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The Vorkosigan Stories

  Many pixels have been expended debating the ‘best’ order in which to read what have come to be known as the Vorkosigan Books (or Saga), the Vorkosiverse, the Miles books, and other names. The debate mainly revolves around publication order versus internal-chronological order. I favor internal chronological, with a few caveats.

  It was always my intention to write each book as a stand-alone so that the reader could theoretically jump in anywhere, yes, with that book that’s in your hand right now, don’t put it back on the shelf! While still somewhat true, as the series developed it acquired a number of sub-arcs, closely related tales that were richer for each other. I will list the sub-arcs, and then the books, and then the caveats.

  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, Miles Vorkosigan; the first book tells how he created a space mercenary fleet by accident; the second how he fixed his mistakes from the first round. Space opera and military-esque adventure (and a number of other things one 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 a good Miles Vorkosigan early-adventure sampler platter, I always thought, for readers who don’t want to commit themselves to length. (But it may make 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 share settings or characters with the main body of the series. Most readers recommend 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; the novellas (officially defined as a story between 17,500 words and 40,000 words) 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 (published 2016)

  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 a frame to tie the pieces together. Again, beware duplication. The frame story does not stand alone.

  Happy reading!

  — Lois McMaster Bujold.

  Lois McMaster Bujold

  Photo by Carol Collins

  www.goodreads.com

  www.spectrumliteraryagency.com/bujold.htm

  www.dendarii.com

  Lois 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. She began writing with the aim of professional publication in 1982. She wrote three novels in three years; in October of 1985, all three sold to Baen Books, launching her career. Bujold went on to write many other books for Baen, mostly featuring her popular character Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, his family, friends, and enemies. Her books have been translated into twenty-one languages. Her fantasy from Eos includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife series.

  Books by Lois McMaster Bujold

  The Vorkosigan Series

  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 (published 2016)

  The Chalion Series

  The Curse of Chalion

  Paladin of Souls

  The Hallowed Hunt

  “Penric’s Demon”

  The Sharing Knife Tetralogy

  Volume One: Beguilement

  Volume Two: Legacy

  Volume Three: Passage

  Volume Four: Horizon

  Other Fantasy

  The Spirit Ring

  Short Stories

  Proto Zoa

  Nonfiction

  Sidelines: Talks and Essays

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Penric’s Demon

  Author’s Note: A Bujold Reading Order Guide

  About the Author

  Books by Lois McMaster Bujold