The Vorkosigan Series- A Love Letter

I'm not always swift on the uptake.  For years I saw this series mentioned anywhere people love books.  Romance, romcom, urban fantasy, everyone liked and recommended these books.  Finally, in the spring of 2007, I read The Warrior's Apprentice.

Wowza.

In less than 6 months I tracked down and read the whole rest of the series.  That 6 months was also when my health tanked and I was diagnosed with Crohn's.  It was a miserable time for me, and I read Ethan of Athos over and over.  You'd think it would be Miles, brilliant, damaged Miles who attracted me just then.  But it was Ethan instead.  A man who had been pushed out into a whole scary world that he knew almost nothing about.  The friendship between Ethan and Quinn was so sweet, and it kept sucking me in again and again.

Now that I've read the whole thing, I have other favorites, too.  Grover Gardner does an excellent job of reading the books (although the very first time I heard him reading The Warrior's Apprentice, I thought "Really?  That's who they picked to be the voice of Miles?"  By the second chapter I was hooked, and now I can't imagine any other reader), and I've listened to A Civil Campaign over and over.  Although I may have referred to Miles as my literary boyfriend once or twice (last week), I really can't imagine a more perfect match for him than Ekaterin.  I love watching the two of them bumble along until they're sure what they want.  I always cheer during the proposal scene at the end.  Miles and Ekaterin are a force to be reckoned with.

It wasn't my favorite at first, but subsequent reads, and listens, of Cetaganda have definitely highlighted its pleasures.  I love Rian and the haut lady bubbles.  I love the wary, yet friendly and respectful relationship he builds with Dag Benin.  Cetaganda and Barrayar are once, and probably future, enemies, but they're still able to work together and help each other, even while saving their respective planets.

Falling Free is a wonderful book, apparently inspired by the author's father.  It takes place in the same fictional universe as the Vorkosigan novels, but hundreds of years before our hero's birth.  It doesn't have much direct impact on the rest of the series, but it is a bit of a thrill in Diplomatic Immunity when Miles goes to Graf station and sees a performance in the Minchenko Auditorium, and you know who those places were named after.  Also, Falling Free is a really community book.  You know who's meant to be doing the heavy lifting, but all the characters are heroes in this one.  Except for the baddie, who is probably one of the top three (bottom three?) bad guys we've experienced so far in the Vorkosiverse-- a bureaucrat.

The latest Vorkosigan novel went on sale the other week, and with all the squirreliness in my life, I don't have it yet.  But since I'm writing this in advance, I'm hoping that by the time this posts I'll have it in my hot little hands.  If you're at all curious about these books, especially if you have an ereader, I strongly suggest you pop out and pick up a first edition copy of the new book, Cryoburn.  It's got a disc in the back with e-versions of all but one novel in the series.  That's a significant savings.

It's going to mean avoiding anything that might have spoilers for the next month or so, but I plan to read the whole series again, in order, before moving on to Cryoburn.  Bujold has been writing these books for years; the first one was published in 1986, I believe.  But as I said above, I'm a Betty-come-lately to the series.  This is the first new Vorkosigan book she's put out since I became a fan.  I plan to savor the experience. 

As I write this I'm within a few pages of finishing Shards of Honor.  It's amazing to go back and see the origins of Miles' personality in Aral and Cordelia.  I think in many ways he's more his mother's son than his father's, although he might be surprised to realize which bits came from her.

I caught a vague rumor of a tragedy at the end of Cryoburn, and I have a suspicion what it might be.  That may also be why I'm wanting to go slowly through the whole series first.  I don't want to get to that tragedy.