Reading roundup

[hamsterwoman]

68. Lois McMaster Bujold, Borders of Infinity -- so, this is the book which is, essentially, a collection of the three Miles Vorkosigan novellas ("The Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth", and "The Borders of Infinity"), tied together by a sort of framing story where Miles recalls or tells Illyan about these three events.

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

Like, I TOTALLY DIDN'T CARE whether Arthur and Lancelot and Guinevere got to live happily together

Seriously! I couldn't care less if they got their happy little threesome!

I'd spoiled myself for Diarmuid's death, which was probably a good thing, 'cos back before I found out he died in the end, I'd been hoping for Aileron to snuff it so Diar and Sharra could be king and queen. (And, yeah, I'd have really liked to hear more about Sharra, too, whom I also rather liked as a character.)

Very emphatically agreed with you on Fionavar reading like a Tolkien pastiche + random Arthuriana, which was a little embarrassing even.

I read GGK clear out of order, starting with The Lions of Al-Rassan (which I think is his best, but I'm afraid to reread it now, as it seems I like each subsequent GGK book I read a little less, and this appears to be a fairly common trajectory... :P), then The Sarantine Mosaic, which I thought was quite good, then A Song for Arbonne, which I thought was a good effort but significantly flawed in ways that hadn't

[sheiannasherra]

I'd say that I enjoyed all three of the novellas included in Borders of Infinity equally though I do agree with you on the whole Taura and Miles's relationship thing. I've been enjoying the books so much that I've put The Vor Game & Barrayar on hold now.

[hamsterwoman]

Oh, good! :D

Barrayar is actually the second half of the prequel to the Miles books (well, it's not really a prequel since it was written first... but it takes place earlier than they, at any rate) and, if memory serves, The Vor Game takes off pretty much right after "The Mountains of Mourning". Now, if only you could get ahold of The Warrior's Apprentice, the first Miles book, you would have the beginning of the story all patched up :)

[sheiannasherra]

*ARGH!* I just went to see if the local library had The Warrior's Apprentice and they don't so I went to the inter-library catalog (state wide)and they do have it. Tried to put it on hold and was informed that I can't do that because it's available at the local library. *sigh* I guess I'll have to talk to one of the librarians the next time I go in to see if there is any way to convince the state program that the local library really doesn't have that title.

[hamsterwoman]

Drat!

This is sort of a backwards way of going about it, but maybe it's another option to look into: the various individual Vorkosiverse books have been collected into bundled editions. Thus, there's Young Miles, which includes The Warrior's Apprentice and also The Vor Game and "The Mountains of Mourning". You don't need the latter two, since you've read one and have the other on hold, but if your local library has the omnibus edition, that might be one way to get your hands on the former.