Poll

Many people start the Vorkosigan Saga with The Warrior's Apprentice, which is offered as a free eBook through the publisher (Baen Books) in the Baen Free Library here:

http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1290-warriors-apprentice.aspx

Cordelia's Honor (which contains both Shards of Honour and Barrayar, two halves of a continuous story) is about how the "parents" of the series met and "ends" with Miles Vorkosigan's birth/survival into childhood. The entire rest of the series centers around Miles who is 17 at the start of Warrior's Apprentice. There are no books in between and there is little mention of either Cordelia or Aral Vorkosigan in the rest of the series except to note how "legendary" they are--unless you count how much Miles himself is like his parents. ^)^

ah yes, you've mentioned this before and i had forgotten. sounds like if this series is chosen, we should probably start with The Warrior's Apprentice. which i assume is the start of the Miles Vorkosigan saga. plus it is free, which doesn't hurt.

I always recommend to friends that they start with Shards of Honor (followed by Barrayar and then the rest) as it gives an idea of where Miles is coming from (along with a lot of random comments and foundational relationships in the rest of the series), it's fun (!), and it is considered the beginning (though some people do start with The Warrior's Apprentice). And who would miss out on Barrayar?! Cordelia is one of my heroes. :)

well you make a good point as well, Trice. if the Vorkosigan Saga wins, we'll put it to a vote.

I am a great fan of Octavia Butler and her xenogenesis novels are amazing. So much easier to discuss discrimination issues through science fiction than what we see happening around us. I did not encounter her books until after her death and with everyone I read, I wish she were still alive and writing.

Xenogenesis is one of my all time favorite trilogies. The only reason I didn't vote for it is I've already read it. It definitely is not to be missed even if it doesn't win the poll. I was lucky enough to have met Octavia Butler at a convention signing before she died. It was early on in my reading of her work, but I still got a couple of things signed. It's a great loss that she died so young. She had a lot f great books left to give us.

Can Monster Hunter be Sci-fi? I consider it UF myself....hmmmm

Still a fun series though

is this a confirmation/response for the question i asked in my group email? if so, then MHI will definitely be disqualified.

and, wow, Wool has totally pulled ahead! i did not expect that. that's another one that i'm intrigued about reading. so many good choices on this list.

I've never even heard of these authors--awesome! I love new things to read! Wool is supposed to be good, that one I've heard of--anyone have a particular favorite?

i voted for my favorite (Demon Princes by Jack Vance). which i suppose was not very imaginative. but i love that series. fast-paced & stylish. classic.

I voted for Demon Princes by Jack Vance too, because I've never read them and they've been on my to read list for way way too long.Though, I may switch my vote to Xenogenesis if it doesn't move up the list because I think everyone should read Xenogenesis.

I've read most of the Lost Fleet series and all of the Sirantha Jax series (freaking ADORE that series with fangirl zealotry) so I voted for something I haven't touched yet!
Will read whatever the group picks- I've been super awol so it will be nice to get in on this :)

So Marjorie made some good points re. where to start the series read... but because another group - Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club - has chosen The Warrior's Apprentice for their Feb group read, we'll just start with the first chronological book in the series, Shards of Honour. And so skip an additional poll. I hate repeating the group reads of other groups.