Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list.
Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front.
If you’ve never read any of Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga – what are you waiting for? They’re great! However, I wouldn’t recommend making this your first. It’s not the kind of series you have to start at the beginning (I came in at book nine and loved it) but, to me, Komarr has the feel of the middle book in a trilogy, a smaller arc within the bigger series.
If you’ve read one or two other books in Vorkosiverse - this is Miles’ first adventure since Memory, where he embarked upon his new career as a Galactic Auditor. He’s kind of like a trouble-shooting detective with the authority of the Emperor. Miles is still settling into his new role, trying to find the balance between effective use and reprehensible misuse of his power. In this case, Miles is called in to investigate a massive space accident that has damaged the planet Komarr’s soletta array (terrorist-with-secret-weapon shenanigans ensue).
If you’re familiar with the broad path of the series – this is “The one where Miles falls in love.” Miles has been in love before –at the end of Komarr he even reels off a list of all the people he’s fallen for in the past. But watching Miles falling in love has never been the main focus before, it’s always been a subplot or distraction – but Bujold handles it remarkably well, this isn’t a romance in any conventional fashion.
Ekaterin is no Quinn, nor is she a Taura - those are the wild girls from Miles’ past I was most fond of. Ekaterin is an unhappily married Vor lady with an eight year old son. She’s living on Komarr (not her home planet) and married to a Barayaran Administrator who is a complete tool, on both a personal and professional level. Miles meets her through the course of his investigation and is slowly bewitched by her. The perspective flip-flops between Miles and Ekaterin throughout the story as he tries to stay focused on his case rather than the dame, and she tries to change her life somehow.
The twist comes during an accident: her husband is killed and the case breaks. Both aspects of the story pick up the pace before combining in a climax dominated by Ekaterin, not Miles; it’s the last straw for Miles and he is irrevocably smitten.
My favourite quote came right at the end: “She had met the enemy, mastered her moment, hung three hours on death’s doorstep, all that, and she’d emerged still on her feet and snarling. Oversocialized, hah. Oh, eah, Da. I want this one.”
It was easy to enjoy Komarr: Miles is one of my favourite characters and hanging out with him is delight. But Ekatarin was new to me, and although she grew on me as the book progressed, it wasn’t love at first sight. She’s complex, brave and strong by the end – but she’s timid, scared, insecure and joyless at the start. So it took me a little longer than normal to become enthralled. At one point I wondered if this might be my first Vorkosigan Saga to get just three-stars from me, but then it pulled round on the upward curve and thundered past the finishing line a very strong four-star rating. I finished it on my break at work today and had a big grin in the canteen – very tempting to just read straight on to the next in the series as I know my wife has bought it!
Bujold’s strongest card is her characterisation, closely followed by her dialogue – and they shine as brightly as ever here. Miles case just isn’t his most fascinating and the supporting cast isn’t half as strong – no Marc, no Cordelia, no Gregor, no Ilyan, no Dendarii, etc. So Komarr is not my favourite of the series (that’s still Mirror Dance), but I still enjoyed it thoroughly and highly recommend.
Komarr was a gift from my Grandmother-in-Law, along with two other Bujold novels she picked up for a combined price of £5 from a second-hand book stall. Thanks Nanny-B!(less)
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list.
Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front.
A few weeks ago I came down quite suddenly with the Norovirus which has swept across the UK this winter. One minute I was in bed complaining of a slight stomach ache, the next I was passing out on the bathroom floor after hurling into the sink, bath and finally toilet. My wife had some big exams coming up, so rather than nurse me she threw a bag and the baby into a taxi and went to stay with friends.
Because I couldn’t even keep water down, I quickly became dehydrated and my fever spiked. Have you ever had fever dreams? Weird aren’t they? I work for a finance company and had recently finished Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold. I was having very vivid dreams, trying to explain to Tyrion Lannister that I couldn’t approve his loan because he’d recently left his position as the King’s Hand, and we couldn’t lend to unemployed customers. I also had to turn down Daenerys Targaryen because she didn’t have three years residency in Westeros.
