#labyrinth (vorkosigan)

[agardenandlibrary]

"[The plan] sounds good to me," conceded Thorne. "Simple."

"So I trust," Miles sighed hopefully. Why, after all, shouldn't things run to plan, just this once?

[regallibellbright]

So I’m rereading Borders of Infinity now for fic research, this is totally what I’m calling it, I am not just giving a random fictional character an enjoyment of a Vorkosigan book because I like it, I can justify this thematically, ANYWAY.

I am hoping to appreciate Labyrinth more on this reread than I did awkwardly reading the short stories in chronological order rather than all at once before Brothers in Arms the first time, which served the latter two and the books I was reading in between pretty poorly but especially Labyrinth. I love Taura, I look forward to Taura, and of course both “get imprisoned by a Jacksonian crimelord, fall in love with the genetically-enhanced wolf girl he keeps in the basement, and then severely damage his business while you escape with her” and “get sent to a POW camp to find one hero to rally an army against the Cetagandan Empire around, find the old plan won’t work, start a cult and use your own charisma to organize the prisoners so that you can stage a flawless, ordered prison break liberating the ENTIRE CAMP to serve as an army, and do all this after being thrown in there stark naked” are among the most Miles Vorkosigan things the man has ever committed.

But.

But.

I don’t think anything will ever manage to displace The Mountains of Mourning and its comparative calm as my absolute favorite of the three. It’s grounded, it’s sad, the closure is just perfect in what Miles can’t do for justice here and what he can, and the times Miles addresses Raina are just lovely prose. It reminds you exactly why he’s always off on these harebrained schemes with something to prove, and the placement of it in the framing story shows he uses it to remind HIMSELF that as well. I love it. I love it even more on reread knowing its callback in Memory and the way he makes a lasting difference there, and the way Silvy Vale and the Csuriks leave an impact on him. It’s just so good.

[litcityblues]

'Diplomatic Immunity' --A Review

I know it's actually May, but a new year means that I am continuing ahead on the Honorverse Saga and now I'm dipping back into the Vorkosigan Saga as well with the 13th Book in the Series, Diplomatic Immunity.

The book opens with Miles and Ekaterin on their honeymoon, wrapping up an extensive tour of various galactic sites before heading back to Barrayar just in time to open the replicators and welcome their two new children to the world. This being the Vorkosigan Saga and Miles being a (relatively) new Imperial Auditor, they naturally get diverted to deal with a diplomatic crisis in Quaddiespace.

Quaddies- if you are not familiar with the series are genetically modified humans who traded out their legs for a second set of arms so they could live and move more easily in a zero gravity work environment (Falling Free, which Is set 200 years before the start of the main series is sort of their origin story-- I'll get to that eventually, I promise.). Anyway, as it turns out, a convoy of Komarran Merchant ships is prevented from leaving Graf Station thanks to the somewhat reckless behavior of their Barrayaran military escorts, and to top that mess off, a Barrayaran security officer is missing, presumed murdered and another Ensign has deserted: for love.

Miles and Ekaterin arrive and Miles begins the process of untangling the diplomatic mess, only to be reunited with an old friend: his former Dendarii colleague, the Betan hermaphrodite Bel Thorne (last seen in Mirror Dance or possibly Memory I think-- no longer with the Dendarii, but still working with Imperial Security.) Bel is happy to see Miles, but hints that they would like to be released from Imperial Service so they can settle down with Nicol (a Quaddie musician Miles met earlier in the series while in Jackson's Whole-- in 'Labyrinth') and Bel tells Miles that there is something strange about the missing security officer, but they can't quite figure out what it is.

In short order, Miles discovers that he's in the middle of a plot by a renegade Cetagandan Ba to kidnap what turns out to be an entire cargo of embryos stolen directly from the Star Creche itself that it hijacked near Rho Ceta. Miles instantly realizes that this spells big trouble and a potential war between Barrayar and Cetaganda-- but before he can put a stop to it himself both he and Bel are infected with the same highly lethal bioweapons that was used to murder the missing Barrayarn security officer and nearly die, but manage to reach the nearest Cetagandan world just in time. They cure both him and Bel- though not without both suffering some permanent side effects and he returns the embryos to Cetaganda, averting a war and managing to make it home with Ekaterin in time to meet their new children.

