Lois McMaster Bujold

The Vorkosigan Series (In Chronological Order)

Shards of Honor
Barrayar
The Warrior's Apprentice
The Vor Game
Cetaganda
Brothers in Arms
Borders of Infinity
Mirror Dance
Memory
Komarr
A Civil Campaign

Other books (In The Same Universe, but not technically Vorkosigan books)

Falling Free
Ethan of Athos

Note that Shards of Honor and Barrayar are now available as Cordelia's Honor, and there appear to be other combined books forthcoming.

New book alert!!!! The newest Vorkosigan book, Memory, has been released. I sucked it up and spent the $25 on the hardback, which is waiting on my desk. Time to read....

New Book Alert

Two new Vorkosigan books have appeared since I wrote this. The first was last year's Cetaganda, a lighter adventure/mystery story which occurs chronologically just after The Vor Game. The first time I read it I was a bit disappointed. After the deep emotions of Mirror Dance I felt a bit cheated by Cetaganda. About a month ago I reread it and enjoyed it. Seeing Miles in a non-crisis situation, observing the Cetagandan civilization, and, my favorite part, watching the slow development of Ivan into a serious character all made the book enjoyable. This one isn't an award winner, nor will it provide the sort of catharsis which came from Mirror Dance, but I find it a welcome addition to the Vorkosigan annals.
Three days ago I got Memory. I started it at 1 am Monday morning, spent 9 hours at work, three hours with some friends, and every other hour reading, finishing at 12:45 am Tuesday. So was the effort of finishing the book in less than 24 hours worth it? Absolutely. This novel returns to Miles with a vengence, and takes us in some new directions. So I was grateful for two reasons. First, I enjoyed the novel immensely (and will probably read it again this weekend). But second, and probably more importantly, this story tells me Lois Bujold is not going to let Vorkosigan get into a rut. This novel is not only excellent, it promises us there are many great stories yet to come.

I figured it was about time that I added my two cents worth to this review. Having just finished Memory as well, I think I can say without reservation that this is the most remarkable fantasy or science fiction series that I have ever seen. What is truly astounding is not just how great the books are (and they are truly great), but even more, how many great books there are in this series.
Memory merely confirms Bujold's greatness as a writer. With a much different pace than most of the other books, Memory shows that a good writer (my apologies - a great writer) can take a step back and slow down for a bit, and still keep the story just as enthralling as an action packed thriller. Moreover, while I, like Sven, might not have initially thought Cetaganda was quite at the level of the others, the amount of subtle reference Bujold makes to it in Memory shows how it served as a necessary vehicle to the continuing story of Miles.
It's really frightening, but I think these books might actually be getting better as the series continues. There ain't nothin' I would recommend higher than this series.

Another New Book Alert

Komarr just came out, coinciding (causing, actually) the new layout for this review. Go get it. It's good. And good for you. It picks up shortly after Memory left off, and is of a somewhat lighter tone like Cetaganda was. On the whole, I actually thought this one was better than Cetaganda, but they're all great, so its not really even worth debating.

This series has grown very long, and shows signs of the same issues I have with Orson Scott Card's Tales of Alvin Maker. Who can tell a story which is 9 books and about 3000 pages long and make every page brilliant? No one, I think. The Vorkosigan series has definite highlights: Barrayer, Mirror Dance, Memory, and the novellas The Mountains of Mourning and Borders of Infinity (both in the Borders of Infinity collection). The rest is very good reading: fun, exciting stories about characters I care about. But I really care because of the stories I mentioned above.

A Civil Campaign

A Civil Campaign is a slight divergence for Bujold - it really and truly is a romantic comedy posing as a sci-fi book.  And since it is Bujold, it is, unsurprisingly, a fantastic one.  It is also slightly different from her usual style in that she includes many more perspectives in this book than just that of Miles or Mark, bringing in several other characters as the primary viewpoint throughout.  This book is also much less action oriented than some of the others, focusing on the realtionships between the charactes (romantic, primarily) and on the political life on Barrayar.

Civil Campaign is funny, fun, truthful, and as always with Bujold, a true joy to read.  I found myself unable to put the book down as usual, but had the entirely new experience of laughing out loud at several moments throughout the book.  To be honest, this book is probably closer to 'The Princess Bride' in terms of its overall feel than it is to other science fiction staples.

I have finally concluded that what makes Bujold's books so phenomenal is the amount of truth she presents in each one. Her characters are dynamic, interesting, fun, and above all, real.  These are truly the kind of books where you find yourself living within the characters she brings forth.  I find great joy in immersing myself in her world, and am always left slightly saddened when I have to come up for air.

So, to sum up, I loved this book, as I have loved each and every book in this series.  But as usual, it left we with one very unsatisfying question in the end: dammit, when is the next one coming out?

Like Bjorn, this book left me with a question. My question however was: damnit, when is something interesting going to happen? This series hit a tremendous high in Mirror Dance, but since then the stories have been uniformly entertaining without being challenging. One or two light-hearted tales are good and cleansing, but the reason I cherished this series was the heroism and courage of Miles, Cordelia, et al. Without that, the series is nothing special, frankly. Hence my rating of .

Falling Free

  This book is a rarity for Bujold - a book almost completely outside of the Vorkosigan story-line. Falling Free tells the story of the Quaddies - a genetically engineered race designed for working in zero-G environments.  The protagonist of the book is one Leo Graf, an engineer who is brought on board to the project that designed the Quaddies as a safety instructor.  Ultimately, things start to go badly, and it ends up being Leo Graf and the Quaddies pitched against the corporation that considers itself to own them.

The book is great, interesting science fiction, and in general is a typically excellent Bujold book, in a somewhat atypical non-Vorkosigan setting.  The Quaddies are a fascinating race, and the book brings up many of the moral issues involved when we start to create new races and such.  In general, just a really good book.