Somehow I have missed Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan books. Considering that the first one (there are about a dozen) was published in 1986, I can only conclude that I got out of the science fiction reading habit back in the 80s. On the one hand, I missed some wonderful stories; on the other, I now have about a week's worth of books to read all at once.
They're excellent. They could be described as space opera, but that wouldn't come close. Vorkosigan is a really interesting hero (he's all of 4'9" tall, due to an assassination attempt on his mother while he was in utero), the universe Bujold has created is fascinating (Planets populated solely by men! Planets which are a black-marketer's paradise! Planets recovering from conquest!), and the characters are fully developed, even the non-human ones. The books have warfare, politics, romance, cloning, and ethical dilemmas, and the writing is word-picture perfect.
They seem to get classified in the Young Adult section of the library, probably because when we first meet the protagonist he's 18. This categorization is wrong; they're fully adult books with adult themes.
I've read about half-a-dozen so far, and I recommend them. If you can, try to read them in order, as characters recur.
Posted by Linkmeister at April 27, 2007 09:02 AM | TrackBack