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Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #5.1-5.3
Miles Vorkosigan: alle frontiere dell'ignoto
Contiene:
Le Montagne del Dolore (The Mountains of Mourning - 1989)
Il Labirinto (Labyrinth - 1989)
I Confini dell'Infinito (The Borders of Infinity - 1987)
Miles , fresco di scuola militare, prima è chiamato a risolvere un caso delicato, affrontando in una doppia prova speculare le deformità del suo pianeta, poi l'azione si sposta su un altro pianeta dove Miles viene catturato dai Cetagandani e rinchiuso in un diabolico campo di prigionia su Dagoola IV, lo stesso dove sono internati i valorosi difensori di Fallow Gore, i quali potrebbero diventare uno strumento molto comodo nelle mani di Barrayar. Sempre che qualcuno riesca a farli fuggire... Con questo ciclo di grande successo, più volte vincitore dei Premi Hugo e Nebula, Lois McMaster Bujold vince la sfida con la migliore tradizione dell'avventura spaziale, creando con Miles Vorkosigan non solo un grande protagonista, ma un autentico eroe.
Le Montagne del Dolore (The Mountains of Mourning - 1989)
Il Labirinto (Labyrinth - 1989)
I Confini dell'Infinito (The Borders of Infinity - 1987)
Miles , fresco di scuola militare, prima è chiamato a risolvere un caso delicato, affrontando in una doppia prova speculare le deformità del suo pianeta, poi l'azione si sposta su un altro pianeta dove Miles viene catturato dai Cetagandani e rinchiuso in un diabolico campo di prigionia su Dagoola IV, lo stesso dove sono internati i valorosi difensori di Fallow Gore, i quali potrebbero diventare uno strumento molto comodo nelle mani di Barrayar. Sempre che qualcuno riesca a farli fuggire... Con questo ciclo di grande successo, più volte vincitore dei Premi Hugo e Nebula, Lois McMaster Bujold vince la sfida con la migliore tradizione dell'avventura spaziale, creando con Miles Vorkosigan non solo un grande protagonista, ma un autentico eroe.
340 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
310 people are currently reading
1450 people want to read
About the author
Lois McMaster Bujold
185 books38.9k followersLois McMaster Bujold was born in 1949, the daughter of an engineering professor at Ohio State University, from whom she picked up her early interest in science fiction. She now lives in Minneapolis, and has two grown children.
Her fantasy from HarperCollins includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife tetralogy; her science fiction from Baen Books features the perennially bestselling Vorkosigan Saga. Her work has been translated into over twenty languages.
Questions regarding foreign rights, film/tv subrights, and other business matters should be directed to Spectrum Literary Agency, spectrumliteraryagency.com
A listing of her awards and nominations may be seen here:
http://www.sfadb.com/Lois_McMaster_Bu...
A listing of her interviews is here:
http://vorkosigan.wikia.com/wiki/Auth...
An older fan-run site devoted to her work, The Bujold Nexus, is here:
http://www.dendarii.com/
Her fantasy from HarperCollins includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife tetralogy; her science fiction from Baen Books features the perennially bestselling Vorkosigan Saga. Her work has been translated into over twenty languages.
Questions regarding foreign rights, film/tv subrights, and other business matters should be directed to Spectrum Literary Agency, spectrumliteraryagency.com
A listing of her awards and nominations may be seen here:
http://www.sfadb.com/Lois_McMaster_Bu...
A listing of her interviews is here:
http://vorkosigan.wikia.com/wiki/Auth...
An older fan-run site devoted to her work, The Bujold Nexus, is here:
http://www.dendarii.com/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 554 reviews
February 14, 2012
Here is my theory - and if anyone besides me has noticed this, I haven't read about it, so it's just begging for a English term paper to be written on it - I think that Lois McMaster Bujold's novella The Borders of Infinity is (among other things) a riff on Dante's Inferno.
Why? (Here there be spoilers. For both works.)
1. The Borders of Infinity opens with Miles Vorkosigan thinking, "How could I have died and gone to hell without noticing the transition?" Hell. Yes. That one word is part of my evidence. But, folks, it's the paragraph, and it sets the tone for the rest of the story. Miles is in Hell.
2. The prison camp is circular. So is Dante's Hell.
3. There are circles within the circles (see the women's section of the camp).
4. Miles has a literary (okay, at least literature-obsessed) guide. Yes, I am saying that Suegar=Virgil.
4a. You could argue that Oliver=Suegar. Okay, go ahead: convince me.
5. There is even someone running in circles. Yes, I know that sounds more like the Purgatorio than the Inferno, but, you know, it's still Dante.
6. BEATRICE LEADS HIM UP. Yes, I'm shouting. Yes, that's my biggest piece of evidence. (Term paper folks still with me? Okay, here's your paper topic: why does the Virgil figure go up in Bujold's version, while the Beatrice figure falls? Aaaa. Yes. Hmm.)
6a. If Beatrice is Beatrice, does that make Cordelia the Virgin Mary? C'mon, you can't argue that that's pretty much Cordelia's place in the Vorkosigan cosmology.
7. Just try to count the references to damnation (all the things the prisoners have done with and to each other), redemption, and sin. Just try.
8. What's the theme? The harrowing of hell. Yes it is. (Term paper people: is Miles a Christ figure? What does that mean for his relationship with his mother? Make sure you use the pond incident from Komarr in your answer. Also, reference his fourteen-shuttle-groups-for-the-fourteen-apostles statement.)