I switched from snagging these on Audible to getting them off Kindle around about Memory I think and that was, oddly enough, the perfect time in the series to do that because as Miles transitions away from the Dendarii and into the role of Imperial Auditor-- I don't want to say the quality of the writing improves, because that's not true, it's always been good-- let's just say that the series matures with its character and the writing reflects that.

Diplomatic Immunity might be the first in the series that has so many callbacks to prior volumes. I don't think you have to read other books in the series to understand this-- McMaster Bujold has always been good at providing context for readers, even if it's only a sentence or two-- but it does add an extra dollop of charm as you get to meet characters from prior novels. I don't know if we're scheduled to see Bel Thorne again in future novels, but if not, then I think this is a nice, (relatively) happy ending for them and I like that. I also enjoyed the fact that this tied back to the events that happened in Cetaganda quite nicely as well-- for all the talk of the war with Cetaganda and how it hangs over a lot of the Barryaran experience, this is only the third time that Miles has tangled with them directly.

(Also, am I the only one who thought that Dubauer being called Dubauer was going to be a callback to Shards of Honor?)

I saw a recent Reddit post proclaiming McMaster Bujold as 'the most underrated writer' in SF/F and while the comments were quick to point out that she's got plenty of Hugos and Nebulas that would indicate that she's very rated and appreciated and has commercial success to boot, I would characterize her as perhaps 'the most discoverable' writer in SF/F? At 74, her output is not what it was at the height of her run in the late 80s, and early 90s and I know damn well that if I had found these books as a kid, I would have eaten them up instantly. Finding them now, in adulthood-- I can't tell you just how happy these books make me and how much I love these characters, and how I desperately wish someone who treasures these books would work up a screen adaptation because they are RIPE for the taking.

Overall: Excellent, enjoyable, delightful, charming, a great addition to the series and I ran right through this book because I just didn't want to put it down. My Grade: **** out of ****

[fandomtrumpshate]

Unlisted fandom challenge!

Since our numbers post earlier today, we've had more than 30 signups, including write-ins for 2 more fandoms, bringing the total of unlisted fandoms to 155 ... for now ...

At the top of the list we have a 3-way tie for 1st, a 5-way tie for 2nd, and a 6-way tie for third ...

5 Danny Phantom

5 For All Mankind

5 Yu Yu Hakusho

4 Ace Attorney

4 Ted Lasso

4 Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison

4 Stanley Parable

4 Tortall

3 Greek Mythology/Religion

3 Bungo Stray Dogs

3 Call of Duty

3 Dragon Ball

3 Realm of the Elderlings - Robin Hobb

3 Mummy (1999 franchise)

A single sign up could change all that ...

The rest below a cut for length -

2 Alan Wake/Remedyverse

2 Ghosts (TV)

2 Buffyverse

2 Cosmere

2 CSI

2 Detective Conan

2 Dracula

2 Dune

2 Firefly

2 Formula 1 RPF

2 Glee

2 Guardian (2018)

2 HBO War

2 Hermitcraft/The Life Series SMP

2 Imperial Radch Series

2 Mob Psycho 100

2 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

2 Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

2 Persona Series: 3-5

2 Professional Wrestling

2 Riverdale

2 Saw

2 Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab

2 Slow Horses

2 Stormlight Archive

2 Bear (TV)

2 Empyrean - Rebecca Yarros

2 Folk of the Air (Holly Black)

2 Radiant Emperor Series

2 Undertale

2 Venture Bros

2 Voltron

2 Wolf Pack

1 1670

1 a league of their own (TV series)

