The Eight Worst Bujold Books

[jeriendhal]

I have come to praise, Bujold, not to bury her.Okay, almost every sci-fi fan loves Lois McMaster Bujold, but with a publishing history going back thirty years there's going to be some clunkers even in her bibliography. And I'll admit some of her books just didn't grab me. In publishing order, not order of annoyance, here are the ones that you'd

Comments

[jeriendhal]

There are two thoughts on this, Published and Chronological order. Published starts with Shards of Honor (or the short story "Dreamkeeper's Dilemma" if you want to get picky). Chronological starts with Falling Free which is set two hundred years before Shards and has nothing to do with the Vorkosigan clan and is more of a classic Analog "Problems With New Technology" story.

Personally I'd skip to Barrayar, which is the direct sequel to Shards but published after Lois had several more books under her belt for experience. It's the second half of the collection Cordelia's Honor which gathers both books in one collection.

If you want to start with Miles' adventures, technically The Warrior's Apprentice is the first of his adult adventures, but I'd either begin at The Vor Game which is its sequel, or Borders of Infinity which is a collection of three novellas.

ORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR... if you're more interested in fantasy, Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls is a fine pair of novels in her Five Gods universe, and so is the novella "Penric's Demon". Another fantasy novel is the standalone The Spirit Ring, but it's a minor work at best.

If you're more into straight up fantasy romance, her Sharing Knife books are set in a fantastic post-apocalyptic universe similar too, but not actually set in the American Midwest.

Hope you have fun reading no matter which you choose.

[jeriendhal]

Yeah, I came into her fandom just after her fourth novel was published. At this point the archive dive into her works can be intimidating without some research, though she does work hard to make each book a standalone for new readers.