9. The saints (i.e., the Dendarii observers, Elena and Elli) are watching and listening to Dante's (Miles') prayers. (Term paper people: is this evidence against the thesis put forth in point 8?)
10. Suegar's scripture is from Pilgrim's Progress, about when the pilgrims finally make it to Heaven. HA! "HA!", I say.
Hee, hee, hee. Okay, that was so much fun.
What do you think? Did I make my point? More importantly, did I miss anything?
Why? (Here there be spoilers. For both works.)
1. The Borders of Infinity opens with Miles Vorkosigan thinking, "How could I have died and gone to hell without noticing the transition?" Hell. Yes. That one word is part of my evidence. But, folks, it's the paragraph, and it sets the tone for the rest of the story. Miles is in Hell.
2. The prison camp is circular. So is Dante's Hell.
3. There are circles within the circles (see the women's section of the camp).
4. Miles has a literary (okay, at least literature-obsessed) guide. Yes, I am saying that Suegar=Virgil.
4a. You could argue that Oliver=Suegar. Okay, go ahead: convince me.
5. There is even someone running in circles. Yes, I know that sounds more like the Purgatorio than the Inferno, but, you know, it's still Dante.
6. BEATRICE LEADS HIM UP. Yes, I'm shouting. Yes, that's my biggest piece of evidence. (Term paper folks still with me? Okay, here's your paper topic: why does the Virgil figure go up in Bujold's version, while the Beatrice figure falls? Aaaa. Yes. Hmm.)
6a. If Beatrice is Beatrice, does that make Cordelia the Virgin Mary? C'mon, you can't argue that that's pretty much Cordelia's place in the Vorkosigan cosmology.
7. Just try to count the references to damnation (all the things the prisoners have done with and to each other), redemption, and sin. Just try.
8. What's the theme? The harrowing of hell. Yes it is. (Term paper people: is Miles a Christ figure? What does that mean for his relationship with his mother? Make sure you use the pond incident from Komarr in your answer. Also, reference his fourteen-shuttle-groups-for-the-fourteen-apostles statement.)
9. The saints (i.e., the Dendarii observers, Elena and Elli) are watching and listening to Dante's (Miles') prayers. (Term paper people: is this evidence against the thesis put forth in point 8?)
10. Suegar's scripture is from Pilgrim's Progress, about when the pilgrims finally make it to Heaven. HA! "HA!", I say.
Hee, hee, hee. Okay, that was so much fun.
What do you think? Did I make my point? More importantly, did I miss anything?
November 24, 2021
¡¡Sorprendentemente ya uno de mis libros favoritos de la saga!!
Reconozco que me daba muchísima pereza por tratarse de 3 relatos pero ha resultado ser una maravilla, los tres relatos me han encantado, repletos de aventuras, acción y humor pero en los tres casos con un trasfondo más profundo de lo esperado.
Reconozco que me daba muchísima pereza por tratarse de 3 relatos pero ha resultado ser una maravilla, los tres relatos me han encantado, repletos de aventuras, acción y humor pero en los tres casos con un trasfondo más profundo de lo esperado.
June 5, 2023
***100 Days of Summer Reading 2023***
Prompt: Book with a cover image of a beach
12 sided dice roll: 9
I just listened to Winterfair Gifts and was reminded of Sgt. Taura, prompting me to revisit the story where Miles Vorkosigan meets Taura (who is an experimental being known as ‘Nine' when they encounter each other).
This book is actually three novellas strung together by the visit of Simon Illian Imperial Security head, to Miles' hospital bed, requesting ‘clarification’ on some of the expenses on these three missions.
Grover Gardner is a good narrator. I always knew which character was speaking and I could discern the difference between Miles' interior monologue and his spoken words. Miles has a lively interior monologue! I'm glad to have filled in these gaps in my Vorkosigan knowledge.
Book number 485 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project
Prompt: Book with a cover image of a beach
12 sided dice roll: 9
I just listened to Winterfair Gifts and was reminded of Sgt. Taura, prompting me to revisit the story where Miles Vorkosigan meets Taura (who is an experimental being known as ‘Nine' when they encounter each other).
This book is actually three novellas strung together by the visit of Simon Illian Imperial Security head, to Miles' hospital bed, requesting ‘clarification’ on some of the expenses on these three missions.
Grover Gardner is a good narrator. I always knew which character was speaking and I could discern the difference between Miles' interior monologue and his spoken words. Miles has a lively interior monologue! I'm glad to have filled in these gaps in my Vorkosigan knowledge.
Book number 485 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project
June 29, 2023
Grandes historias para agregar a la serie Vorkosigan Las historias de Miles son muy entretenidas y Lois McMaster Bujold sigue siendo una de las escritoras más talentosas de la literatura de ciencia ficción actual. Su estilo es rápido, lleno de diálogos, y apenas te das cuenta de que estás leyendo, es muy fluido. Este libro es una colección de historias sobre Miles, quien se las cuenta a Simon, su jefe en los servicios secretos imperiales. El mismo Miles está en el hospital y Simon lo acorrala para soltar algunos detalles sobre los informes un tanto ambiguos que Miles ha estado enviando. Como una rata atrapada en la esquina, Miles no tiene más remedio que soltar los detalles. El primero es una historia de los años de juventud de Miles cuando su padre lo envía a juzgar sobre un problema que sucedió entre su propia gente. Barrayar, por desgracia, todavía asesina a bebés deformados. Es un misterio de asesinato breve. La segunda historia gira en torno al conjunto de Jackson y las dudosas actividades que se desarrollan allí. La misión de Miles es "recolectar" a una persona; pero nunca es tan fácil como parece. El tercero es el más extraño todavía. Miles termina en un campo de prisioneros enemigo. Al principio no es obvio cómo llegó allí, pero siendo Miles Miles, pronto hace que la gente se mueva. La escritura de Bujold ciertamente merece cinco estrellas, al igual que sus historias sobre Miles.