1 A Plague Tale (Videogame Series)

1 Adventure Zone: Balance

1 Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across 8th Dimension

1 Adventures of Tintin

1 American Gods

1 Among Us

1 Artful Dodger

1 Bendy (and The Ink Machine/Dark Revival)

1 Billabong - Mary Grant Bruce

1 Bioshock 1&2

1 Blue Beetle

1 Breakfast With Scot

1 Bunny - Mona Awad

1 Buzzfeed Unsolved/Watcher Entertainment RPF

1 Cabin Pressure

1 Cats the musical

1 Charlie's Angels (2019)

1 Cherry Magic

1 Chronicles of Narnia

1 Cobra Kai

1 Coffee Talk (Video Game)

1 Criminal Minds

1 Death Note

1 Dexter

1 Dice Punks (podcast)

1 Digimon

1 Dimension 20

1 Discworld - Terry Pratchett

1 Divergent

1 Donten ni Warau / Laughing Under the Clouds

1 Dungeons and Daddies (podcast)

1 Fallout Video Game (Bethesda)

1 Falsettos

1 Fargo FX

1 Farscape

1 Fire Emblem (4-10, 13, 14, 16)

1 Five Nights at Freddy's

1 Friends at the Table

1 Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid

1 Good Place

1 Grantchester

1 Green Creek

1 Greenhollow Series - Emily Tesh

1 Grey's Anatomy

1 Grimm

1 Gundam (see below for details)

1 Hatchetfield

1 Hawaii 5.0

1 Hello From The Hallowoods

1 Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

1 Hollows - Kim Harrison

1 Honkai Star Rail

1 Horizon Zero Dawn

1 Horror

1 Inception

1 Inspector Morse

1 IT (Movies - Muschietti)

1 Jeff Satur - music videos

1 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

1 Julie and the Phantoms

1 Last Kingdom

1 Law and Order

1 Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix

1 Legend of the Galactic Heroes

1 Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4)

1 London Spy

1 Lunar Chronicles

1 Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

1 Magnificent Seven

1 Mechanisms

1 Mrs. Davis

1 My Little Pony

1 Nancy Drew (CW Series)

1 Narcos (TV)

1 Nine Worlds Series - Victoria Goddard

1 NU: Carnival

1 Omori

1 One Direction

1 Orphan Black

1 Outlast

1 Pacific Rim

1 Pairing (Casey McQuiston)

1 Re-Animator

1 Saint of Steel

1 Sex Education (TV)

1 Shadow Campaigns - Django Wexler

1 Simon Snow Series

1 Skins (UK)

1 Slam Dunk

1 South Park

1 Starry Musical

1 Succession

1 Super Sentai

1 Sweeney Todd

1 Team Starkid

1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

1 Terror (TV 2018)

1 Three of Hearts

1 Tin Can Bros

1 Tower of God

1 True Detective

1 Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold

1 Wayfarers (Becky Chambers)

1 Westworld (TV)

1 Yellowjackets

1 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

[clonerightsagenda]

Started reading "Labyrinth" and

Ok we've had a few empires and socialism, now we're visiting the Unchecked Capitalism Planet. What does Bujold have against Wyoming

Shoutout to Bel Thorne for rocking it/its pronouns in 1989 and also being good natured about Miles going "why doesn't anyone want to have sex with me? :( not you though"

Jackson's Whole has a practice of cloning new bodies for rich people and then transplanting their brains... a) I suspect I know where Kilometers Vorkosigan is going to come from b) it's interesting that Miles pities the clones when he brings it up, since that would be a way out of his difficulties if he weren't morally squeamish. Suppose Barrayar culture wouldn't go for it though

This is the same series with the genetically engineered handsfeet?? Oh my god.

[starfishlikestoread]

poll idea by @mytly4 - I debated about including Weatherman, but it's on LMB's Goodreads series order, so in it went (and if I was including that I figured I'd throw in the BOI framing story too).

[tearsofthemushroom]

I've seen you post about the Vorkosigan saga a bunch and checked wikipedia for a list of books to check out at least the first, but quickly realized that there's a lot of books, and also release dates don't necessarily correspond to chronology, and wikipedia was like "read in chronological order but with caveats" and never mentioned what those caveats were, so I thought I'd ask you if you have access to a good reading order and/or where you'd recommend to start the saga

Hiya @lady-vetinari (just tagging since I've been a bit slow replying and don't want this to get lost)! It's exciting that you're wanting to read the series, I really hope you enjoy!

I would agree that chronological order is probably the best, but there's three points you could concievably start from.

The very first book chronologically is Falling Free. This is set 200 years before the rest of the series and is quite a good standalone which serves as a nice intro to the universe and Bujold's writing style, but doesn't get into the Vorkosigan family. If you're not wanting a big commitment, I think this is a good place to begin.

The next place you could start is Shard of Honour. This is the book where we start following the Vorkosigan family, with Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, who is the mother of the character who will become the protagonist for most of the series. This book is very good but it is quite heavy, including depictions of sexual violence, so it can be a bit much for a first experience.

Finally, you could start with The Warrior's Apprentice, which is the first book to follow Miles Vorkosigan, the principal protagonist. I started with this one, and would probably recommend it as the best place to jump off if you want to get stuck in to the series.

