Quote:
Originally Posted by HelenaJole
Memory is my favorite, with A Civil Campaign a close second.
I have wondered, if I were going to recommend just one book to somebody so they could try out the series, which one would I pick? The writing is definitely not as strong in the early books, but the series as a whole gains so much from being read in order.
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So it is for me!
I have had the same worry while recommending the series. One thing I'll gently disagree about is the strength of writing. For me, there are two peaks - one at
Cordelia's Honor (the full omnibus) and the other down at
A Civil Campaign.
Memory is definitely my favorite but I wouldn't
objectively recommend it as the best piece of writing in the series to someone else (big distinction
).
The person who started me on the series gave me the
Young Miles omnibus as a gift and I find that to be "just right" as a starting point for a new reader (perhaps I'm biased because that's how I started but I think there are some good, objective reasons there too). For one thing,
The warrior's apprentice has a gentle start in the sense that nothing is confusing and everyone is properly identified (
in media res is rarely pulled off well so I'm glad Bujold didn't indulge in it willy-nilly) and we're not expected to know anything about Miles' history either. For another, have people read the synopsis on the book recently? I took one look at it and my eyes popped out. Here it is from Amazon (apologies for the length):
Quote:
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It isn't easy, being Vor. Being a Vor lord on the war-torn planet Barrayar wasn't easy. Being an officer in Barrayar's military wasn't easy. And being the leader of a force of spaceborne mercenaries while maintaining a secret identity wasn't easy in fact it should have been impossible, to say nothing of being a capital offense on Barrayar. Not that impossibility or great danger would slow down young Miles Vorkosigan much. Washed out of the Barrayaran Military Academy for being overly fragile (he had been biochemically damaged during an assassination attempt while still in his mother's womb), Miles' natural (if unorthodox) leadership qualities quickly led to his off-handedly acquiring a fleet of nineteen ships and three thousand troops, all unswervingly loyal to him or at least to his alter ego, Admiral Naismith. In short order, he foiled a plot against his father, returned to and graduated from the academy, solved a murder among his people, joined a mutiny against a deranged superior officer, thwarted an interstellar invasion, and rescued the Barrayaran Emperor. Then things get interesting.
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I took one look at the last line and was immediately hooked
. So, to address your question Helena, I think this is the best way to seduce a newcomer to the Vorkosiverse (did I just invent that word?
). After that of course, one can proceed in chronological order (helpfully provided in most of the newer printings) and read Shards and Barrayar anytime as a sort of "historical" novel. Of course, it
must be read before
A Civil Campaign to fully appreciate
What do you think?