September 8, 2022
Fronteras del infinito
Novela de ciencia ficción con el magnífico Miles Vorkosigan, personaje creado por Bujold para disfrute de ella misma y de sus lectores. Miles es un crack con infinitos recursos, da igual donde lo pongan, a pesar de sus limitaciones físicas saca de esto una ventaja al parecer poca cosa para sus enemigos.
En El aprendiz de guerrero ya se vio de lo que era capaz. En esta ocasión tenemos tres historias que tocan temas como los prejuicios sociales, manipulación genética, religión o estrategia militar.
Un placer ver como de la nada resuelve los problemas donde le colocan con inteligencia y astucia.
Novela de ciencia ficción con el magnífico Miles Vorkosigan, personaje creado por Bujold para disfrute de ella misma y de sus lectores. Miles es un crack con infinitos recursos, da igual donde lo pongan, a pesar de sus limitaciones físicas saca de esto una ventaja al parecer poca cosa para sus enemigos.
En El aprendiz de guerrero ya se vio de lo que era capaz. En esta ocasión tenemos tres historias que tocan temas como los prejuicios sociales, manipulación genética, religión o estrategia militar.
Un placer ver como de la nada resuelve los problemas donde le colocan con inteligencia y astucia.
October 22, 2014
"The Mountains of Mourning" is the first story & comes directly after The Warrior's Apprentice & before The Vor Game, so I listened to just it. As a murder-mystery, it wasn't bad. As another story to establish Miles' personality & the world he lives in, it was excellent.
I love the way Bujold portrays horses. She doesn't get overly technical, but they are certainly individuals & are well done. Having known horses like Ninny & the others, they added a lot to the story for me.
Again, well read. On to The Vor Game.
Labyrinth is 3 novels after the first story in this collection. I'm not sure I care for the title, although I don't know what else to call it. Still, anything to do with Miles is twisted. He's able to get into more trouble doing the simplest tasks! It's fun & this was a great addition to the series, a first hand look at Jackson's Hole.
The Borders of Infinity is a POW camp & Miles is at his best creating an empire out of chaos. This story is actually better on a re-read. Oh, you'll get what's going on, but on a re-read, you can appreciate it more. Twisty, tricky Miles is so much fun. The way he overcomes his shortcomings is even better.
Remember that this was first published in 1989 way before 'reality' TV shows. Miles says that someone with that sense of humor would enjoy watching people eat slugs for entertainment. It's not meant as a compliment. The fact that these sorts of things seem to be among the most popular shows on TV now is depressing.
I love the way Bujold portrays horses. She doesn't get overly technical, but they are certainly individuals & are well done. Having known horses like Ninny & the others, they added a lot to the story for me.
Again, well read. On to The Vor Game.
Labyrinth is 3 novels after the first story in this collection. I'm not sure I care for the title, although I don't know what else to call it. Still, anything to do with Miles is twisted. He's able to get into more trouble doing the simplest tasks! It's fun & this was a great addition to the series, a first hand look at Jackson's Hole.
The Borders of Infinity is a POW camp & Miles is at his best creating an empire out of chaos. This story is actually better on a re-read. Oh, you'll get what's going on, but on a re-read, you can appreciate it more. Twisty, tricky Miles is so much fun. The way he overcomes his shortcomings is even better.
Remember that this was first published in 1989 way before 'reality' TV shows. Miles says that someone with that sense of humor would enjoy watching people eat slugs for entertainment. It's not meant as a compliment. The fact that these sorts of things seem to be among the most popular shows on TV now is depressing.
May 19, 2024
*** 4.55 ***
I have read half of the books in this series before, and this is the only one I actually remember! It had really made a deep impression on my mind and on a reread it is just as powerful!!! Wow! So, of the three stories in this book, the first and the last are easy 5* reads for me. Strong, emotive, and really impactful!
The style of writing is so easy, that it makes you feel like you are reading light and entertaining fluff.... Until you actually see the deeply socio-political, psychological and ethical issues the author is making her characters deal with and you can't help but get invested in the struggles...
I strongly recommend this series to everyone!!! 👍🤟
I have read half of the books in this series before, and this is the only one I actually remember! It had really made a deep impression on my mind and on a reread it is just as powerful!!! Wow! So, of the three stories in this book, the first and the last are easy 5* reads for me. Strong, emotive, and really impactful!
The style of writing is so easy, that it makes you feel like you are reading light and entertaining fluff.... Until you actually see the deeply socio-political, psychological and ethical issues the author is making her characters deal with and you can't help but get invested in the struggles...
I strongly recommend this series to everyone!!! 👍🤟
May 6, 2014
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list.
Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front.
I had scheduled this to be read several weeks ago, but my darling wife (who I've gotten utterly hooked on the wonderfully addictive Vorkosigan Saga) beat me to it. Then she lost the book. Thanks, sweet-pea!
My parents came to visit recently which sparked a mad scramble to tidy the old homestead, and the missing book turned up under a box of baby toys. With teeth marks in it. That's teeth, plural - my boy has two now!