If you do start with The Warrior's Apprentice, I would continue mostly in chronological order, including the novellas. The exceptions to this would be to read Shards of Honour and Barrayar before Brothers in Arms (as Cordelia's influence on Miles is quite important in this book), and read Falling Free either before Labyrinth or Diplomatic Immunity (as Falling Free provides useful context for these stories).

Hope that's useful! There are a lot of books so if you have anything else you'd like me to clarify just let me know!

[unhelpfulfemme]

5, 6, 9, 10?

5. What genre did you read the most of?

Hands down sci-fi, between the 16 Vorkosigan saga books, the first 3 Culture books, and all 3 of the Thrawn trilogies (so 9 books) + Outbound Flight :)

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

I told myself that I would finally read Interview with the Vampire and then watch the show only after I've done so, but I never felt in the mood for it so I ended up not reading it OR watching the show. It is the next thing on my queue tho!

9. Did you get into any new genres?

Not really? I learned that I don't like fantasy as much as I thought (as in I like it only when you excise all the stereotypical fantasy elements/tropes), so I guess I got OUT of a genre?

10. What was your favourite new release of the year?

I only read 2 new releases this year: The Stolen Heir by Holly Black and Labyrinth's Heart by M.A. Carrick, and I liked both a lot. I don't know which I liked more, but I think I would go with Heir? I've been a big Holly Black fan since I was a middle school kid in the mid-2000s and she still has the same amazingly visceral, chaotic style and worldbuilding, like a vicious fairytale world that reflects the messed up inner lives of the protagonists, and I'll never stop loving it. It's a thoroughly YA book but IMHO it's the good kind of YA that you can give to a perhaps troubled teen and they would find comfort and meaning and catharsis in it instead of getting weird superficial takeaways about love triangles and shit.

Anyway, this post was for my book ask, everyone else reading it feel free to join in!

[shsenhaji]

📚 December Reading Round-Up 📚

I was able to read a good amount of books this month, and I also had a lot of fun tearing through the Greenwing and Dart Series by Victoria Goddard (I re-read the books I’d already read and finished the ones I hadn’t gotten to yet). I also continued my foray into the Vorkosigan Saga (though I skipped ahead in the chronological reading order). I also finally got around to reading At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard (the sequel to The Hands of the Emperor, which I highly recommend)!

- Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (an amazing fairytale retelling, lyrical, haunting, great characters and themes, loved the ending, achingly beautiful)

- Stargazy Pie (re-read, delightful, emotional, made more sense the second time around)

- Fullmetal Alchemist Fullmetal Edition Volume 4 by Hiromu Arakawa (hilarious, fun, understated and dark humour, Izumi being awesome, the parallels!!!)

- Labyrinth by Lois McMaster Bujold (not as stressful as I’d initially thought, beautiful at times, Miles being Miles)

- Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold (gripping, emotional, funny, a little tragic, loved the outsider POV, great characterization, loved the ending)

- Bee Sting Cake by Victoria Goddard (re-read, hilarious and heartfelt, healing, loved all the clues and allusions to future books and past relationships)

- Whiskeyjack by Victoria Goddard (fun, cathartic, almost cried at the end, very emotional, loved the references and allusions)

- Blackcurrant Fool by Victoria Goddard (half of a re-read, funny, emotional and compelling, great character work, fun plot twists, loved the last quarter, much of the foreshadowing paying off, fealty!, the ending!!!!)

- Love-in-a-Mist by Victoria Goddard (Beginning made me laugh, cozy murder mystery, many reveals, characters coming into their own, loved the discussions of fashion)

- Plum Duff by Victoria Goddard (A bit more quiet but in the best way, still a lot of adventure, many revelations, more mysteries, characters fully coming into their own, lots of promises for future books)

- At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard (Brilliant, funny, starts off with a bang, all the connections and feels, emotional and made me cry, doesn’t wrap everything up, some Thoughts but overall very positive)

[ellianderjoy]

Don't wish to be normal... You'll only waste your precious time in futile frustration. Wish to be great! That at least you have a fighting chance for. Great at whatever you are.

Miles Vorkosigan, Labyrinth, Lois McMaster Bujold

[purimgifts]

Purimgifts: Offers with no Requests, Podfic

The following list is of fandoms for which podfic is offered on Purimgifts, which presently have no matching requests. Is this your lucky day? Click the cut and find out!

