A NEW NOVEL IN THE AWARD WINNING SERIES FROM MULTIPLE NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR LOIS MCMASTER BUJOLD! Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan returns to the planet that changed her destiny.
FUTURE TENSE
Three years after her famous husbandโs death, Cordelia Vorkosigan, widowed Vicereine of Sergyar, stands ready to spin her life in a new direction. Oliver Jole, Admiral, Sergyar Fleet, finds himself caught up in her web of plans in ways heโd never imagined, bringing him to an unexpected crossroads in his career.
Meanwhile, Miles Vorkosigan, one of Emperor Gregorโs key investigators, this time dispatches himself on a mission of inquiry, into a mystery he never anticipated โ his own mother.
Plans, wills, and expectations collide in this sparkling science-fiction social comedy, as the impact of galactic technology on the range of the possible changes all the old rules, and Miles learns that not only is the future not what he expects, neither is the past.
At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
About Lois McMaster Bujoldโs Vorkosigan Saga:
โFans have been clamoring for Hugo-winner Bujold to pen a new Vorkosigan Saga novel. . . her deft and absorbing writing easily corrals the complex plot.โโ Publishers Weekly on Cryoburn
โBujold mixes quirky humor with action [and] superb character developmentโฆ[E]normously satisfying.โโ Publishers Weekly.
โOne of sfโs outstanding talents . . . an outstanding series.โโ Booklist
โ. . . an intelligent, well-crafted and thoroughly satisfying blend of adventure, sociopolitical commentary, scientific experiments, and occasional perils . . . with that extra spicing of romance. . . .โโ Locus
About Vorkosigan series entry Captain Vorpatril's Alliance :
โ. . .this may be one of the most anticipated and long-awaited entries to Bujoldโs acclaimed Vorkosigan saga. For years fans have clamored for Ivan Vorpatrilโs story, and at last Bujold delivers something that will both thrill the devoted audience and entrance new readers . . . Longtime readers will love seeing a new side of Ivan as well as hearing his views on many of the series characters. New readers can enjoy Ivanโs story on its own . . . Essential for all SF collections and a must-read for Bujold and Vorkosigan fans.โโ Booklist
About Vorkosigan series entry Diplomatic Immunity :
โBujold is adept at world-building and provides a witty, character-centered plot, full of exquisite grace notes. . . fans will be thoroughly gripped and likely to finish the book in a single sitting.โโ Publishers Weekly
The Vorkosigan Series in Story-based Chronological Order
Falling Free
Shards of Honor
Barrayar
The Warrior's Apprentice
The Vor Game
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
Borders of Infinity
Brothers in Arms
Mirror Dance
Memory
Komarr
A Civil Campaign
Diplomatic Immunity
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
CryoBurn
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
A science fiction legend, Lois McMaster Bujold is one of the most highly regarded speculative fiction writers of all time. She has won three Nebula Awards and six Hugo Awards, four for best novel, which matches Robert A. Heinlein's record. Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan saga is a massively popular science fiction mainstay. The mother of two, Ms. Bujold lives in Minneapolis.
**
Review
Character development is absolutely on point here, and the Vicereine, Admiral Jole, and Miles Vorkosigan show their colors as they have throughout the saga...Packed with action...Bujold tests the boundaries of romance in the science fiction genre, as usual, with a bit of a twist that goes down very well in a particularly poignant scene. Romantic realism at its best.
-- "RT Book Reviews (4 stars)"
In some ways, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen reads like Bujold is bringing the series to a close. But it's also a quickening, a fresh take on an epic saga whose author clearly has a lot more stories to tell. That's why it's a great place to enter the Vorkosigan Saga, as well as an unexpected delight for people who have been there all along.
-- "ARS Technica"
The tender feelings and humor add up to a droll tale...like a space opera written by Jane Austen.
-- "Publishers Weekly"
Bujold has had great success in the past writing romance featuring mature adults (Paladin of Souls), and Oliver and Cordelia make a lovely couple, albeit one with more baggage than most. A welcome addition to a series that is always a delight.
-- "Library Journal"
Bujold's follow-up to Cryoburn is a romantic romp with life-affirming changes in wait for fans of the series, not to mention the entire Vorkosigan clan...Fans will want to see how Miles deals with these new developments.
-- "Booklist"
Narrator Grover Gardner's faintly ironic intonations, just short of outright humor, capture the tone of Bujold's writing style. One can almost see his lips twitching. Bujold's space opera series involves fully formed characters in highly political and dangerous situations. They're the type who often smile before a fight. Gardner accomplishes character differentiation without significantly altering his vocal patterns as two of the series' more prominent players engage in a series of trysts and fall in love.