I've never been a huge fan of short stories and novellas (check out my short-stories shelf, it's pretty understocked). Once a story starts to carry me, we build up some momentum together and when it's good the pages flicker past without me really noticing... Short stories never build the same kind of momentum, and never really aim to, and that leaves me kind of cold. Usually. Not so here.
This is a collection of three Miles novellas, bound together (loosely) with a bit of Miles/Illyan banter about mission budgets - sounds fascinating, I know, but it suffices as a bridging device. Plus, it gives Miles a bit of distance on these stories for a couple of heart-ouchie zingers in his reflections.
Now, it's worth mentioning (if you've not heard me say it before) that I'm reading this fourteen (so far) book saga out of order. Neither print order or internal chronological order. As such, I may know a character or location from a later adventure without really understanding where the significance comes from. It means I've taken each book at face value, and enjoyed them tremendously, but I also take great delight in joining the dots in the backstory.
As I said, this book compiles three novellas, and Bujold simply cannot write a bad story:
The Mountains of Mourning
- a young, newly graduated Miles is looking for some fun on leave before being assigned. Instead he ends up travelling into the hillbilly mountains of his home district, to act as judge and jury in a case of baby-murdering. Sounds grim, huh? It cuts even closer to the heart for Miles, as the baby was killed for being a 'mutie', a planetary prejudice/hatred which Miles himself has battled against his whole life. This is Miles in detective mode, and young enough to be fretful. This is my favourite story of the three, and for me it filled in the question mark a later book, Memory , had left, when Miles returns to the site of the baby's grave during his mid-life crisis.
Labyrinth
- the rescue of Taura! Where did Taura come from? What was their romantic relationship? What did Miles do to piss of Ryoval quite so bad? These are questions I'd had hanging in the air ever since I read my first Vorkosigan Saga novel, Mirror Dance . This is Miles as Admiral Naismith, thinking fast and leaving the world in his wake, eating dust. Pure class.
Borders of Infinity
- the Dagoola IV rescue mission. Miles walks into a prison camp, friendless and naked. The prisoners (of war) have had their spirits broken, they're fighting each other, and the only one willing to chat with Miles is half mad. But still Miles saves the day, with just his brilliant brain and his balls of steel. You've gotta love this guy! (My wife tells me there's a great echo from the end of this novella in Komarr , but I haven't read that yet)
The Mountains of Mourning was my favourite because it left the old heart strings thrumming, but the other two are just popcorn-pleasure-reading, sci-fi-adventure-nuggets. Yum-may. This Borders of Infinity collection is a very worthwhile addition to the Vorkosiverse.
After this I read: Coraline
March 18, 2018
Borders of Infinity: Three Early Miles Adventures
This is the fourth book about Miles Vorkosigan in internal chronology, and features three early stories in the career of Miles, separately published as novellas but with an added framing story of Miles recuperating in a hospital and being question by the Barrayaran head of security, Simon Illyan, about some unusual expenses. It’s a nice bit of connective tissue to incorporate the book into the larger Miles Vorkosigan Saga.
I read this back in 1989 when it first came out and really enjoyed the three stories, “Mountains of Mouring”, “Labyrinth”, and “Borders of Infinity”. Miles remains a fast-talking but physically-handicapped guy whose greatest weapon is his wits. He manages to talk his way out of some pretty outrageous scrapes where others would simply give up. They are a lot of fun to listen to as narrated by Grover Gardner.
“Mountains of Mourning” - This story is not the usual manic Miles adventure. It’s actually his first foray after graduating from the Barrayaran military academy. Before being assigned to duty, Miles accidentally encounters a distraught country woman on the Barrayaran estate who demands justice for her infant daughter, the victim of infanticide. Baron Vorkosigan decides that this is good learning opportunity for Miles, since the cause of the murder is related to folk superstitions about disabilities, and who better to deal with it than Miles with his brittle bones and bent spine? It’s a serious story about the moral dilemmas he faces as he has to determine what justice to deliver in a small, remote mountain village. It won the Hugo and Nebula awards for Best Novella in 1990.
“Labyrinth” - Here is another madcap adventure with Admiral Naismith and the Dendarii Mercenaries on Jackson’s Whole (correct spelling, no economic summit held there), a planet dedicated to extreme capitalism where everything is available for sale, including justice, and order is controlled by a series of criminal syndicates called Houses. Miles’ mission is to ensure safe passage for a geneticist to leave his current employer for a new one, as this is likely to put him in mortal danger. Once Miles understands the nature of the geneticist’s experiments, the morality of defending him becomes much harder to stomach, and when Miles meets one of his living experiments (who is essential to the entire mission), things quickly get out of control and there is some unexpected romance, but it is a relief as always to see that Miles has a conscience and is always going to try to do the right thing even if it conflicts with his own interests. That is one of the endearing things about the series - there are good and bad characters, but the author clearly sides with the characters who try to do right even in difficult circumstances. It’s refreshing entertainment amid the darkness that often pervades subgenres like cyberpunk or hard SF. This story also introduces a character that will play a much larger role in later novels such as Mirror Dance.
“Borders of Infinity” - In this story Miles has to infiltrate a Cetagandan POW camp masquerading as a mercenary to extricate a military officer there. Almost immediately his physical handicaps draw the wrong attention and he seems to get more bones broken in this one story than any human being could possibly endure, yet managed by quick wits alone to unite various prisoner factions into trying to stage a rebellion. It’s a bit implausible like of Miles’ adventures, but as always he does things with such impish charm and chutzpah that it’s hard to resist going along and suspending belief. This is also a crucial story in the larger Miles Vorkosigan Saga as it has major repercussions for the successive novel in the series, Brothers in Arms.