Once reality had reasserted itself (and my body would accept water again), I still needed a couple of days of quiet recovery. This book was a way down my reading list, but it was the one that found its way into my shaking hand and kept me company between my many naps.
If you’ve never read any of the Vorkosigan Saga: 1) You lucky person, you have such a treat waiting for you – they’re great! 2) Don’t start with Memory.
This is very much a transition story. Up to this point Miles has been a quirky (but brilliant) space adventurer; a pintsize aristocrat officer working as an undercover intelligence agent, posing as a mercenary admiral. In this book – that all stops.
So if Miles is no longer Admiral Naismith, who is he? That’s the central question of this book. Everybody is moving on with their lives – Elena and Baz set the tone at the start when they tell Miles they’re retiring from the mercenary fleet to start a family, and then Emperor Gregor is falling in love too! Miles has been through so much, and what (aside from his wits) has he got to show for it?
The pace and intensity is lower here than some of the previous adventures. This is a lot more of a reflective, contemplative Miles that we’re used to. But he still needs an adventure, he can’t just brood – and the story here is predominantly a detective case, investigating who sabotaged the memory-chip in Simon Ilyan’s head (Miles ex-boss). But this slower pace is no bad thing – Bujold is a character-centric writer, and taking her foot off gas with the plot twists allows her time to dig deeper into the cast’s psyche – something she does very well indeed.
I often find that my state of mind plays a huge part in how much I enjoy a book. Recovering from the Norovirus could have been a very tiring and lonely time – but Miles Vorkosigan has joined that elite group of fictional characters who feel like old friends in my head. He was going through a tough time in Memory, and I was doing likewise in Cardiff – it felt like we helped each other through it.
My admiration for Bujold grows with each and every book I read. I've got Komarr lined up a few books down my reading list and I'm certainly looking forward to it!(less)
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list.
Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front.
I had scheduled this to be read several weeks ago, but my darling wife (who I've gotten utterly hooked on the wonderfully addictive Vorkosigan Saga) beat me to it. Then she lost the book. Thanks, sweet-pea!
My parents came to visit recently which sparked a mad scramble to tidy the old homestead, and the missing book turned up under a box of baby toys. With teeth marks in it. That's teeth, plural - my boy has two now!
I've never been a huge fan of short stories and novellas (check out my short-stories shelf, it's pretty understocked). Once a story starts to carry me, we build up some momentum together and when it's good the pages flicker past without me really noticing... Short stories never build the same kind of momentum, and never really aim to, and that leaves me kind of cold. Usually. Not so here.
This is a collection of three Miles novellas, bound together (loosely) with a bit of Miles/Illyan banter about mission budgets - sounds fascinating, I know, but it suffices as a bridging device. Plus, it gives Miles a bit of distance on these stories for a couple of heart-ouchie zingers in his reflections.
Now, it's worth mentioning (if you've not heard me say it before) that I'm reading this fourteen (so far) book saga out of order. Neither print order or internal chronological order. As such, I may know a character or location from a later adventure without really understanding where the significance comes from. It means I've taken each book at face value, and enjoyed them tremendously, but I also take great delight in joining the dots in the backstory.
As I said, this book compiles three novellas, and Bujold simply cannot write a bad story:
The Mountains of Mourning - a young, newly graduated Miles is looking for some fun on leave before being assigned. Instead he ends up travelling into the hillbilly mountains of his home district, to act as judge and jury in a case of baby-murdering. Sounds grim, huh? It cuts even closer to the heart for Miles, as the baby was killed for being a 'mutie', a planetary prejudice/hatred which Miles himself has battled against his whole life. This is Miles in detective mode, and young enough to be fretful. This is my favourite story of the three, and for me it filled in the question mark a later book, Memory, had left, when Miles returns to the site of the baby's grave during his mid-life crisis.
