About two thirds of this short story collection take place prior to the events of the original trilogy, and the remaining third is a single novella that takes place after. I’d still advise you read the series before tackling this book, because the stories and companion authors notes may spoil some of the experience of the novels, and you also will understand the context much better reading in that order. Most of the stories were small tastes back into a beloved story, a few of which I’d already read in other publications (when I last tried to hunt down all things Hexarchate.) They were a fun mix of filling in details and humorous vignettes, but the real heart of this book for me was reading the final novella, Glass Cannon. It’s absolutely everything I wanted in more Hexarchate fiction.