This is the fourth book about Miles Vorkosigan in internal chronology, and features three early stories in the career of Miles, separately published as novellas but with an added framing story of Miles recuperating in a hospital and being question by the Barrayaran head of security, Simon Illyan, about some unusual expenses. It’s a nice bit of connective tissue to incorporate the book into the larger Miles Vorkosigan Saga.
I read this back in 1989 when it first came out and really enjoyed the three stories, “Mountains of Mouring”, “Labyrinth”, and “Borders of Infinity”. Miles remains a fast-talking but physically-handicapped guy whose greatest weapon is his wits. He manages to talk his way out of some pretty outrageous scrapes where others would simply give up. They are a lot of fun to listen to as narrated by Grover Gardner.
“Mountains of Mourning” - This story is not the usual manic Miles adventure. It’s actually his first foray after graduating from the Barrayaran military academy. Before being assigned to duty, Miles accidentally encounters a distraught country woman on the Barrayaran estate who demands justice for her infant daughter, the victim of infanticide. Baron Vorkosigan decides that this is good learning opportunity for Miles, since the cause of the murder is related to folk superstitions about disabilities, and who better to deal with it than Miles with his brittle bones and bent spine? It’s a serious story about the moral dilemmas he faces as he has to determine what justice to deliver in a small, remote mountain village. It won the Hugo and Nebula awards for Best Novella in 1990.
“Labyrinth” - Here is another madcap adventure with Admiral Naismith and the Dendarii Mercenaries on Jackson’s Whole (correct spelling, no economic summit held there), a planet dedicated to extreme capitalism where everything is available for sale, including justice, and order is controlled by a series of criminal syndicates called Houses. Miles’ mission is to ensure safe passage for a geneticist to leave his current employer for a new one, as this is likely to put him in mortal danger. Once Miles understands the nature of the geneticist’s experiments, the morality of defending him becomes much harder to stomach, and when Miles meets one of his living experiments (who is essential to the entire mission), things quickly get out of control and there is some unexpected romance, but it is a relief as always to see that Miles has a conscience and is always going to try to do the right thing even if it conflicts with his own interests. That is one of the endearing things about the series - there are good and bad characters, but the author clearly sides with the characters who try to do right even in difficult circumstances. It’s refreshing entertainment amid the darkness that often pervades subgenres like cyberpunk or hard SF. This story also introduces a character that will play a much larger role in later novels such as Mirror Dance.
“Borders of Infinity” - In this story Miles has to infiltrate a Cetagandan POW camp masquerading as a mercenary to extricate a military officer there. Almost immediately his physical handicaps draw the wrong attention and he seems to get more bones broken in this one story than any human being could possibly endure, yet managed by quick wits alone to unite various prisoner factions into trying to stage a rebellion. It’s a bit implausible like of Miles’ adventures, but as always he does things with such impish charm and chutzpah that it’s hard to resist going along and suspending belief. This is also a crucial story in the larger Miles Vorkosigan Saga as it has major repercussions for the successive novel in the series, Brothers in Arms.
October 6, 2022
I want to find every book in this series and swallow it whole. Extraordinary.
January 2, 2021
Recopilación de tres historias cortas protagonizadas por Miles Vorkosigan con un relato corto que hace de nexo de unión entre ellas.
Y vaya tres historias. Aquí puedes encontrar los puntos fuertes de la saga condensados en pocas páginas: los diálogos inteligentes e irónicos y la aventura sirven de tapadera para temas profundos que te hacen pensar y que Bujold te los cuela sin que te des cuenta.
Creo que sería adecuado leerlos después de Hermanos de armas porque hace referencia a cierta misión que ocurre en ese libro y yo no he pillado al no haberlo leído todavía. Pero como cualquier historia de esta saga, se puede leer sin haber leído nada antes y se puede entender sin problemas.
Y vaya tres historias. Aquí puedes encontrar los puntos fuertes de la saga condensados en pocas páginas: los diálogos inteligentes e irónicos y la aventura sirven de tapadera para temas profundos que te hacen pensar y que Bujold te los cuela sin que te des cuenta.
Creo que sería adecuado leerlos después de Hermanos de armas porque hace referencia a cierta misión que ocurre en ese libro y yo no he pillado al no haberlo leído todavía. Pero como cualquier historia de esta saga, se puede leer sin haber leído nada antes y se puede entender sin problemas.
April 1, 2024
Collection of 3 novellas. The second one had something really weird in it, but was otherwise fantastic, the first and third were just fantastic without any asterisk.
Funnily enough each novella felt like it had quite a bit more emotional weight and significance than the last full novel Ceteganda.
9.1/10
Funnily enough each novella felt like it had quite a bit more emotional weight and significance than the last full novel Ceteganda.
9.1/10
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March 12, 2024
2024 reread Still not a fan of Labyrinth, still love Mountains of Mourning and Borders of Infinity.
2021 rereadTrust was more of a feedback loop than I had realized
Whew. I hadn't read any of these novellas in quite some time (my first duty station? college? as far back as high school???) because I'd found them duller than my favorites, but honestly I was wrong.
I hated "The Mountains of Mourning" as a young adult, but this definitely hit differently as an adult, and there's a reason it won a bunch of awards. It's the reconciliation of past and future and prejudice, and reparations and...reparations. Five tear-jerking stars.
"Labyrinth" was...ehhhh. I never liked it, and I disliked it for different reasons now, mainly because Tara was 16 and Miles was older, and the pairing was...not good in any stretch (although I see where Bujold was going, the age gap was not for me). Two stars.