Labyrinth - the rescue of Taura! Where did Taura come from? What was their romantic relationship? What did Miles do to piss of Ryoval quite so bad? These are questions I'd had hanging in the air ever since I read my first Vorkosigan Saga novel, Mirror Dance. This is miles as Admiral Naismith, thinking fast as leaving the world eating dust. Pure class.
Borders of Infinity - the Dagoola IV rescue mission. Miles walks into a prison camp, friendless and naked. The prisoners (of war) have had their spirits broken, they're fighting each other, and the only one willing to chat with Miles is half mad. But still Miles saves the day, with just his brilliant brain and his balls of steel. You've gotta love this guy! (My wife tells me there's a great echo from the end of this novella in Komarr, but I haven't read that yet)
The Mountains of Mourning was my favourite because it left the old heart strings thrumming, but the other two are just popcorn-pleasure -reading, sci-fi-adventure-nuggets. Yum-may. This Borders of Infinity collection is a very worthwhile addition to the Vorkosiverse.(less)
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my HUGO WINNERS list.
This is the reading list that follows the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I loved reading the Locus Sci-Fi Award winners so I'm going to crack on with the Hugo winners next (but only the post-1980 winners, I'll follow up with pre-1980 another time).
According to Goodreads, Ender’s Game is the book most frequently shelved as ‘science-fiction’ or ‘sci-fi’. Since I joined Goodreads, Ender’s Game is the book most frequently recommended to me by friends here. Thank-you, Goodreads and co, for your part in introducing me to Ender’s Game; we got along splendidly.
You know that feeling: when a book just feels right? When you instantly feel at home in this world? When you get annoyed with the real world for introducing upon your time together? When you want to start all over again the moment you hit ‘the end’? When you want to bounce up and press the book into someone else’s hands so they might feel the way you do? Yeah? Like that.
Oddly enough, I started with book two in Ender’s Saga – Speaker for the Dead – which is a very, very different book. I’ve given them both 5-stars, and I’m pretty excited to see what other twists and turns the story takes. I’ve seen some complaints that the series gets weaker as it goes along, but I’ve also seen people complain about the first two, and for me they were flawless victories – so I’m disregarding all naysayers and holding strong to my own opinion as shameless fanboy so far.
Quite simply, Ender is awesome. The scenario he faces is awesome. The challenges he overcomes are awesome. The climax is awesome. The fallout is awesome. The only thing that wasn’t awesome was the slightly contrived way the Hive Queen is delivered to Ender – that felt clunky – but by then there was so much momentum on this wave of awesome-sauce that I was in a forgiving mood.
I don’t have much to say in terms of critical discussion – I totally threw my analytical hat away about three pages into Ender’s Game and just immersed myself in the story. And I had a great time! It’s... extremely accessibly sci-fi. Super-smart, heart-of-gold kid, smacks down the bullies, teaches himself to be a military genius, shoulders the pressure and responsibility of the world, then saves mankind by kicking-ass at videogames. Hell yeah!
The zero-gee battle games (which make up a big part of the story) are a bit a childhood fantasy for me. It’s basically zero-gee laser-quest. It talks directly to my ten-year-old inner child. I had dodgy knees as a child and struggled to run in team games – but I dreamt about zero-gee. This next sentence should be written in giant, flashing capital letters but I’m going to exercise all the restraint I have: I want to play!
I understand that Orson Scott Card has publicly said some reprehensible things and that’s massively pissed some people off. Fine: the guy is a douche and I won’t recommend him as a dinner-party guest. But his work is superb and I would whole-heartedly recommend Ender’s Game to anyone with any interest (at all) in sci-fi!
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my HUGO WINNERS list.
This is the reading list that follows the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I loved reading the Locus Sci-Fi Award winners so I'm going to crack on with the Hugo winners next (but only the post-1980 winners, I'll follow up with pre-1980 another time).
