This series has been on my list for a while. Many of the books are even on the shelves upstairs. I just haven't got to them yet. I retrospect, which would you read first?
Um... I don't know. Reading order is the subject of much debate online, it seems. I started with The Warrior's Apprentice, the first Miles book, but I guess Shards of Honour might be a better option. It's the path of no spoilers, at any rate. It also allows you to encounter Barrayar and its people through the eyes of someone new to it.
I don't really go back to the early books much, but I adore Memory, Komarr & A Civil Campaign. And I have a weird fondness for Cryoburn because of the whole death-culture setting.
I wonder whether LMB has finished with the Vorkosigan series? I wouldn't mind another Ivan book. Or maybe one with Byerly Vorrutyer as the main character.
Those 3 are my favourites, too - especially A Civil Campaign, which I found utterly delightful. I was completely gripped by Mirror Dance, too, but would have to brace myself for any future re-read of it, due to its darkness and nasty torture scenes.
re. further books: I think there's also potential in a book set a decade or two on, focusing on one or more of Miles' children. I'm normally not at all a fan of series which give you a great central character, then push them into the background and move the focus on to their children, but in this case, I think it could work. We saw so much about Miles' emotions about having a "great man" as a father, so it would be interesting to see if his children feel the same about him.
I re-read the entire series when I was off work with depression some years back. It really helped, since the misfit somehow surviving all that was thrown at him made me feel more positive about my own (really nowhere near as fraught) situation.
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I wonder whether LMB has finished with the Vorkosigan series? I wouldn't mind another Ivan book. Or maybe one with Byerly Vorrutyer as the main character.
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re. further books: I think there's also potential in a book set a decade or two on, focusing on one or more of Miles' children. I'm normally not at all a fan of series which give you a great central character, then push them into the background and move the focus on to their children, but in this case, I think it could work. We saw so much about Miles' emotions about having a "great man" as a father, so it would be interesting to see if his children feel the same about him.
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