"The Borders of Infinity" was much, much better than I remembered, and definitely Miles at his lowest (okay, he's naked, beaten but not at his lowest...that comes later) but also his most witty in putting hope into the hopeless and trust into the untrusting through some rather iffy scripture. Five stars, for all of the emotions it pulled through me, particularly during the last, massive retreat and the past several paragraphs.
I did like the framing device, of Miles—trapped inside his body in a hospital bed—forced to recount two egregiously over-budget missions to his boss, Simon Illyan.
2021 rereadTrust was more of a feedback loop than I had realized
Whew. I hadn't read any of these novellas in quite some time (my first duty station? college? as far back as high school???) because I'd found them duller than my favorites, but honestly I was wrong.
I hated "The Mountains of Mourning" as a young adult, but this definitely hit differently as an adult, and there's a reason it won a bunch of awards. It's the reconciliation of past and future and prejudice, and reparations and...reparations. Five tear-jerking stars.
"Labyrinth" was...ehhhh. I never liked it, and I disliked it for different reasons now, mainly because Tara was 16 and Miles was older, and the pairing was...not good in any stretch (although I see where Bujold was going, the age gap was not for me). Two stars.
"The Borders of Infinity" was much, much better than I remembered, and definitely Miles at his lowest (okay, he's naked, beaten but not at his lowest...that comes later) but also his most witty in putting hope into the hopeless and trust into the untrusting through some rather iffy scripture. Five stars, for all of the emotions it pulled through me, particularly during the last, massive retreat and the past several paragraphs.
I did like the framing device, of Miles—trapped inside his body in a hospital bed—forced to recount two egregiously over-budget missions to his boss, Simon Illyan.
December 14, 2021
Another novella from the adventurers of Miles Vorkosigan. This time he finds himself in a Cetagandan prison camp while working as Admiral Naismith once again. Initially this did not grab me as much as some of the other stories, but once things got moving it was one I couldn't put down.
September 3, 2008
5.0 stars. The best Miles Vorkosigan stories of them all are contained in this book (and that is saying A LOT). The Mountains of Mourning was AMAZING. Highly Recommended.
August 11, 2016
Three short stories/novellas with a tacked on story to tie them together. The first story was strong but sad, the second fun but forgettable, and the third was pretty damn amazing.
May 15, 2020
Libro que recopila 3 historias cortas, unidas por un leve hilo argumental de investigación de Seguridad Imperial que hace que Miles deba relatarlas.
Plenamente satisfactorio y sirven para cimentar a través de su gravedad, la personalidad adulta de Miles.
Plenamente satisfactorio y sirven para cimentar a través de su gravedad, la personalidad adulta de Miles.
April 19, 2015
This book is an anthology of three novellas about the life of the young Miles Vorkosigan. Miles is an officer in the space navy. He was crippled at birth, has fragile bones and is short in stature. So, instead of using his strength, he must survive with his wits. He has an ability to think outside the box, and exhibit not a little bit of chutzpah. If you are a science fiction fan, then the series of novels by Lois McMaster Bujold is a must read.
I didn't read this book--I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Grover Gardner. He is an excellent narrator!
I didn't read this book--I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Grover Gardner. He is an excellent narrator!
April 22, 2020
La reseña completa en https://inthenevernever.blogspot.com/...
“Los hombres pueden mover montañas, pero las ideas mueven a los hombres. Se puede tocar la mente con el cuerpo… ¿qué sentido tendría todo esto si no? —Señaló el campo—. ¿Qué es sino tocar vuestras mentes a través de vuestros cuerpos? Pero ese poder fluye en dos direcciones y la que va hacia afuera es la más poderosa”.
Ya saben que en el blog me encuentro en una cruzada personal: hacer que todos aquellos aficionados del género que aún no se han animado descubran y disfruten de la genialidad de Lois McMaster Bujold. Este abril, siguiendo con mi reto de leer uno de los tomos de la Saga Vorkosigan al mes, toca recomendarles Fronteras del infinito. El libro con la traducción de Márgara Averbach reúne tres relatos largos asombrosos, con nuevas y conmovedoras aventuras de nuestro querido Miles Vorkosigan.
“Los hombres pueden mover montañas, pero las ideas mueven a los hombres. Se puede tocar la mente con el cuerpo… ¿qué sentido tendría todo esto si no? —Señaló el campo—. ¿Qué es sino tocar vuestras mentes a través de vuestros cuerpos? Pero ese poder fluye en dos direcciones y la que va hacia afuera es la más poderosa”.
Ya saben que en el blog me encuentro en una cruzada personal: hacer que todos aquellos aficionados del género que aún no se han animado descubran y disfruten de la genialidad de Lois McMaster Bujold. Este abril, siguiendo con mi reto de leer uno de los tomos de la Saga Vorkosigan al mes, toca recomendarles Fronteras del infinito. El libro con la traducción de Márgara Averbach reúne tres relatos largos asombrosos, con nuevas y conmovedoras aventuras de nuestro querido Miles Vorkosigan.
October 10, 2022
Tres historias de Miles en su mejor expresión. La primera te rompe el corazón, la segunda te hace pensar y la tercera es pura acción que igual hubiera necesitado un poco de desarrollo en su primera etapa.
En todo caso, una delicia de lectura.
En todo caso, una delicia de lectura.
November 4, 2020
LA MEJOR saga de libros que he leído con muchísima diferencia en mucho tiempo.