Long-running series should, ideally, be read in the internal chronological order. Unfortunately, Maestro Bujold did not write her epic Vorkosigan Saga in the obvious order – she’s jumped back and forth in the timeline with each successive book. Under these circumstances, fans that have been with her since the beginning will have experienced the full story in publication order, which also makes perfect sense. Being the contrary and ornery individual that I am, I am reading this wonderful series in neither chronological or publication order, but rather a semi-random and illogical sequence of my own devising! (Faye uses the word ornery a lot in older QuestionableContent issues I’ve been reading and it got lodged in my head.)
I began with Book Nine (Mirror Dance) and then jumped back to Book Two (Barrayar) – both read as part of my Locust Quest. These stories caught me hook, line and sinker: I declared myself a loyal reserve in the Emperor’s Vorkosigan Fan-Club Army.
Next, I found my way here to Book Four, (The Vor Game) as it was flagged for my attention as a Hugo winner from 1991 (more on that later). And I’ve now been given Books 8, 10 and 11 (Borders of Infinity, Memory and Komarr) as Birthday presents. Hurray!
Whereas Barrayar focuses on Miles’ mother around the time of his birth, and Mirror Dance focuses on Miles’ clone-brother when they’re both in their late twenties. The Vor Game focuses exclusively on Miles in his late teens, just after graduating – and more Miles equals more fun! He’s a terrifically likeable lead and Bujold has a real flair for character which isn’t common in sci-fi.
This is a classic book of three acts. Miles starts in the military, gets assigned to some backwater Arctic camp, and has a massive personality clash with the commander, which gets them both fired. He gets re-assigned as a spy, and out in the field, under-cover, he bimbles around for some time, getting a feel for the territory on one mission before he bumps into his old childhood chum, The Emperor, who is on the lam incognito! Miles has to rescue his friend, foil the intergalactic plot that threatens his home-world, defeat his old Arctic-camp nemesis, and dig some other mercenary buddies out of the hole he left them in during his last adventure! It’s a light-hearted, whirlwind adventure in the best traditions of Space Opera. Miles is a fast talking, faster thinking, marginally psychotic, loveable little scamp!
It was one of those books where I spent the whole time reading it with a huge grin plastered on my face, and strangers in coffee shops looked at me with a worried squint. (Or maybe they were just curious if it was really ‘sugar’ I was putting in my drink?)
A quick note on the cover: I seem to have a copy of The Vor Game that was a short-lived edition. I can’t find the correct cover on GoodReads, and I’ve searched high and low on the internet, and the only version I could find anywhere was an e-bay pic of a guy’s hand holding the book. I now cannot even find that! (I shall add a pic to this review when I find my camera). So apparently this is rare – maybe it would be worth something if my copy wasn’t battered to frack. I take my books wherever I go, in whatever pocket they can be crammed – I am not kind to covers and spines.
Another quick note: After seeing how much I was enjoying this series, my darling wife has now gotten in on the fun, and agrees that Miles is utterly adorable and the books are awesome. We are now a family of Vorkosigan fans together! Double-hurray!
As far as I can tell you can jump into this series at any point because they’re all superbly written, stand-alone novels as well as linking together into an epic sci-fi adventure series. So you’ve got no real excuses – just grab the first one you spot and get involved!
P.S. The Vor Game won the 1991 Hugo Award. The Locus Sci-Fi award that year went to Dan Simmons' The Fall of Hyperion (which is awesome) and the Nebula went to Le Guin' Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea (which I haven't read yet). I've given both Fall and Vor Game 5-stars, but of the two I'd give Simmons the nod as an outstanding achievement.(less)
Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to relea...more Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to release new works. Something had to be done.
On the spur of the moment I set myself a challenge, to read every book to have won the Locus Sci-Fi award. That’s 35 books, 6 of which I’d previously read, leaving 29 titles by 14 authors who were new to me.
While working through this reading list I got married, went on my honeymoon, switched career and became a father. As such these stories became imprinted on my memory as the soundtrack to the happiest period in my life (so far).
1998 was a year without consensus. Every significant sci-fi and fantasy award (that I follow) went to a different novel.
