VORKOSIGAN SAGA: aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper

And they are legal free books too.

 

What do you all think is the best order to read them? I generally recommend that people skip the Cordelia books to begin with. Thoughts?

 

I've gotten fonder of the Cordelia books but generally, yeah, start with TWA/Young Miles, or MAYBE Ethan of Athos if you want a standalone book, then skip back around to SoH/Barrayar when you're well and truly hooked (and before you read GJ&tRQ)

 

YES PLEASE I WOULD LOVE THEM.

 

For some reason Barrayar was the first book I read. It works pretty well even if you haven't read Cordelia's Honor.

 

I started with Shards and Barrayar and loved them, Cordelia is probably my favorite, but if you're going non-chronologically anyway, start with the novella Mountains of Mourning. It is the very best portrayal of Miles. I hear Bujold wrote it to refute her publisher's suggestion that his Admiral Naismith persona was more interesting and she should focus solely on that. And it stands well on its own without reading the convoluted plots that come chronologically prior.

 

Oooooh, a good point...

i suppose it is up to Aon! And also here are the e-books for deciding with. Start with PROBABLY either Cordelia's Honor or Young Miles, the latter being slightly recommended above the former, but both sets of books are honestly very, very good, with an outside vote for MoM (which is in the Young Miles omnibus anyways, but is novella-length instead of full novel-length).

eta: @Aondeug pinging u to make sure u see the e-book link right there

etax2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorkosigan_Saga#In_internal_chronological_order
suggested reading order, I'll add both of these to the top post

 

Thank you!

 

So right now I literally can't figure out what this fucking series' name is so I am just going to call it the volkswagen saga.

 

I think it's just me being tired and the word being NEW AND WEIRD. I will adjust. Eventually.

 

There are a couple of references in the series to how hard it is to pronounce. My favorite is a subtle one from the exasperated Parole Officer Oscar Gustioz.

 

GOOD. Jokes about words being hard to say are good.

God though it's got like...v, o, and k in the first four letters. And l's and r's are related in my head. And it ends in g, a, n which looks like g, e, n and my brain is just like "THAT'S VOLKSWAGEN :D" even though I am like "no it's really not".

 

I find I do better to parse "Vor" as a separate word, despite the lack of a space when it's part of a name. It is used on its own to refer to the Barrayaran nobility as a group, and said nobility, when they write their initials, do so as though "Vor" and [rest of their last name] were two words - Miles Vorkosigan, for example, might initial things MVK.

 

Oh it's a separate fucking thing?

THIS IS THE TIME THE INEXPLICABLE SCI-FI/FANTASY APOSTROPHE MIGHT COME IN HANDY.

But yes that makes it a bit easier to parse.

 

yeah the Vor are a social class, there's a scene in the... second miles book? (appropriately titled The Vor Game) where noone gets their titles used, and he's just Kosigan for a bit. The emperor of Barrayar is Vor Barra. Miles' cousin is Vor Patril... etc! they just get squished down because NAMES

 

Vorpatil I've been reading as Vorpletinger. I am not even sure what a vorpletinger is but it sure is what I'm reading that as.

 

Oh. Ok. It is a misreading based off wolpertinger being a fucking thing.

 

I BELIEVE IN U

also u dont gotta but if you wanna do live updates in the thread (as energy and interest permits) i know i, for one, would really enjoy hearing thoughts from a new reader :D

 

yeah, think of Vor as being like Von except with the added bonus that, as someone points out as one point, "Vor really does mean thief!".

I think I maybe started with a couple of short stories that I found on line? The one where Miles gets sent into the back country to investigate a murder, and the one where he rescuesteals Taura. And then I found the book where Admiral Naismith gets his start.

 

I started with Shards of Honor and liked it a lot, but I may not be the standard reader.

I do think Miles got a reasonable amount of the "forward momentum" part of his personality from Cordelia. I mean. The shopping trip. The first time she escaped the Barrayar ship. Cordelia is not that much less "Cordelia yes" than Miles is "Miles yes". But she's older and more sensible and her books are more contained, so I do see why people might want to start with Warrior's Apprentice.