Teniendo en cuenta que ésto lo escribo en el 2020 y que ya he leído a Sanderson y ... me mantengo en lo dicho, NO cambio a Sanderson por éstos libros, como mucho lo pongo a la par, pero no por encima.
Creo que cada lector tiene debilidad por un autor o una Saga, en mi caso hasta que conocí a Miles Vorkosigan, me sentía especialmente unido a Jean Marie Auel y su saga Los hijos de la Tierra (excepto el último) pero fue leer ésta Saga y cambiarme el concepto radicalmente.
Despues he leído Sagas que me han gustado mucho, incluso muchísimo, pero si hay un personaje y una Saga a la que volvería una y otra vez, son Miles Vorkosigan y ésta Saga.
Me apena no defenderme lo suficientemente bien en Inglés como para atreverme a leer los dos últimos que no están traducidos ... pero no lo descarto.
Gracias Lois McMaster.
Teniendo en cuenta que ésto lo escribo en el 2020 y que ya he leído a Sanderson y ... me mantengo en lo dicho, NO cambio a Sanderson por éstos libros, como mucho lo pongo a la par, pero no por encima.
Creo que cada lector tiene debilidad por un autor o una Saga, en mi caso hasta que conocí a Miles Vorkosigan, me sentía especialmente unido a Jean Marie Auel y su saga Los hijos de la Tierra (excepto el último) pero fue leer ésta Saga y cambiarme el concepto radicalmente.
Despues he leído Sagas que me han gustado mucho, incluso muchísimo, pero si hay un personaje y una Saga a la que volvería una y otra vez, son Miles Vorkosigan y ésta Saga.
Me apena no defenderme lo suficientemente bien en Inglés como para atreverme a leer los dos últimos que no están traducidos ... pero no lo descarto.
Gracias Lois McMaster.
May 13, 2019
10/10 en 2005 (ahí es nada....). Media de los 23 libros de la autora : ¡¡¡ 9/10 !!!
Joder, ¿sabéis lo que es mantener una media de 9/10 a lo largo de 23 libros?. Pues eso, casi imposible. Pero si tenemos en cuenta que casi todos son de su saga de Miles Vorkonsigan y que yo amo al personaje y a la forma que tiene la autora de narrar sus aventuras, pues ya está dicho todo.
Las incursiones de la autora en Fantasía (Series de Chalión y El vínculo del cuchillo) tambien son muy recomendables.
El encanto de los libros se consigue sobre todo con sus fuerte y entrañables personajes, tanto en CF como en Fantasía. Si no conocéis a la autora ya estáis tardando...
Joder, ¿sabéis lo que es mantener una media de 9/10 a lo largo de 23 libros?. Pues eso, casi imposible. Pero si tenemos en cuenta que casi todos son de su saga de Miles Vorkonsigan y que yo amo al personaje y a la forma que tiene la autora de narrar sus aventuras, pues ya está dicho todo.
Las incursiones de la autora en Fantasía (Series de Chalión y El vínculo del cuchillo) tambien son muy recomendables.
El encanto de los libros se consigue sobre todo con sus fuerte y entrañables personajes, tanto en CF como en Fantasía. Si no conocéis a la autora ya estáis tardando...
March 15, 2019
Love, love, love these books
July 22, 2019
Executive Summary: I don't normally do a lot of short stories, and I hadn't planned to read any of these until someone pointed out you could get them all in one collection and that they were pretty good. I'm glad I picked it up, but I'm not sure that I will pick up any of the other short stories unless there are other collections like this available in audio.
Audiobook: Grover Gardner does another good job. I'm never quite blown away by him, but he's a pretty good fit for the series, and thus I continue to listen to it rather than read.
Full Review
The rating of this book is an average of my ratings for each of the three stories.
I thought the first story The Mountains of Mourning was the best of the three and gave it 4 stars. I really liked the focus on Miles trying to end the practice of child murder on his home planet, especially as it is a topic so close to him.
I didn't think the second story, Labyrinth was nearly as good. I struggled with the romance element and found it a bit creepy. It still had some elements I thought interesting, but it was the weakest and I gave it 3 stars.
The final story The Borders of Infinity was also quite good, although not as good as the first story. You really get to see Miles use his brain to outsmart larger and stronger opponents, and that's one of the things I enjoy most about the character and the series so far. 4 stars.
Audiobook: Grover Gardner does another good job. I'm never quite blown away by him, but he's a pretty good fit for the series, and thus I continue to listen to it rather than read.
Full Review
The rating of this book is an average of my ratings for each of the three stories.
I thought the first story The Mountains of Mourning was the best of the three and gave it 4 stars. I really liked the focus on Miles trying to end the practice of child murder on his home planet, especially as it is a topic so close to him.
I didn't think the second story, Labyrinth was nearly as good. I struggled with the romance element and found it a bit creepy. It still had some elements I thought interesting, but it was the weakest and I gave it 3 stars.
The final story The Borders of Infinity was also quite good, although not as good as the first story. You really get to see Miles use his brain to outsmart larger and stronger opponents, and that's one of the things I enjoy most about the character and the series so far. 4 stars.
June 12, 2022
4.5 - 5*
No supero a Lois McMaster Bujold. No creo que pueda hacerlo nunca.
No supero a Lois McMaster Bujold. No creo que pueda hacerlo nunca.
April 18, 2019
A fix-up novel where three novellas are presented as Miles Vorkosigan giving reports on his adventures.