  "Agatha Christies Poirot (TV)"

"Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams"

A Charm of Magpies Series - K. J. Charles

Amphibia (Cartoon)

Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Batman - All Media Types

Clueless (1995)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV)

Critical Role (Web Series)

Cuckoo Song - Frances Hardinge

Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)

Deltarune (Video Game)

Discworld - Terry Pratchett

Doctor Who

Doctor Who (1963)

Doctor Who (2005)

Encanto (2021)

Escape from Witch Mountain - Alexander Key

Fallout: New Vegas

Fantastic Four

Genghis Khan - Miike Snow (Music Video)

Gunnerkrigg Court

Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen (Song)

Hamster Princess Series - Ursula Vernon

His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

Howl Series - Diana Wynne Jones

Janus Descending (Podcast)

Knives Out (2019)

Labyrinth (1986)

Les Misérables - All Media Types

Limetown (Podcast)

Little Witch Academia

Megillat Ester | Book of Esther

Merlin (TV)

Metal Gear

Portal (Video Game)

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Spider-Man - All Media Types

Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik

SPY x FAMILY (Anime)

Star Trek

Star Wars Original Trilogy

Star Wars Prequel Trilogy

Stardew Valley (Video Game)

Superman - All Media Types

Ted Lasso (TV)

Temeraire - Naomi Novik

The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)

The Baby-Sitters Club (TV 2020)

The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo

The Laundry Files - Charles Stross

The Magnus Archives (Podcast)

The Secret Garden (1993)

The Sims (Video Games)

The Sound of Music - Rodgers/Hammerstein/Lindsay & Crouse

The Strange Case of Starship Iris (Podcast)

The Tiffany Aching Series - Terry Pratchett

The Wicked Years Series - Gregory Maguire

The Witcher (TV)

Tomb Raider (Video Games)

Undertale (Video Game)

Uprooted - Naomi Novik

Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold

WandaVision (TV)

West Coast Avengers

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski

Wolf 359 (Radio)

ねこあつめ | Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector

逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney

[paradises-library]

‘How can they know if you failed if you never had any proper training?’ Miles said scornfully. ‘Soldiering involves some of the most complex, cooperative learned behavior ever invented - I’ve been studying strategy and tactics for years, and I don’t know half yet. It’s all up here.’ He pressed his hands urgently to his head.

She looked across at him sharply. ‘If that’s so’ - she turned her huge hands over, staring at them - ‘then why did they do this to me?’

- “Labyrinth,” Lois McMaster Bujold

[litcityblues]

"The Borders of Infinity" --A Review

You know, I didn't set out to become a Vorkosigan Saga Tumblr account, but I guess that's what I've become, considering how fast I'm running through the Vorkosigan Saga. I had been meaning to double back and catch up on the Novellas and garnered a few opinions from the interwebs about the best reading order for the Saga and decided to skip Ethan of Athos (for now- I'll get to it eventually.)

I had to take a quick trip up to the Mayo Clinic with Medium Spawn and since he had a tablet to entertain him, I snagged this from Audible and let the comforting tones of Grover Gardner's excellent narration accompany me on the drive up.

This volume is actually a collection of three novellas, "The Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth" and "The Borders of Infinity"-- smashed together in one volume, they're tied together with a loose framing device- namely Miles being debriefed by his boss, the head of Imperial Security Simon Illiyan who wants to get to the bottom of what Miles has been up to, as he's run up quite a tab and his expenses are becoming a political football that his boss, his father and the Emperor don't need- someone wants to audit his activities and Illiyan wants a full accounting.

So, Miles flashes back to the first novella, "The Mountains of Mourning."

According to Wikipedia, this chronologically falls between The Warrior's Apprentice and The Vor Game and finds Miles newly graduated from the Imperial Academy and is taking leave at Vorkosigan Surleau with his parents. A woman from an isolated rural village in their district shows up, appealing to Count Vorkosigan for justice for the murder of her baby, who was born with a cleft lip and palate but otherwise healthy.

Miles' father, Aral Vorkosigan sends him to investigate as his Voice (representative with full powers) to get to the bottom of the mystery. Miles does so- but not before he's forced to confront the deep-seated prejudices that parts of Barrayar have against 'mutation' and ponder how to provide justice and mercy to parts of Barrayar that are the slowest and most resistant to change.

Full credit to Bujold with this one: the ending was unexpected and got the old 'allergies' flaring up. (The end of 'The Warrior's Apprentice' got me as well.)

