GJ&RQ as a stand-alone, yes!
Aha! A review from a fresh reader, finally!
This popped up this morning on Amazon --
" ...The lovely thing about Gentleman is that it doesn't require you to have read all the books to follow what's going on. It's quite a self-contained story on its own. Bujold is a seasoned writer - she drops hints and reminders of what has happened before in such a way that you don't feel you've missed anything from not reading those earlier books, but at the same time, you have the urge to pick it up because it sounds so darned interesting. (By the sound of it, though, some of these are new to followers of the series. Hm.)"
I thought all the old readers telling people not to read the book until they'd climbed a mountain of others were not able to judge this, and I was right.
(N.B., it apparent from the rest of the review that this reader is not from the cadre allergic to romance, though.)
Also, one of my many e-interviews this month has popped up here: http://www.nerds-feather.com/2016/02/...
Ta, L.
This popped up this morning on Amazon --
" ...The lovely thing about Gentleman is that it doesn't require you to have read all the books to follow what's going on. It's quite a self-contained story on its own. Bujold is a seasoned writer - she drops hints and reminders of what has happened before in such a way that you don't feel you've missed anything from not reading those earlier books, but at the same time, you have the urge to pick it up because it sounds so darned interesting. (By the sound of it, though, some of these are new to followers of the series. Hm.)"
I thought all the old readers telling people not to read the book until they'd climbed a mountain of others were not able to judge this, and I was right.
(N.B., it apparent from the rest of the review that this reader is not from the cadre allergic to romance, though.)
Also, one of my many e-interviews this month has popped up here: http://www.nerds-feather.com/2016/02/...
Ta, L.
date
newest »
newest »
Loretta wrote: "I accidentally picked up Cryoburn as a newbie to the series - I had been meaning to start the series for ages after many recommendations, and decided to start with an audiobook, a format which I wa..."See, the Arrow of Suspense can fly in both directions.
I'll bet Cryoburn read differently the second time. Which is just like getting two books (or at least two readings) for the price of one, and so, a bargain.
Ta, L.
I started the series with Memory, a SFBC monthly pick that I had forgotten to say no to. I had no problems keeping up and enjoyed it so much I had to read the rest, many of which were also read out of order. :)BTW - Memory is still one of my favorites of the series.
I read the Vorkosigan Saga entirely out of order the first time through, based on which books I could unearth in second-hand bookshops and bargain tables (not because I was cheap, but because that was the only way to GET them here at the time!). When we reread and reviewed them a couple of years ago in internal chronological order, it was definitely a different reading experience, but I would never suggest that someone couldn't pick up the books at any point, because they are all wonderfully self-contained and awesome!
The Vorkosigan saga is a great bunch to re-read. They're like old friends you can visit again and again. The Audio books are fun too. I started with Mountains of Mourning as I got Borders of Infinity as "Random" posted above by an accidental get from the SFBC. Thank god for serendipidous accidents! Now some many years later I'm anxiously awaiting the next :D
Ok, so when can we expect the first "Aurelia" book? :-)
I am very pleased to see another book featuring Cordelia. Shards of Honor and Barrayar are some of my very favorite books. Alhough I love the whole series and have read all the books multiple times. She is such a person in her own right, I could see a whole series centered on her. Looking forward to hearing more about Sergyar. Also, Lois I think was prescient in her inventions on genetic engineering long before it became what it is today. As soon as I read about Crisp-r, I thought of her.
Diana wrote: "Ok, so when can we expect the first "Aurelia" book? :-)"Even death will not release me...?
:-), L.
At some point, I did think "okay, there's just too many references to backstories here, this can't be the first one", but it wasn't interfering with my enjoyment of the story at all - in fact, this was my first experience with audiobooks where I was listening to it in places other than the car during my commute because I HAD to know what was going to happen next.
So I would say it is quite possible to pick up the series anywhere - and once I did confirm (and groan inwardly) that I had basically missed the entire series, you'd better believe I went back and started from the beginning. I really needed to know the story of the needle grenade...
That said...the finale of Cryoburn had a MUCH bigger impact the second time around. Even knowing it was coming. Oof.
And I will also that as soon as I finished the e-arc of GJATRQ - I immediately went back and started again with Shards of Honor for a re-read, this time in e-book format rather than audio book. I am not generally a big re-reader of books - there are so many out there to read for the first time! But now that I've started again I'm just going to have to keep going, with the excuse that this time I'll "read" them instead of listen to them. Still fun :)