Mass Effect and Lit
Started typing a response to someone about my reply in the Women of ME post and decided it probably merits its own topic.
What SF literature do people see as similar to or inspirations for Mass Effect? What books do you think Kaidan may have read as a kid about humans in space?
The main series I can see all sorts of similarities to ME is Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan universe. Check out them as ebooks at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/24-CryoburnCD/CryoburnCD/. Start with Cordelia's Honor/Shards of Honor if you want to start with the events leading up to Miles' birth, or Young Miles/The Warrior's Apprentice if you want to jump in with Miles. The second titles are for the single books--most of them have been collected into omnibuses. The only two books not in an omnibus are Memory and the brand new Cryoburn.
The setting itself reminds me of Mass Effect. The planet Barrayar made contact with the rest of interstellar society within the past 2 or so generations, much like humans with Citadel space and the First Contact War. There's no aliens as such in the setting, but we've made ourselves alien. There's the quaddies, genetically engineered for zero-g, replacing their legs with two more arms. On Beta, you can change your sex on a whim with the added option of hermaphrodite. Jackson's Whole has the lack of ethics of Omega combined with the most anything is legal of Illium. On Jackson's Whole it's completely legal to have a clone of yourself made for the express purpose of replacing its brain with yours so you can live forever. The science there can resurrect a person if their body is prepared quickly and properly. No need for the uncertainty of the Lazarus Project. The former colonies like Barrayar are single governments, but Earth is still a hodgepodge of countries without the unifying government of the Systems Alliance.
There's all sorts of parallels that can be drawn between ME characters and the Vorkoverse characters. Take Aral Vorkosigan and Ruthless Shepard. Aral earned the nickname "the Butcher of Komarr" because he did his duty like a good soldier. Even the nicknames are similar--Shepard is the "Butcher of Torfan."
The relationship between Miranda and Oriana is in many ways just like Miles and his clone-brother Mark. These parallels are why I find Miranda and Oriana so compelling. Mark was created by a bunch of terrorists to replace Miles, just like Oriana was born to replace Miranda. Even with such a past, Miles doesn't hesitate a second to bring Mark into the family. Miles gave Mark the chance to have his own identity, the name he would have been given as Miles' younger brother, Mark Pierre. Admittedly, in this setting it's more nurture while in ME it's nature. Mark has his brother's genius, but in totally different areas. Oriana shows the same interests and aptitudes as Miranda, as I recall.
Miles can swap notes with Joker and Kaidan, too. Miles was born with bones every bit as brittle as Joker's due to in utero exposure to poison from a failed assassination attempt. As a result, his growth was stunted and deformed. He had to work harder to prove himself because of his disability and the fact he was the son of the great Aral Vorkosigan. Same thing with Joker during flight school. Maybe the reason that Joker's more mobile in ME2 is Cerberus gave him synthetic bones like Miles had the long bones in his arms and legs replaced with. It's as good a theory as any.
Yes, and Miles can commiserate with Kaidan about the isolation of being different through no fault of your own. Their mothers were both at the wrong place at the wrong time, setting their sons apart from others for their entire life.. On Barrayar genetic mutations, even benign ones, are enough to get a baby born with a cleft lip exposed to die out in the boonies. Even knowing the damage was not on the genetic level, people still were prejudiced against him. Miles had his grandfather, who he idolized, repeatedly tell him he should have been terminated when they found out how extensive the damage to him was. His grandfather went as far as to tell his mother and father not to use his name. (Male children receive their names from their grandfathers.) Miles' name should have been Piotr Miles.
So what other books do you see as having parallels to Mass Effect?
What SF literature do people see as similar to or inspirations for Mass Effect? What books do you think Kaidan may have read as a kid about humans in space?
The main series I can see all sorts of similarities to ME is Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan universe. Check out them as ebooks at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/24-CryoburnCD/CryoburnCD/. Start with Cordelia's Honor/Shards of Honor if you want to start with the events leading up to Miles' birth, or Young Miles/The Warrior's Apprentice if you want to jump in with Miles. The second titles are for the single books--most of them have been collected into omnibuses. The only two books not in an omnibus are Memory and the brand new Cryoburn.
The setting itself reminds me of Mass Effect. The planet Barrayar made contact with the rest of interstellar society within the past 2 or so generations, much like humans with Citadel space and the First Contact War. There's no aliens as such in the setting, but we've made ourselves alien. There's the quaddies, genetically engineered for zero-g, replacing their legs with two more arms. On Beta, you can change your sex on a whim with the added option of hermaphrodite. Jackson's Whole has the lack of ethics of Omega combined with the most anything is legal of Illium. On Jackson's Whole it's completely legal to have a clone of yourself made for the express purpose of replacing its brain with yours so you can live forever. The science there can resurrect a person if their body is prepared quickly and properly. No need for the uncertainty of the Lazarus Project. The former colonies like Barrayar are single governments, but Earth is still a hodgepodge of countries without the unifying government of the Systems Alliance.
There's all sorts of parallels that can be drawn between ME characters and the Vorkoverse characters. Take Aral Vorkosigan and Ruthless Shepard. Aral earned the nickname "the Butcher of Komarr" because he did his duty like a good soldier. Even the nicknames are similar--Shepard is the "Butcher of Torfan."
The relationship between Miranda and Oriana is in many ways just like Miles and his clone-brother Mark. These parallels are why I find Miranda and Oriana so compelling. Mark was created by a bunch of terrorists to replace Miles, just like Oriana was born to replace Miranda. Even with such a past, Miles doesn't hesitate a second to bring Mark into the family. Miles gave Mark the chance to have his own identity, the name he would have been given as Miles' younger brother, Mark Pierre. Admittedly, in this setting it's more nurture while in ME it's nature. Mark has his brother's genius, but in totally different areas. Oriana shows the same interests and aptitudes as Miranda, as I recall.
Miles can swap notes with Joker and Kaidan, too. Miles was born with bones every bit as brittle as Joker's due to in utero exposure to poison from a failed assassination attempt. As a result, his growth was stunted and deformed. He had to work harder to prove himself because of his disability and the fact he was the son of the great Aral Vorkosigan. Same thing with Joker during flight school. Maybe the reason that Joker's more mobile in ME2 is Cerberus gave him synthetic bones like Miles had the long bones in his arms and legs replaced with. It's as good a theory as any.
Yes, and Miles can commiserate with Kaidan about the isolation of being different through no fault of your own. Their mothers were both at the wrong place at the wrong time, setting their sons apart from others for their entire life.. On Barrayar genetic mutations, even benign ones, are enough to get a baby born with a cleft lip exposed to die out in the boonies. Even knowing the damage was not on the genetic level, people still were prejudiced against him. Miles had his grandfather, who he idolized, repeatedly tell him he should have been terminated when they found out how extensive the damage to him was. His grandfather went as far as to tell his mother and father not to use his name. (Male children receive their names from their grandfathers.) Miles' name should have been Piotr Miles.
So what other books do you see as having parallels to Mass Effect?