work on getting all the books (or at least some from the beginning) to begin. I know there are 8 books in the I of I series. I think there are over 20 in the X series. Whew! This could take a while.

I'd recommend just getting the first few from both series before committing to the whole thing. . . when I went through my Piers Anthony phase I read all the I of I books but only two became keepers for me and I got tired of Xanth after 5-6 titles. . . but still enjoy rereading the first three.

Good idea, PhoenixFalls. I have some of the Xanth books in my TBR pile but they aren't in the beginning of the series. I guess if I like them I can always order the beginning and reread them as I get back to them. They seem like fast reads.  And, I have #1 of the I of I series.