The Mountains of Mourning (3 stars) - a murder mystery where Miles confronts the regressive thinking of some of the more backwards parts of Barrayar’s society. Confronting superstition and ignorance is never fun, but doubly so when a baby has been murdered. Not exactly a feel-good story, but it underscores how people view Miles, who was born a dwarf as a result of a chemical attack his mother experienced while pregnant.
Labyrinth (4 stars) - This is a straight-up heist story that has echoes of The Warrior's Apprentice, where Miles has to outwit numerous conflicting interests. Fortunately he’s up to the task. As he states in the opening, “If you can’t be seven feet tall, you have to be seven feet smart.” This is the lightest of the stories.
Borders of Infinity (4 stars) - A prison break story, where Miles infiltrates a brutal Cetagandan prison. This is a mash-up, equal parts from the classic movie The Great Escape and Dante’s The Divine Comedy (aka The Inferno). Miles plays the Steve McQueen role, plotting an escape from the circular prison with the help of his guides. Bujold doesn’t even disguise Dante’s influence, as one of his cohorts is named Beatrice, the same as in The Inferno. This one pulls no punches, being the darkest of the three stories. Which is saying something, since the first one involves infanticide.
The Mountains of Mourning (3 stars) - a murder mystery where Miles confronts the regressive thinking of some of the more backwards parts of Barrayar’s society. Confronting superstition and ignorance is never fun, but doubly so when a baby has been murdered. Not exactly a feel-good story, but it underscores how people view Miles, who was born a dwarf as a result of a chemical attack his mother experienced while pregnant.
Labyrinth (4 stars) - This is a straight-up heist story that has echoes of The Warrior's Apprentice, where Miles has to outwit numerous conflicting interests. Fortunately he’s up to the task. As he states in the opening, “If you can’t be seven feet tall, you have to be seven feet smart.” This is the lightest of the stories.
Borders of Infinity (4 stars) - A prison break story, where Miles infiltrates a brutal Cetagandan prison. This is a mash-up, equal parts from the classic movie The Great Escape and Dante’s The Divine Comedy (aka The Inferno). Miles plays the Steve McQueen role, plotting an escape from the circular prison with the help of his guides. Bujold doesn’t even disguise Dante’s influence, as one of his cohorts is named Beatrice, the same as in The Inferno. This one pulls no punches, being the darkest of the three stories. Which is saying something, since the first one involves infanticide.
July 12, 2020
This is a novel from the Vorkosigan Saga, which is actually a set of three novellas (published earlier) interlinked with short interludes with the idea that Miles is recovering after operations to replace several of his bones and Simon Illyan, Chief of Barrayar's Imperial Security interrogates his about his past adventures. I read is as a part of the ongoing Vorkosigan Challenge in July 2020 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group.
The first novella, The Mountains of Mourning is reviewed here.
The second novella, Labyrinth is reviewed here.
The third novella, Borders of Infinity is about a prisoners of war camp to which Miles sneaks in to extract some officers to them to continue guerrilla war against the Cetagandans (toward whom Barrayar has great dislike). The direct approach (Bring me to your leader) doesn’t work, so Miles has to get inventive. The final of this story or its consequences are the start of Brothers in Arms.
The first novella, The Mountains of Mourning is reviewed here.
The second novella, Labyrinth is reviewed here.
The third novella, Borders of Infinity is about a prisoners of war camp to which Miles sneaks in to extract some officers to them to continue guerrilla war against the Cetagandans (toward whom Barrayar has great dislike). The direct approach (Bring me to your leader) doesn’t work, so Miles has to get inventive. The final of this story or its consequences are the start of Brothers in Arms.
May 15, 2024
This book is peak Bujold. Three excellent stories held together by interludes that not only add depth to Miles, but to a secondary character as well. I believe Bujold excels at the novella. Looking back at an earlier book, The Vor Game is two novellas inextricably linked - and excellent. More recently Bujold wrote the Penric and Desdemona series of novellas (also excellent). Her writing style is to give all the information necessary for a great story and not pad it out unnecessarily. More detail is given in the next book, where it is needed.
This book sets Miles Vorkosigan's personality for the rest of the series. And it can be summed up in two quotes:
"You've won a twisted poor modern knight, to wear your favor on his sleeve . . . At least I won't just tilt at windmills for you. I'll send in sappers to mine the twirling suckers, and blast them into the sky."
"If you can't be seven feet tall, be seven feet smart."
Three stories from different parts of young Miles' life show more of Barrayar, the criminal planet if Jackson's Whole, and the inside of a high-tech prison camp. All linked by a story set in a hospital bed. Every story is better than the others in some way. Not sure that this would be the best book for a person new to the Vorkiverse, but it is definitely required reading for anyone wanting to explore the depth of the series.
This book sets Miles Vorkosigan's personality for the rest of the series. And it can be summed up in two quotes:
"You've won a twisted poor modern knight, to wear your favor on his sleeve . . . At least I won't just tilt at windmills for you. I'll send in sappers to mine the twirling suckers, and blast them into the sky."
"If you can't be seven feet tall, be seven feet smart."
Three stories from different parts of young Miles' life show more of Barrayar, the criminal planet if Jackson's Whole, and the inside of a high-tech prison camp. All linked by a story set in a hospital bed. Every story is better than the others in some way. Not sure that this would be the best book for a person new to the Vorkiverse, but it is definitely required reading for anyone wanting to explore the depth of the series.
January 29, 2019
Three good novellas bookended by a Barayaran political crisis.
April 7, 2025
A ton of fun. Some sermonizing. But enough blockbuster suspense and action to save it so many times over.
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