That quote is a bit outlier in my opinion. She doesn't do all that much technolecture like that.
The series is pretty full of sci-fi ideas and real application of them and exploration of their consequences though. I don't mean to imply it's sf in name only but really fantasy with search & replace.
It's a bit hard to pick a single first book to suggest, because while most of the series centers around a particular character Miles Vorkosigan, the first book I would suggest takes place a bit earlier and centers around his parents.
And then yet another difficulty is that book is a sequel to another, and it's hard to recommend not reading those two in order, even if I think the 2nd is the real heart and soul and spirtitual kicking-off point of the whole thing. And this is already including the fact that I'm already not being a slave to chronology, already skipping over some other prequels that really don't need to be read in order at all. They are hundreds of years earlier and do not need to be read in any particular order. It's just these two where, the real choice gem and spritual kicking-off-point of the whole thing in my opinion happens to be a close sequel to another that, IF you read the 2nd and liked it, then it it hurts the 1st a little to have to then read that after.
So I want to say Barrayar, but it is such a close sequel to Shards of Honor, that it should really be Shards of Honor. And really, it's not like Shards is weak. It's great. Very in-line with the rest in tone and quality. It is pretty much as good as any other as a litmus test for if you will like the rest.
The progression goes like, Shards is great and is I think a good place to start reading the whole thing, but Barrayar that comes next is even better, and BOTH of those still aren't even centered around Miles yet, who is the center of most of the rest. So it starts off great, gets better, and then better again, and yet I don't really think it would be great to start with one of the Miles books, even if you are testing to see if you maybe don't even care for the style or the series in general. Test a whole series without spending any time with that series main character???? Yeah. Well that's why I say a bit hard to pick a suggestion ;)
I guess I can say it this way: It's definitely safe that if you did like Shards that you then somehow won't like all the Miles books. The trasition to to following Miles around won't be like "Wtf is this crap? My good series went bad!" And it's pretty safe that if you did not like Shards, that the others aren't different enough that you would love them and miss out by a false negative impression from Shards.
> It's definitely safe that if you did like Shards that you then somehow won't like all the Miles books.
From context, I think some word-logic got reversed during the text-editing process here. I assume you meant: "It's safe to say that if you liked Shards the other books won't disappoint."
IMO the decision to skip to The Warrior's Apprentice should really hinge on how much you care about (A) knowing world-building and backstory and (B) getting references/jokes to the earlier novels.
Hey thanks for this thoughtful reply. I tend to be a completist so I will start with shards.
I think Cordelia’s Honour as mentioned above seems a decent omnibus?
It was fascinating reading your thought process and I love to answer questions this way especially about literature but I have to mask my adhd and never know when I am being too much so I err on the side of brevity, so I really enjoyed reading you formulate your opinion!
The series is pretty full of sci-fi ideas and real application of them and exploration of their consequences though. I don't mean to imply it's sf in name only but really fantasy with search & replace.
It's a bit hard to pick a single first book to suggest, because while most of the series centers around a particular character Miles Vorkosigan, the first book I would suggest takes place a bit earlier and centers around his parents.
And then yet another difficulty is that book is a sequel to another, and it's hard to recommend not reading those two in order, even if I think the 2nd is the real heart and soul and spirtitual kicking-off point of the whole thing. And this is already including the fact that I'm already not being a slave to chronology, already skipping over some other prequels that really don't need to be read in order at all. They are hundreds of years earlier and do not need to be read in any particular order. It's just these two where, the real choice gem and spritual kicking-off-point of the whole thing in my opinion happens to be a close sequel to another that, IF you read the 2nd and liked it, then it it hurts the 1st a little to have to then read that after.
So I want to say Barrayar, but it is such a close sequel to Shards of Honor, that it should really be Shards of Honor. And really, it's not like Shards is weak. It's great. Very in-line with the rest in tone and quality. It is pretty much as good as any other as a litmus test for if you will like the rest.
The progression goes like, Shards is great and is I think a good place to start reading the whole thing, but Barrayar that comes next is even better, and BOTH of those still aren't even centered around Miles yet, who is the center of most of the rest. So it starts off great, gets better, and then better again, and yet I don't really think it would be great to start with one of the Miles books, even if you are testing to see if you maybe don't even care for the style or the series in general. Test a whole series without spending any time with that series main character???? Yeah. Well that's why I say a bit hard to pick a suggestion ;)
I guess I can say it this way: It's definitely safe that if you did like Shards that you then somehow won't like all the Miles books. The trasition to to following Miles around won't be like "Wtf is this crap? My good series went bad!" And it's pretty safe that if you did not like Shards, that the others aren't different enough that you would love them and miss out by a false negative impression from Shards.
Shards of Honor.