In some of the books I’ve read so far, Asher does okay with backfilling some details if you skipped previous novels. But there is definitely a whole lot of backstory you might be missing on Orlandine, the Jain, the Prador, and the complexities of… everything. There are long-running plots within plots, and more than a couple conspiracies.

FWIW: this is the reading order I’m now using: https://www.readingorders.info/the-neal-ashers-polity-universe-reading-order/