-- "AudioFile"
From the Author
Author's Note :
A Bujold Reading-Order Guide
The Fantasy Novels
My fantasy novels are not hard to order. Easiest of all is The Spirit Ring , which is a stand-alone, or aquel, as some wag once dubbed books thatfor some obscure reason failed to spawn a subsequent series. Nexteasiest are the four volumes of The Sharing Knife-- in order, Beguilement , Legacy , Passage , and Horizon-- which I broke down and actually numbered, as this is one continuous tale.
What were called the Chalion books after the setting of its first twovolumes, but which now that the geographic scope has widened I'm dubbing the World of the Five Gods, were written to be stand-alones as part of a larger whole. However, the second volume certainly contains spoilersfor the first, so Curse-Paladin is the recommended readingorder. The third is in effect an independent prequel, not sharingcharacters or setting with the other two, so readers of the priorvolumes need to adjust their expectations going in. In any case, thepublication order is:
The Curse of Chalion
Paladin of Souls
The Hallowed Hunt
In terms of internal world chronology, The Hallowed Hunt would fall first, the Penric novellas perhaps a hundred and fifty years later, and The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls would follow a century or so after that.
Current internal chronology of the Penric & Desdemona tales is:
"Penric's Demon"
"Penric and the Shaman"
"Penric's Fox"
"Penric's Mission"
"Mira's Last Dance"
Other Original E-books
The short story collection ProtoZoa contains five very early tales--three (1980s) contemporary fantasy, two science fiction--all previously published but not in this handy format. The novelette "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" may be of interest to Vorkosigancompletists, as it is the first story in which that proto-universebegan, mentioning Beta Colony but before Barrayar was even thought of.
Sidelines:Talks and Essays is just what it says on the tin--a collection of three decades of mynonfiction writings, including convention speeches, essays, travelogues, introductions, and some less formal pieces. I hope it will prove aninteresting companion piece to my fiction.
The Vorkosigan Stories
Many pixels have been expended debating the 'best' order in which to readwhat have come to be known as the Vorkosigan Books (or Saga), theVorkosiverse, the Miles books, and other names. The debate mainlyrevolves around publication order versus internal-chronological order. I favor internal chronological, with a few adjustments.
Shards of Honor and Barrayar. The first two books in the series proper, they detail the adventures of Cordelia Naismith of Beta Colony and Aral Vorkosigan of Barrayar. Shards was my very first novel ever; Barrayar was actually my eighth, but continues the tale the next day after the end of Shards. For readers who want to be sure of beginning at the beginning, or who are very spoiler-sensitive, start with these two.
The Warrior's Apprentice and The Vor Game (with, perhaps, the novella "The Mountains of Mourning" tucked in between.) The Warrior's Apprentice introduces the character who became the series' linchpin, MilesVorkosigan; the first book tells how he created a space mercenary fleetby accident; the second how he fixed his mistakes from the first round.Space opera and military-esque adventure (and a number of other thingsone can best discover for oneself), The Warrior's Apprentice makes another good place to jump into the series for readers who prefer a young male protagonist.
After that: Brothers in Arms should be read before Mirror Dance , and both, ideally, before Memory.
Komarr makes another alternate entry point for the series, picking up Miles's second career at its start. It should be read before A Civil Campaign.
Borders of Infinity , a collection of three of the five currently extant novellas, makes agood Miles Vorkosigan early-adventure sampler platter, I always thought, for readers who don't want to commit themselves to length. (But it maymake more sense if read after The Warrior's Apprentice.) Take care not to confuse the collection-as-a-whole with its title story, "The Borders of Infinity".
Falling Free takes place 200 years earlier in the timeline and does not sharesettings or characters with the main body of the series. Most readersrecommend picking up this story later. It should likely be read before Diplomatic Immunity , however,which revisits the "quaddies", a bioengineered race of free-fall dwellers, in Miles's time.
The novels in the internal-chronological list below appear in italics; thenovellas (officially defined as a story between 17,500 word sand 40,000words) in quote marks.
Falling Free
Shards of Honor
Barrayar
The Warrior's Apprentice
"The Mountains of Mourning"
"Weatherman"
The Vor Game
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
Borders of Infinity
"Labyrinth"
"The Borders of Infinity"
Brothers in Arms
Mirror Dance
Memory
Komarr
A Civil Campaign
"Winterfair Gifts"
Diplomatic Immunity
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
CryoBurn
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
Caveats:
The novella "Weatherman" is an out-take from the beginning of the novel The Vor Game. If you already have The Vor Game , you likely don't need this.
The original 'novel' Borders of Infinity was a fix-up collection containing the three novellas "The Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth", and "The Borders of Infinity", together with aframe to tie the pieces together. Again, beware duplication. The framestory does not stand alone.
Happy reading!
-- Lois McMaster Bujold