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Read this. Aug 3, 2002 (252 of 259 found this helpful)
I'm getting tired of writing reviews about how absolutely perfectly wonderful these books are; there's like, twelve of them, and then there are books where they compiled two into one and gave it a different name... So just read the list below and go get the first book or books, and then go buy all the rest of them because you won't want to stop reading them, and annoy your friends because you miss what they were saying because you were too busy reading and didn't really want to go out Friday night anyways because you've still got another 3 books in the series to read.
Ok? Ok.
Shards of Honor
Barayar
(these two books are also combined into "Cordelia's Honor")
The Warrior's Apprentice
Short Story: The Mountains of Mourning
(all short stories are contained in "Borders of Infinity")
The Vor Game
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
Short Story: Labyrinth
Short Story: The Borders of Infinity
Brothers in Arms
The Borders of Infinity
Mirror Dance
Memory
Komarr
A Civil Campaign
Diplomatic Immunity
Now click on the bit where it says I was very helpful with this review, only it's a lie because I just got you hooked on something that's gonna take up a whole bunch of your time reading and make people think you're a complete geek when you want to do nothing but talk about how wonderful these books are.
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Miles kicks off Aug 23, 2000 (49 of 52 found this helpful)
The Warrior's Apprentice is the third book in Vorkosigan series - if you're going by internal chronology - and the first book with Miles as the main character. Although Shards of Honor is excellent, and Barrayar is quite good, Warrior's Apprentice is where this series really takes flight.
Miles is one of the classic characters of modern SF - Bujold has created someone who is exceptional in many ways (brilliant strategist, painfully intelligent, lucky as hell) and who is still likeable, because she allows him to have flaws and weaknesses - quite a few of them, in fact. Unlike, for example, Honor Harrington in David Weber's series, Miles is fully three-dimensional, and such a fascinating guy that it would be interesting to read *anything* about him.
In Warrior's, Miles' character is still developing. He's on a trip to his mother's homeworld after failing the entrance exam for the Imperial Military Academy when he decides to intervene in a Betan police problem. This leads, inevitably, to his involvement in another system's civil war. Will Miles be able to hold together his fictious group of mercenaries, keep track of his prisoners, earn enough money to redeem his mortgaged land, win the girl, and get back to Beta Colony before his parents find out what he's doing? (He gets himself into situations like this all the time - that's Miles for you.)
In my opinion, the best Vorkosigan books are those that focus on character development rather than plot - ones like Shards of Honor, Warrior's Apprentice, and Memory. In these, the plot is still strong, but it is interwoven with the building of a new character or a new aspect of a familiar one, and that is where Bujold really shines.
If you're just starting out with Lois Bujold, Warrior's Apprentice is a good place to start, despite its chronological position. And if you haven't read this book yet, I envy you - you've got quite a treat in store.
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Very well written space opera Mar 27, 1997 (10 of 10 found this helpful)
This was the first of Lois M. Bujold's "Miles Vorkosigan" books. This series has won two Hugos for Bujold, and with good reason. They are very solid, well-written adventure stories with excellent characters and fascinating plots. This book is a bit pulpier than the others -- Bujold was still finding her voice -- but still quite good, and the proper place to start if you want to read Miles' adventures in chronological order
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A good place to start with Bujold Jul 1, 2002 (13 of 14 found this helpful)
The question which naturally arises in introducing new readers to an author who has produced a substantial body of work is, "Where to begin?" My own preference is to start off with Falling Free, which is the earliest book according to internal chronology, and also the first of Bujold's work which I encountered. However, for many fans, the best part of Bujold's writing is the character of Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, and so they prefer to begin with this one, which is where Miles gets his start. (He does appear, briefly, at the end of Cordelia's Honor, although it can be argued that he is a central figure in the entire book.) I can't say that I disapprove of such a choice, either. The Warrior's Apprentice is a thoroughly entertaining romp across the galaxy, and introduces us to Miles as a brilliant, charismatic, natural leader who gets into the most amazing scrapes in the process of attempting to extricate himself from previous scrapes.
I should take this opportunity to point out that the original cover gave an entirely false impression of the story. (The helpless, almost-clad heroine type clinging to the bared chest of the jut-jawed hero type are particularly hilarious if you know the real characters.) The cover of the reissue is much closer to capturing the tale.
One of the many things which appeal to me about Bujold's work is the way she can evoke such a wide variety of emotions without being sentimental or melodramatic. Sometimes, the line between sorrow and hilarity is almost too fine to see:
Mile exhaled carefully, faint with rage and reminded grief.
He does not know, he told himself. He cannot know...
"Ivan, one of these days somebody is going to pull out a
weapon and plug you, and you're going to die in bewilderment,
crying, 'What did I say? What did I say?'"
"What did I say?" asked Ivan indignantly. (p. 250.)
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Miles Vorkosigan begins his legendary career. Jun 28, 1999 (13 of 14 found this helpful)
This science fiction novel deals with the start of the military and mercenary career of Miles Vorkosigan, son of Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan of the planet Barrayar. The assassination attempt made at the end of the novel "Barrayar" (1991) has given Miles a stunted growth and very brittle bones. He is now seventeen years old and tries to qualify for Barrayar's military school but fails. Then, during a vacation on another planet, he finds himself involved in an interplanetary war in which he improvises a mercenary force. Later, upon returning to Barrayar, he finds himself the focus of a plot to destroy the political power of his father. The book, as are most of the books in the Vorkosigan series, are very quickly read and most fans of space operas or of science/military fiction really enjoy them.