Who?
My name is Aaron Humphrey, and I’ve been reading science fiction, fantasy, and other books for many years now.
What?
Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series comprises over a dozen books, for the most part fast-paced space opera, which mostly just means that people fly around in spaceships without worrying too much about how they came up with the science behind it. Not to belittle Bujold’s attention to the science–she just doesn’t let it get in the way of the plot, and quite often the implications of the science are actually integral to the plot. It’s also partially military SF, in that our most major character, Miles Vorkosigan, spends a lot of time in military service of one sort or another, but it manages to avoid the most dreary tropes of that subgenre too.
Where?
This blog. Was that not clear?
When?
I’m a busy guy, and I’ve got a lot of other things on my plate, but I’ll try to do one post a week. I know that regular posting schedules are important to keep an audience, assuming I ever get one in the first place, and I will do my best. I work full-time and I like to play computer games, watch TV, and, you know, read books, so it will help if I can keep my enthusiasm level high. It will help that I love the Vorkosigan series and love to reread it every year or so, and this way I may be able to read it more often. Feedback will also keep me excited about the series.
Why?
In addition to what I mentioned in my last answer…I see lots of fantasy series rereads these days. There’s a Wheel of Time reread, a Malazan Book of the Fallen reread, a Memory, Sorry & Thorn reread, a Lord of the Rings reread, Harry Potter rereads, A Song of Ice And Fire…uh…well, there’s a first-time-read, at least, and possibly a reread somewhere too. In many cases, it’s because there’s a long gap between books, and many details which reward repeated reads, but it’s a lot of work to do it all by yourself. I have to say, the Vorkosigan series isn’t really like that. Bujold’s books aren’t as thick, there aren’t as many ongoing plot points that you have to keep track of, they’re SF, not fantasy, and there’s no overarching plot arc. Nevertheless, I see a need. Far too few people seem to know about these books, and I would like to raise awareness of them. I mean, last November there was a new Wheel of Time book and a new Vorkosigan book coming out. The Wheel of Time book, Towers of Midnight, showed up in our local chain bookstore on the day it was scheduled to, and we snapped it up right away. The Vorkosigan book, CryoBurn, I seem to recall, we eventually special-ordered after two weeks when we gave up on it showing up on its own. So you see the problem.
I admit, she’s won multiple Nebula and Hugo Awards for the series, so she’s certainly not hurting for acclaim, but still I continually meet people who know who Robert Jordan and George R.R. Martin are who blink nonplussedly when I mention her name. So let me make my own modest contribution to increasing her profile.
How?
First of all, I plan to do the books in chronological order as much as possible. The first book published, Shards of Honour, is also the first chronologically, luckily, so that’s an easy call, but the second book chronologically, Barrayar, was published after three or four others came out. I believe I originally read them in publication order, but now I prefer the chronological order as much as possible. For one thing, that’s how they tend to be omnibized, and I’ve got the two books above (which, by the way, star Miles Vorkosigan’s mother, Cordelia Naismith) in the new omnibus of Cordelia’s Honour because I gave my original copies to someone else. Ms. Bujold doesn’t always make things easy, because there are a few short stories, which got anthologized into Borders of Infinity and are scattered along the timeline. But I will try my best. (I do plan to skip Falling Free, since it’s a much earlier book set in the same world, but I’ve decided to toss Ethan of Athos in there, even though it doesn’t feature any of the Vorkosigans directly, but it does overlap slightly, and fared better the last time I did reread the series.)
In more mechanical terms…a couple of chapters for each post, I imagine, with a synopsis, a few notable quotes interleaved, and then commentary. I haven’t decided how spoilerrific I’ll be; probably not too much, but I will not be above making spoilery hints and comments. I encourage you to pick up your own copies and read along if you haven’t read the series before and you want to follow me. Two chapters a week shouldn’t be too hard, should it?
I’m way ahead of you.
I started re-reading the series in December as I was gearing up for a writer’s retreat and needed something to get me into the space opera mood. I, like you, started with Shards, and was astonished at how good it was– rereading some other favorites from my youth, like the Retief series or Stainless Steel Rat, or Agent of Vega I was very disappointed to find they were actually pretty badly written. Shards, in contrast, stood up to a re-read very very well. Indeed, there are several elements that are still quite radical today. Reading Shards immediately contrasts to the shallow, male depiction of a heroine in the Honor Harrington series is, for example. Shards was one of the first feminist novels in the military SF genre; still one of the best.
I read Warriors Apprentice next, and what struck me is how similar it was to my own novel in progress…better written of course, more polished, but the tone and style… I started to wonder as I read it if I hadn’t subconsciously plagiarized much of it for my own novel. Clearly a major influence on my writing! I was quite shocked. So much so I wondered if I should stop my novel. But then, quite coincidentally, I happened upon my first outline for my current novel and realized it was dated from 37 years ago…more than a decade before Bujold sold her first novel –so clearly, she’s been stealing my ideas!
But seriously, reading her adventure novels, I have to say it is mighty fine writing! I marvel at how she is able to keep the pacing, tension, action balanced against real characterization. I love reading the books for their own sake, but they also stand as fabulous mentor for beginning writers….I marvel at her ability to foreshadow without giving things away, to sneak in major themes and messages without being pedantic… and to raise issues about a militaristic culture that no one else seems to be addressing. Fabulous stuff.
I want to be Bujold when I grow up.
I last reread the series last year before CryoBurn came out, and I think I’ve done it once or twice before that. I’m so happy I got over my annoyance that Mirror Dance won the Hugo. You see, I hadn’t read it, back when the WorldCon was in Winnipeg, because I hadn’t read the rest of the series yet, but I’d read all the other nominees, and I was plumping for Mother of Storms by John Barnes. Luckily Nicole persuaded me to get caught up in the series, because it’s great stuff. And Mirror Dance is just where it starts to get really good…
Wow, Aaron, what an ambitious blog! Bonus points for Canadian spelling! 🙂
I’m a huge Vorkosiverse fan and somewhere have posted a story about Miles and Mark on Beta– my one and only ever fanfic of anything.
I have reread so much of the saga so many times that I sometimes just dip into one of the volumes for a favorite chapter or two. As a writer I would like to emulate LMB’s combination of moral depth with gripping and entertaining storytelling.
Anyway, if you keep the blog up, I’ll certainly pop by to read. Have you got it on Networked Blogs via Facebook? I find that’s the easiest way to know when a blog I like has a new post.
I believe that I’ve read the entire series at least 5 times and some of the individual books many more times than that. From that perspective, I’d like to strongly recommend that you include Falling Free because it begins a plot thread that is tied up in Diplomatic Immunity.
The hawk-nosed Barrayaran that she sees before she is knocked out is not the same Barrayaran that she sees when she comes to.
The former is Sgt. Bothari (an important secondary continuing character) and the latter is Aral Vorkosigan, the “male lead”.
These first two books in the series are as much love stories (recognized as such by the Romance Writers’ people) as they are military SF. As such the Cordelia’s thoughts and the conversations between the two are very important to heir developing relationship. Along with a good plot description you’ve managed to mention these developments. Good work! For most male SF reviewers, this kind of thing seems to sail right over their heads.
I look forward to your continuing review.
My wife pointed out the same thing, so I went back to check. See my additional comments on the first post for my analysis of the matter, which is, in a nutshell, that I probably should have remembered that it was Bothari, but the author did not make it nearly as clear as she should have that there were actually two different Barrayarans appearing in Chapter One even when I was reading the text closely to try to summarize it.