...(It was specifically 'Rise' which won the award, but I've posted this review as the Omnibus, as that's the version I own)
Rise of Endymion is, of course, the final instalment of Simmons brain-melting space-opera epic, The Hyperion Cantos. I’m going to nail my colours to the mast right from the get-go; I’m a Dan Simmons fan and I loved this book.
...(Split and published as four books, the Cantos was written as two and I tend to refer to them as two, simply Hyperion and Endymion)
I’m happy to admit this is a very different book from Hyperion; a much simpler book. Hyperion builds a rich, complex universe and tells a strange and difficult tale from the multiple perspectives of a diverse cast. It is, without a doubt, a stunning achievement.
I have the feeling that a lot of readers follow the story to Endymion expecting a similar experience and as a result end up sorely disappointed.
Having put so much time and energy into building his Hyperion Cantos universe, Endymion is about Simmons (and us) having some fun exploring it!
The first book is road-story / chase-story where our heroes bimble along and leap through many worlds via farcaster portals, negotiating episodic dangers and gradually building their relationship. The second book takes us a little deeper, exploring our heroes’ reconfigured relationship as the time-debt of space travel brings their ages close enough for romance to blossom, the spirituality/philosophy of the maturing messiah, and the eye-water potential of the beautiful, vivid settings.
Objectively, Hyperion is the ‘better’ book – but subjectively Endymion is (for me at least) a more pleasurable experience. It’s better escapism. It doesn’t make my brain hurt. It had that blend of high-tech sci-fi that I love, that feels magical. It was more uplifting. More emotive. Hyperion felt like an exhibit, Endymion like an embrace.
I know I’m in the minority, but I don’t care! I feel like I’m back in the playground, holding hands with the piggy-nosed girl. I think she’s pretty and the rest of you can just go away and stop calling her names!
Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to releas...moreChristmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to release new works. Something had to be done.
On the spur of the moment I set myself a challenge, to read every book to have won the Locus Sci-Fi award. That’s 35 books, 6 of which I’d previously read, leaving 29 titles by 14 authors who were new to me.
While working through this reading list I got married, went on my honeymoon, switched career and became a father. As such these stories became imprinted on my memory as the soundtrack to the happiest period in my life (so far).
There are three books I’ve considered ‘honorary’ members of my Locus Quest reading list. In circumstances where books two and three of a trilogy are award winners, it seems only fair to read the first book in that series to understand the full story and context.
I wasn’t disappointed to read Red Mars or Quicksilver – they are both excellent books and essential parts of their series. Sundiver is not: it’s not an excellent book, and it’s not an essential part of the series.
I’ve since read Startide Rising and The Uplift War – Brin came up with a great concept and it’s an interesting series which definitely picks up after this patchy start. Each book basically stands alone; they’re set in the same universe in a linear timeline, but on different worlds and with different characters. Startide Rising and The Uplift War are at least causally linked - the events of Startide Rising lead, by political chain reaction, to the events of The Uplift War. The same cannot be said of Sundiver. Events here are mentioned briefly in the following books, but are basically irrelevant.
As I said – the concept for the series is excellent. The universe is filled with hundreds of sentient species, each intent on ‘uplifting’ pre-sentient races into spacefaring civilisations. They’re rewarded for their efforts with prestige and a thousand year patron-client (master-slave) relationship with their newly uplifted underlings. Every species can trace their patrons’ patrons like aristocratic ancestry back into the mists of time. Humanity is the only known species to reach the stars without a patron, to have uplifted itself! We are the ‘wolflings’, the rogue state, the fresh meat, the loose cannons! The stage is set – it’s a great concept.