The next novella is "Labyrinth" which gets a little weird and got me to raise an eyebrow or two now and again. This adventure introduces the reader to the planet of Jackson's Whole, where Miles and company are supposed to be buying weapons, but in reality are trying to get geneticist Dr. Hugh Canaba to leave his current employer to go work for Barrayar. Canaba won't leave unless he gets experimental samples that he injected into the thigh of a prototype super soldier he developed and sold to Baron Ryoval, who Miles managed to offend.

This leads to the inevitable break in, where Miles to discovers the Super Soldier is female, and despite a fearsome appearance, intelligent and emotionally vulnerable and she challenges Miles to make love to her to prove that he believes that she's human and Miles, having a weakness for tall strong women does so and offers her a name (Taura) and a job with the Dendarii and the escape.

What raised my eyebrow? Well, Taura the super soldier may age super fast, but her given age in the book is sixteen which seems... a little sketch. But other than that, this is Bujold getting weird with genetics and cloning and stuff in a much more compelling way than we saw in 'Cetaganda' (which was interesting, but in a more ethereal way.)

Finally, we get 'The Borders of Infinity' which I loved, because it grabs you and dumps you right into the thick of things. Miles has allowed himself to be captured by the Cetagandans and thrown into a maximum security prison camp on Dagoola IV. The Cetagandans have invaded and occupied the planet Marillac and Miles is looking to get one of their captured commanders out to form the nucleus of resistance to hopefully liberate the planet from Cetagandan control.

When he arrives, he's promptly beaten up and his clothes are taken, so naked, he has to make a friend- in this case, Suegar an apparent religious fanatic who quotes his 'scripture' (taken from The Pilgrim's Progress according to Wikipedia, though I don't think that's made clear in the text itself) and thanks to making friends with some key players- including Tris, the leader of the female prisoner he eventually wins them over and gets them to start rehearsing for quick embarkation (disguised as a food distribution procedure.) Miles gets a signal through to his fleet and eventually, the Dendarii Fleet arrives and stages the largest mass breakout in history-- as a result, the Cetagandans (obviously angered by this) place a price on Naismith's head.

Overall: I really love the framing device for this collection and I love the novellas themselves. I think I'd put 'The Mountains of Mourning' first, followed by 'The Borders of Infinity' and then 'Labyrinth' but they're all good and I'll ask again: how the hell has no one adapted this for the screen yet? This is like begging for a streaming service to adapt.

Also, you'll never believe this, but I'm already digging into Brothers in Arms. (Surprising, huh?)

My Grade: **** out of ****

[ariannon]

The Vorkosigan Saga // Borders of Infinity

The Mountains of Mourning / Labyrinth / The Borders of Infinity

[starfishlikestoread]

As Tumblr limits the number of poll options to 10, making it impossible to give each book its own category, I've instead taken @proto-language 's suggestion and split the saga into 'eras' (which I tried to base on the books' themes and omnibus splits as much as possible). Interested to see the results!

[proto-language]

A little review of my reading in the first quarter of 2022! I read 12 books (in a very chaotic way where I took a month to read one that was about 180 pages, and then read 4 in two days or something), and have concluded that being a student is not conducive to reading for pleasure:

Two from Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series (Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy), which I’ve now finished, after reading the first in the series in December 2021

One from Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries (Fugitive Telemetry, a novella), which I’m also now up to date with after reading the first five novels/novellas throughout 2021

One from Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series (The Hanging Tree) - this was the sixth in the series, which I’ve been reading on and off since 2019 and still am not caught up on, because he writes them faster than I read them

One from Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief series (The Thief), which I’d like to try and read a few more books from before the end of the year!

One standalone by Yuri Olesha (Envy), which was a very interesting read but took me forever

Four from Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga (two novellas, Labyrinth and The Borders of Infinity, and two novels, Cetaganda and Brothers in Arms), which takes me up to #6 (not counting the novellas) in my own chronological-and-focused-on-the-vorkosigans reading order; also, a reread of Shards of Honor, the first in the series

One from D.K. Broster’s Jacobite Trilogy (The Flight of the Heron) - I’m currently undecided on whether I’ll read the rest of the trilogy some time soon, or whether I’m happy to take it as a standalone like I did with The Final Empire/Mistborn

Currently I’m about halfway through Mary Renault’s The Last of the Wine, the reading of which I rudely interrupted in order to frantically read all those Vorkosigan books and then failed to resume when I got distract by Megan Whalen Turner and D.K. Broster - I might try and finish it in the next few days and then go back to the Vorkosigan Saga for a bit, because I read those ridiculously quickly.