Just finished a second reading. My Mom's been rereading the whole series. It's been pure medicine for her after all her medical ordeals of the last couple years. I picked up Barrayar to read a couple paragraphs, then a whole chapter. Put it down because Mom was reading it, but it nagged at me and...
I did enjoy my romp through the Barrayaran world again, following the often humorous Captain Ivan Vorpatril who has acted as a foil for his cousin, Miles Vorkosigan, in numerous stories. Ivan is all that Miles isn't--strong bodied and handsome, admitted into the military academy, an expert romanc...
The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold This novella takes place 3 years after "The Warrior's Apprentice", right after Miles graduates from the Military Academy. What I absolutely love about the Vorkosigan-saga is the range of topics, the variety of genres - and ultimately the very huma...
One of Bujold's most thoughtful books. Oddly toothless for a Vorkosigan. Ah well, they can't all be Mirror Dance.
This is vintage Bujold, 1992, a rare standalone published between ‘The Vor Game’ (1990) and Mirror Dance’ (1994) though in many way it feels like a much earlier work. It’s a straightforward fantasy set in a Renaissance Italy where licensed mages work white magic with the blessings (and supervisio...
a colleague asked me a series of questions while we were out drinking the other night, questions like So what's next for you? and Is this all you are planning on doing with your career? and Is your current job how you want to be defined and does that actually give you satisfaction? I found myself...
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars (wish I could rate it higher)Genre: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Romantic SFMy usual type of read? (yes/no) Yes, very much so!Plot type: epic romance, galactic space war, incredible world-building#I just read this again for something like the 7th time since I first "d...
A totally satisfying vision of a middle-aged woman driven down by past tragedy who takes up the heroic work of making the world safe from the dangers of enslavement of souls. The character of Ista captured my heart with her charm, wit, and courage, as she almost did for the hero Cazaril in the p...
This is an omnibus edition consisting of three tales. The first novel, "The Warrior's Apprentice," is where I officially fell in love with Miles, who sure isn't the usual square-jawed, bicep bulging sci-fi hero, and he's what made me go and seek out more of the series. It's rare I can say I fall ...
TRIGGER WARNING: Sexual AssaultAna’s Take:So, this is my first ever encounter with the works of Lois McMaster Bujold and I fear it was probably the wrong place to start. Shards of Honor is, as far as I understand, the author’s first book, the one that starts the Vorkosigan Saga even though it tak...
Miles Vorkosigan has a mixed bag. On one hand, he’s the Barrayaran heir to a title. He has parents who care about him and have given him a first-class education. When he travels off-world to Beta Colony, he gets sweet diplomatic immunity and a tough bodyguard. Then again, the bodyguard is there i...
I feel like a bit of a broken record, but best include the warning anyway: spoilers below for earlier books in the series! So if you haven't read those, just go and do so. Please, you won't regret it!In Komarr, we see Miles in his new life. His supposedly temporary appointment as Imperial Auditor...
Note: I believe I am the only person on the face of the earth who hated this book. If you liked it, this review will annoy you. Also, be advised that there will be spoilers for what we might loosely term the plot in what follows. This book suffers from three main problems: 1. A fascinating world...
A highly satisfying and timeless tale of a broken hero’s recovery. Those who expect a typical sword-and-sorcery fantasy from the title or cover will be disappointed. Fans of Bujold’s sci fi Vorkosigan Saga should feel right at home with the strengths evident here: character development, world b...
Before I start my review I want to point out that, till this book, I thought that Ms. Bujold can do no wrong, so to speak (just check my other reviews of her books). I don't just like her writing style: I'm in LOVE with her technique. So this being said, for the last three days I've struggled to ...
3.5 stars. Good, and sometimes great. Miles and Ekaterin are enjoying a belated honeymoon, visiting other planets while their twin babies grow in their uterine replicator back home on Barrayar. A problem occurs in Quaddiespace, and Emperor Gregor asks Miles to check it out as his official Imperia...
Fantasy Review BarnMinor spoilers of Shards of Honor are possible, you have been warned.Wow, what a wonderful book. This just blows its predecessor out of the water. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Shards of Honor quite a bit. (And I realize that technically this is not the second book of the se...