What gives The Uplift Saga a bit of extra spice is that humans have clients of their own. They’re not fully uplifted yet, but before we discovered the galactic civilization waiting out there in the stars, humans have already been meddling with the genes of our most intelligent fellow Earthlings: chimps and dolphins are close to full, independent sentience. It’s this thread which pays huge dividends in the rest of the series – Startide Rising focuses on a starship crewed by dolphins and The Uplift War is set on a genuine planet of the apes (populated by chimps themselves trying to uplift gorillas). Sadly, these mighty oaks are still acorns in Sundiver – we briefly meet a semi-sentient dolphin at the start, and a genius (but pre-vocal chimp) is a significant character – but we’re still keeping mankind front and centre.
This is basically a detective story. Something kooky is going down in the Sundiver Spacestation (where humans are flying special ships deep into the sun) and our hero, a sort of zen-psycho, is called in to investigate. He stumbles into some galactic political machinations (some jockeying for control over humans, some fighting amongst themselves and using us as pawns) which are muddying the waters around a research breakthrough regarding lifeforms residing in the outer layers of the sun.
Still sounds good, doesn’t it?
Sadly the execution feels dated and… silly. There’s no other word I can think of. Of course the humans outwitted the aliens, we’re just better, duh! The alien politics are a long way from Machiavellian and their behaviour kind of juvenile. Our hero is an oddball I never came to love.
Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to relea...more Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to release new works. Something had to be done.
On the spur of the moment I set myself a challenge, to read every book to have won the Locus Sci-Fi award. That’s 35 books, 6 of which I’d previously read, leaving 29 titles by 14 authors who were new to me.
While working through this reading list I got married, went on my honeymoon, switched career and became a father. As such these stories became imprinted on my memory as the soundtrack to the happiest period in my life (so far).
I wasn’t sure what to do about the Vorkosigan Saga. There were three trilogies on my Locus Quest reading list – Mars Trilogy, The Baroque Cycle and The Uplift Saga – where books two and three had won the Locus Sci-Fi Award, so I’d convinced myself that I should read the whole trilogy in each case to understand the award winners in context. At the other end of the spectrum was The Telling, which is part of the Hainish Cycle, but stands alone – so I didn’t read any other books in the series before I picked it up. The Vorkosigan Saga is definitely a traditional series – and should therefore ideally be read in chronological order, but the award winners on my list were books two and nine in a fourteen (and still growing) book series. There was no way I was going to read twelve other books to understand these two in full context. Harsh as it felt I was going to have to sample those two books out of order and hope they stood up.
Such were my thoughts beginning Mirror Dance. “It’s been such a wonderful run of books, but it had to end at some point.” “You can’t just jump in at book nine, it will make no sense!”
Oh, how little did I know!
Mirror Dance is superb! Really, truly, hand on my heart, right up there with my favourite books. Pure sci-fi adventure, with wit and drama and action and heartache and everything! Wonderful characters, a brilliant scenario – just an awful lot of fun!
Every sentence I write to describe this book ends with an exclamation mark!
I highly recommend this book as an entry point to the series. As I understand it, it marks the beginning of a four-book arc within the larger series, involving Marc. It also introduces Miles through a more vulnerable lens than some of the other books, and there are plenty more Miles books to get your teeth into once your curiosity is piqued. Cordelia may only be a minor character here, but she’s still a powerful presence and it was exciting to learn that she has her own books too! Finally, this story does a whistle-stop tour of the various local worlds used in the saga, so in that sense it works as a brilliant orientation.
I’ve since read two more Vorkosigan Saga novels: Barrayar (the other Locus winner, focused on Cordelia) and The Vor Game (a Hugo winner focused on Miles). Both of them were also excellent, (and will be reviewed soon) – and I am definitely a Vorkosigan Saga convert. I am now determined to read the whole series (albeit probably all jumbled out of order!). Of the three I’ve read, Mirror Dance is definitely still my favourite.
I like long running series. I like characters you get to spend a dozen books with. I’m a big fan of Discworld and the Dresden Files – and I’ve always wanted a sci-fi equivalent to follow as eagerly. With the Vorkosigan Saga I feel I’ve found that missing puzzle piece – and it makes me very happy. Thank-you, Madame Bujold, thank-you.
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