Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.
Despite my intial intention of starting with 1632 and On Basilisk Station, I actually read some of the Miles Vorkosigan books.
I read these books out of order, but given that they were published in a non-chronological manner I did not feel that badly about it. And the helpful timeline at the end of the books were much appreciated.
I picked up these up at my local library, which has a lot of Baen books.
The first book I read was Cetaganda. This was very good, with a nice tourist, de toqueville-esque observation. You got the idea just how different the russian-tinged barrayar and the decadent cetaganda. They're both pretty stratified cultures, but the two castes and the bubbles the higher-caste women are in is pretty fascinating. And the relationship between miles and his cousin was great.
Then I read Komarr, A Civil Campaign, and much of Diplomatic Immunity.
Komarr was a brisk read, enjoyable and with nice twists. The crushing shame and perpetual debt-ridden nature of Ekatarine was nicely done out, though Miles' character was a bit . . . less present. It was more Ekatarine's story than Miles'. Very southern gothic.
A Civil Campaign and then Diplomatic Immunity . . .
It started off well enough, being a more comedy of manners type of story. But then it just became a sort of soppy and twee. Diplomatic Immunity I just couldn't finish. It wasn't that it was bad, and neither was A Civil Campaign. It's just that it was boring. I am utterly indifferent to these two books. And that's perhaps the worst thing you can say about a book. If you hate a book, at least it evoked passion. I feel nothing for them.
The Miles character is drawn from a long lineage of folklore dwarfs, who use their cunning and wits to overcome their short stature. But the character does overcome that, particularly as he has to deal with the physical consequences of his ambition with his seizures and his pain.
But I found Ekatarine a cliche, a pastiche of soap opera tropes and second-generation feminist ideals (not that second-generation feminist ideals are a bad thing) mashed together without any sort of real character beyond them.
So: Cetaganda: great. Komarr: good to great. The last two: not so much.
-murmur
Despite my intial intention of starting with 1632 and On Basilisk Station, I actually read some of the Miles Vorkosigan books.
I read these books out of order, but given that they were published in a non-chronological manner I did not feel that badly about it. And the helpful timeline at the end of the books were much appreciated.
I picked up these up at my local library, which has a lot of Baen books.
The first book I read was Cetaganda. This was very good, with a nice tourist, de toqueville-esque observation. You got the idea just how different the russian-tinged barrayar and the decadent cetaganda. They're both pretty stratified cultures, but the two castes and the bubbles the higher-caste women are in is pretty fascinating. And the relationship between miles and his cousin was great.
Then I read Komarr, A Civil Campaign, and much of Diplomatic Immunity.
Komarr was a brisk read, enjoyable and with nice twists. The crushing shame and perpetual debt-ridden nature of Ekatarine was nicely done out, though Miles' character was a bit . . . less present. It was more Ekatarine's story than Miles'. Very southern gothic.
A Civil Campaign and then Diplomatic Immunity . . .
It started off well enough, being a more comedy of manners type of story. But then it just became a sort of soppy and twee. Diplomatic Immunity I just couldn't finish. It wasn't that it was bad, and neither was A Civil Campaign. It's just that it was boring. I am utterly indifferent to these two books. And that's perhaps the worst thing you can say about a book. If you hate a book, at least it evoked passion. I feel nothing for them.
The Miles character is drawn from a long lineage of folklore dwarfs, who use their cunning and wits to overcome their short stature. But the character does overcome that, particularly as he has to deal with the physical consequences of his ambition with his seizures and his pain.
But I found Ekatarine a cliche, a pastiche of soap opera tropes and second-generation feminist ideals (not that second-generation feminist ideals are a bad thing) mashed together without any sort of real character beyond them.
So: Cetaganda: great. Komarr: good to great. The last two: not so much.
-murmur