Comments | dagnylilytable: Vorkosigan saga

dagnylilytable

Vorkosigan saga

Nov 05, 2010 13:30

I am well aware I owe the internet an update on graduate school. (Still in, still nuts).

But the more important thing is, I got a Kindle as a present for passing my PhD exams. And the Vorkosigan saga is available for free download. And I am down to the last two books and I have so much to say.

Spoilers through A Civil Campaign.

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Comments 4

arasnaem November 5 2010, 23:45:08 UTC

OK, so how did you just discover these books? They're totally awesome!

I started with Warrior's Apprentice, so I didn't know how kick ass "the adults" were in their own right. I was annoyed with the mooning over Elena, but loved watching Miles juggle so many balls in the air. I kept laughing, and simply had to make Bernie read them, too.

The first two books were actually the last two that I read, because the library didn't have them. That actually helped me love Aral and Cordelia all the more, because I got to know them as more "minor" characters first and then fall madly in love with them. Bernie still talks all the time about going shopping in the capital.

I listened to Cetaganda for the first time on audiobook before I read it. It was definitely an interesting way to do it, and I loved all the Ivan time.

I know Bernie's favorite is Civil Campaign. He loves the love story, and he in particular loves Lord Auditor Miles. I think my favorite is probably Memory...the depth of the characters...I just...blown away with everything. ( ... )

dagnylilytable November 6 2010, 03:57:36 UTC

Yeah, I keep thinking I need to make Dan read them so that I can routinely make that reference to going shopping. Otherwise he won't know what I mean since usually I hate shopping!

f you have two left, it must be Diplomatic Immunity and Cryoburn. DI is really good, and it's nice to see Bel again. I haven't read Cryoburn yet, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting there at some point...it did just come out, after all!

Have you read the short stories, too? .

Yeah, I read the short stories because the e-versions are the omnibus volumes which have all of them. "Mountains of Mourning" is probably my favorite short, though I did enjoy an outsider POV on Miles in "Winterfair Gifts."

f you have two left, it must be Diplomatic Immunity and Cryoburn. DI is really good, and it's nice to see Bel again. I haven't read Cryoburn yet, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting there at some point...it did just come out, after all! I just finished DI today--I did really enjoy seeing Bel again, though I was sorry to miss actually ( ... )

fourteenlines November 6 2010, 02:56:11 UTC

WHEEEEEEEE! Miles is totally Francis! In! Space! What I love so much about these books is that there is obviously quite a lot of meat to them, and yet whenever I find that someone has discovered them, I just want to go giddy with delight. I see you have understood the appeal of Ivan. I Approve. *g*

And obviously I'll have to reread A Civil Campaign again, because I never thought of it as a Gaudy Night homage. (Then again, I read the Vorkosigan series long before I clued in to Sayers.) But now that you say that, it's obvious. I mean, Miles may be Francis in Space, but Francis is Peter in 16th Century Scotland, so it's a pretty straight line. (Though I think Miles would have expired from overexertion if he'd had to woo Ekaterin for five years! Can you even imagine?)

I love A Civil Campaign because it's so hilarious and frothy - I can never NOT howl when reading the end of the dinner party. But Memory is my favorite, but then, I really think "The Mountains of Mourning" is exceptional and I was very pleased to see it revisited ( ... )

dagnylilytable November 6 2010, 04:20:55 UTC

I just want to go giddy with delight. I see you have understood the appeal of Ivan. I Approve. *g*.

Yeah, it's not every day I get to think about gender and politics and biology and identity and also howl with glee pretty much every time Cordelia opens her mouth. I have yet another fictional model for what I would like to be When I Grow Up. And Ivan is hilarious, and not an idiot, and he deserves a chance to prove it. Of course he looks like an idiot next to Miles, baby genius, but he is Alys's son. How dumb can he be?

nd obviously I'll have to reread A Civil Campaign again, because I never thought of it as a Gaudy Night homage. (Then again, I read the Vorkosigan series long before I clued in to Sayers.) The clue for me was in the dedication in my edition-- to Dorothy, Charlotte, Jane, and Georgette. By which I presume she means Austen, Bronte, Heyer, and Sayers. Not that the plot itself is an insignificant indicator. *g* Also, I think Ivan would have drowned Miles in ice water sooner than let him wait five years for Ekaterin ( ... )