I've been rather under the weather lately. I've done too much physically and my CFS has come along and thwacked me around the head to remind me it's still there. As a result, my brain isn't running on full steam either. So I don't have this post quite planned out in my head and I don't know how c...
So, I enjoyed The Warrior’s Apprentice, and The Mountains of Mourning made me cry. How I would react to The Vor Game was anyone’s guess, but I knew that this last story in the Young Miles omnibus would not disappoint me.Indeed, with this book, Lois McMaster Bujold hits it out of the park. I t...
Falling Free is part of the Vorkosigan Saga, although I can't (yet) see the connection. I've read both Shards of Honor and Barrayar, the next two books in the saga and Falling Free does not appear to relate, but that is just fine, because I liked this tale.Leo Graf, our main protagonist, is an en...
Cetaganda is one of those "filling in the blanks" books. It comes after The Vor Game in chronological order, but it was actually written after two or three more books were out. As far as I can tell, that means that the whole issue of Miles as Admiral Naismith and the Dendarii Free Mercenaries is ...
Contains: "The Borders of Infinity" Brothers in Arms Mirror DanceMiles Naismith--in the person of his two alter-egos Admiral Naismith and Lieutenant Lord Vorkosigan--embarks on a perilous series of adventures, from the liberation of Barrayaran allies from a Cetagandan POW camp to the rescue of cl...
Rating: 4* of fiveThe Publisher Says: The familiar old SF "planet of women" chestnut is reversed in the planet of Athos — an all-male planet made possible by the invention of the uterine replicator. Ethan, drawn out of his beloved Athos by a quest, finds himself an alien in more mainstream human ...
Omnibus with two complete novels and a novella in one large volume. This collection shows Miles and Ekaterin meeting (Komarr), getting to know each other as Miles tries to court her (A Civil Campaign), and the wedding (Winterfair Gifts), and, of course, Miles dealing with assorted family relation...
When Cordelia Naismith and her survey crew are attacked by a renegade group from Barrayar, she is taken prisoner by Aral Vorkosigan, commander of the Barrayan ship that has been taken over by an ambitious and ruthless crew member. Aral and Cordelia survive countless mishaps while their mutual adm...
Vorkosigan was rising from his chair, and Illyan was standing before him taut as a bowstring, saying "Vorhalas and the Prince! Here! Now!" "Son-of-a . . ." Vorkosigan turned on his heel, eyes raking the little room. "It'll have to be the bathroom. Fold him into the shower." Swiftly, Vorkosigan to...
The three young women dragged their load around through the sapling gate and down over the hill to the clearing where the horses had been watered that first day. The tree branches were still bare against the cool blue sky, but the buds swelled red, and a few low weeds winked green in the flattene...
The spring air hung soft with promise. Penric’s mother, before she had gone off in the wagon with his sisters to oversee the final preparations, had turned her face to the cool blue sky and declared it a perfect day for a betrothal; surely the gods were smiling upon the House of Jurald at last! P...
He had been staring at nothing but the coarse rusty hairs of Copperhead’s mane for the past hour, but looked up as Saun muffled an oath and kicked his tired horse into a canter. Above the Bonemarsh shore, life of a sort had returned: a flock of turkey vultures, the fingerlike fringes of their win...
He inhaled the warm smell of her hair, the slick of her skin, next to his face on the pillow. Elation, he decided, was the name for this emotion, excited and a little scared. In an infinite number of ways, he was glad he wasn’t a teenager anymore, but it was heartening to still find that wild wes...
To his frustration, the expanded party was not readied until the morning. He’d used the time as well as he could, canvassing the lower town across the Linnet River where merchants and caravans stopped, and where the inns, taverns, smithies, saddlers, liveries, and other businesses catering to the...
"Bloody hell," he said in a flattened voice."Same to you," Miles rasped back.Galeni sat up straighter, bleary eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Or—is it you?""I don't know." Miles considered this. "Which me were you expecting?" He staggered over to the bench opposite before his knees gave way and s...
As he slipped past, Dag plucked it up. He eased out the back hatch and closed the door before hanging the lantern on the bent nail and turning the valve key to brighten the flame. He peered out over the water. Any moon or stars were veiled by the overcast sky, and the lamplight reflected off the ...