Vorkosigan Saga pt 1
Sorry, I didn't mean to be away this long.
I'm currently reading Mira Grant's Newsflesh series, but I'm not going to do that one until I finish the series.
So let's try Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga. Well, an introduction to it.
LMB is one of my favorite authors. Especially her Vorkosigan saga. I've been reading her since I was a teen and I reread large sections of the saga about every year.
It's probably best to read them in internal order, though they weren't written in that order. There are a few outliers. Falling Free is far before the rest of the series, but you can get away with not reading it until maybe half way through. Some of the short stories were also written out of order. But the first main book of the series, is Shards of Honor.
Let's rewind a little. Humans have traveled through wormholes to arrive at other galaxies and planets. They colonized other planets. All of these planets developed on their own and have different governments, different lifestyles, etc.
Perhaps one of the most successful is Beta Colony. They are the leaders in most science (The Centagandan Empire has them beat on human genetics, but probably that's it). They actually have Survey crews who fly into new wormholes to see where these wormholes go. They don't do it for profit, they do it to explore, and it's fairly risky, you don't know where these worm holes let out. And places on these crews are Competitive. We are talking best of the best here. Beta Colony is home to our main character for the first two books Cordelia Naismith, a Survey Captain (to begin with).
One of the other problems with those wormholes is that sometimes they are not stable. A group of colonist went to a new planet which they named Barrayar, and before long, the wormhole collapsed. They coped. Created a weird culture. Very warlike, the ruling class (the Vors) started many wars between themselves. Centuries later (I know not how long), they are rediscovered with a new wormhole our of Komarran airspace. 20 years later, The Centagandas, looking to expand, bribe the Komarrans to let them through and try to take over Barrayar. That became a nice long war. One of the heros of that war was Count (or possibly Lord, I have no idea when his father died) Poitr Vorkosigan. Skipping more war, his son Aral eventually was one of the generals in the war against Komarr. Barrayar couldn't risk Komarr selling them out again, so they took it over. It was mostly bloodless except for one of Aral's subordinates ordering the slaughter of a group of Aral's prisoners. Aral caught the blame in the global community (everywhere but Barrayar) and picked up the nickname the Butcher of Komarr. He's our out main character, though everything is from Cordelia's point of view.
The first book is called Shards of Honor.
Cordelia is out surveying a planet that is thought to have been undiscovered. Aral is out securing Barrayar's new planet. They meet in bad circumstances. And they end up on different sides in a war. And they save each other a few times. And I really don't want to tell you want happens. Suffice to say, Cordelia ends up on Barrayar as the Lady Vorkosigan.
It's part of an omnibus with Barrayar. It's politics and Barrayaran society. And a villain I think should be played by Christopher Eccleston.
Most of the rest of the series is from the point of view of their son Miles. I read once that as soon as LMB started writing Cordelia and Aral, she knew that they would have a son who was not the perfect Barrayan. Miles was damaged in the womb during Barrayar, and is short with brittle bones in a society that values soldiers. It's very interesting how he copes with it.
Wow. I really suck at this. Thank god I don't have readers.
I'm currently reading Mira Grant's Newsflesh series, but I'm not going to do that one until I finish the series.
So let's try Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga. Well, an introduction to it.
LMB is one of my favorite authors. Especially her Vorkosigan saga. I've been reading her since I was a teen and I reread large sections of the saga about every year.
It's probably best to read them in internal order, though they weren't written in that order. There are a few outliers. Falling Free is far before the rest of the series, but you can get away with not reading it until maybe half way through. Some of the short stories were also written out of order. But the first main book of the series, is Shards of Honor.
Let's rewind a little. Humans have traveled through wormholes to arrive at other galaxies and planets. They colonized other planets. All of these planets developed on their own and have different governments, different lifestyles, etc.
Perhaps one of the most successful is Beta Colony. They are the leaders in most science (The Centagandan Empire has them beat on human genetics, but probably that's it). They actually have Survey crews who fly into new wormholes to see where these wormholes go. They don't do it for profit, they do it to explore, and it's fairly risky, you don't know where these worm holes let out. And places on these crews are Competitive. We are talking best of the best here. Beta Colony is home to our main character for the first two books Cordelia Naismith, a Survey Captain (to begin with).
One of the other problems with those wormholes is that sometimes they are not stable. A group of colonist went to a new planet which they named Barrayar, and before long, the wormhole collapsed. They coped. Created a weird culture. Very warlike, the ruling class (the Vors) started many wars between themselves. Centuries later (I know not how long), they are rediscovered with a new wormhole our of Komarran airspace. 20 years later, The Centagandas, looking to expand, bribe the Komarrans to let them through and try to take over Barrayar. That became a nice long war. One of the heros of that war was Count (or possibly Lord, I have no idea when his father died) Poitr Vorkosigan. Skipping more war, his son Aral eventually was one of the generals in the war against Komarr. Barrayar couldn't risk Komarr selling them out again, so they took it over. It was mostly bloodless except for one of Aral's subordinates ordering the slaughter of a group of Aral's prisoners. Aral caught the blame in the global community (everywhere but Barrayar) and picked up the nickname the Butcher of Komarr. He's our out main character, though everything is from Cordelia's point of view.
The first book is called Shards of Honor.
Cordelia is out surveying a planet that is thought to have been undiscovered. Aral is out securing Barrayar's new planet. They meet in bad circumstances. And they end up on different sides in a war. And they save each other a few times. And I really don't want to tell you want happens. Suffice to say, Cordelia ends up on Barrayar as the Lady Vorkosigan.
It's part of an omnibus with Barrayar. It's politics and Barrayaran society. And a villain I think should be played by Christopher Eccleston.
Most of the rest of the series is from the point of view of their son Miles. I read once that as soon as LMB started writing Cordelia and Aral, she knew that they would have a son who was not the perfect Barrayan. Miles was damaged in the womb during Barrayar, and is short with brittle bones in a society that values soldiers. It's very interesting how he copes with it.
Wow. I really suck at this. Thank god I don't have readers.