Customer Reviews

The Vor Game

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The year that this book was nominated, I attended my first
WorldCon, in Chicago. As I would be voting for the Hugo Awards, I actually read all of the nominated novels. This was my favorite. Later, I spoke with another nominated author(who was sitting near David Brin at the Hugo Award Ceremony), told me that David Brin had already written his acceptance speech, and was quite surprised when someone elso won...

About the only thing bad I can say about this book is that the pace is a bit uneven. During the early phase of the book, while Miles is the Weather Officer on Kyril Island, things are a bit slow. This segment of the book is necessary for future developments though, so it couldn't just have been cut. But still, its pace is slower than that of the rest of the book. Other than that triviality, it's really an excellent read.

About the only thing bad I can say about this book is that the pace is a bit uneven. During the early phase of the book, while Miles is the Weather Officer on Kyril Island, things are a bit slow. This segment of the book is necessary for future developments though, so it couldn't just have been cut. But still, its pace is slower than that of the rest of the book. Other than that triviality, it's really an excellent read.

I've enjoyed some of Bujold's other books, and this one had some good moments, but by comparison to "Brothers in Arms" and "A Civil Campaign" it felt rather slight, with more emphasis on the military/space opera side of things than I would like. A below-average Miles Vorkosigan book is still a Miles Vorkosigan book, though, so I can hardly complain too much about it. If you're bent on reading the series in order, or you're a big fan, I would recommend it, but I wouldn't recommend it to a casual Bujold fan.

Okay, I normally wouldn't touch space opera with a ten foot pole, but I simply couldn't put this book down! Miles Vorkosigan is the quintessential hero (rather like a far-future version of the Scarlet Pimpernel) and these tales of his exploits are dangerously addictive. "The Vor Game" is the topsy-turvy story of how Miles first gets involved in ImpSec, and would make a great starting point if you're new to the series. Definitely worth the ten bucks.

This isn't the first book. Have you read the first book? If not, you should immediately drop everything and order it. Now. Immediately. Right away. Read the whole series.
Ok, ok. Here's the series:

Shards of Honor
Barayar
(these two books are also combined into "Cordelia's Honor")
The Warrior's Apprentice
Short Story: The Mountains of Mourning
(all short stories are contained in "Borders of Infinity")
The Vor Game
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
Short Story: Labyrinth
Short Story: The Borders of Infinity
Brothers in Arms
The Borders of Infinity
Mirror Dance
Memory
Komarr
A Civil Campaign
Diplomatic Immunity

Now, go start this series at the begining and read it through to the end. No Excuses!

The Vor Game is the second book in the "Young Miles" collection, and it is the weaker of the two. It did manage to win the Hugo though, so it must have something going for it.

That something is the characters. Miles and the rest of them shine off the page. Miles gets into bad situation after bad situation, but his intelligence and quick thinking manage to get him out of it all the time. He starts out being assigned to a weather station in the arctic north of Barrayar. There, his independent streak rears its head again and moves him on to something else. More misadventures happen until Miles is going all over the sector of space dealing with crisis after crisis, each one usually being caused by his solution to the previous crisis.

What makes this the weaker book of the two is the huge number of coincidences that are required to move the plot forward. Miles gets lucky more than anything else, and some of the people he runs into he only does because the plot requires it. It's too bad, too, because I think the story would have been very strong even without all of them. When Miles meets one of the main villains, it strains credulity to the maximum. The person is somebody from Miles' past who happens to pop up again. It would have been different if this person would have been directly after Miles, because at least then the person would have a reason to show up. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

That being said, though, there is more great humour, more drama, and more space action to cover all of it the coincidences. It is a fun book to read, and it is a page-turner. You'll never be bored, and you'll never want to put it down. It's certainly worth a read, especially if you're going to be reading the whole series. It's not necessarily important to, though, as most of the books seem to be pretty self-contained (at least that's the idea I get).

If you can deal with the coincidences, then this is a great book to read. I heartily recommend it.

A Hugo? I find it hard to believe.. This was no Ender's Game. I think my expectations were too high for this work.. It was the first Ive read from Lois McMaster Bujold.. Like others have said -- no problem jumping right into the book without prior knowledge or reading the others in the series.. It is typical of a lot of the science fiction television out there, just wasnt expecting it from a book.. Guess I need to read more.. I was a bit spoiled with Orson Scott Card's Masterpiece ' Ender's Game'.
3 stars -- and not one more.

A Hugo? I find it hard to believe.. This was no Ender's Game. I think my expectations were too high for this work.. It was the first Ive read from Lois McMaster Bujold.. Like others have said -- no problem jumping right into the book without prior knowledge or reading the others in the series.. It is typical of a lot of the science fiction television out there, just wasnt expecting it from a book.. Guess I need to read more.. I was a bit spoiled with Orson Scott Card's Masterpiece ' Ender's Game'.
3 stars -- and not one more.

Bujold's characterization of Miles' graduation from military academy and entry into active duty is hilarious and suspenseful. We see an immature young man faced with a life or death decision within the first few month's of his first posting. The adventure goes quickly into the galaxy from there. Bujold's skill in building her characters is what makes this one of my all-time favorite series. She allows her charcters to have weaknesses and attempt to resolve them. I suspect this series appeals to both men and women--my brother likes it as well as I do!