Miles Errant (Miles Vorkosigan Adventures) [Paperback]

Lois McMaster Bujold (Author)

Book Description

Series: Miles Vorkosigan Adventures | Publication Date: August 27, 2002

Truth and Consequences: A covert ops liberation of Barrayaran allies in a Cetagandan pow camp goes awry and Miles Naismith is right in the middle of it. Will he find damnation though good works, or faith alone? Still reeling from the prior mission, the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet puts in at old Earth for repairsand finds old enemies. Miles' attempt to juggle both his identities, Admiral Naismith and Lieutenant Lord Vorkosigan, crashes when a new player enters the game: the brother he never knew he had. Two years later, on the crime planet of Jackson's Whole, disaster gets a new name: Mark Pierre Vorkosigan. Another rescue, of clone children scheduled to be murdered for their bodies, goes seriously sour. This time, the consequences look fatal and permanentunless two brothers can each learn the other's true names and games. Publisher's Note: "Miles Errant" has been previously published in parts as "Borders of Infinity", "Brothers in Arms", and "Mirror Dance". This is the first chronologically combined edition, as chosen by the author. 'Georgette Heyer has met her match for intrigue and style!...[Komarr] has twists and turns that could only happen in a Vorkosigan-inspired novel...Boy, can she write! ' - Anne McCaffrey.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Author's Note:
 
The Vorkosigan Saga Reading Order Debate: The Chef Recommends
 
 
Many pixels have been expended debating the 'best' order in which to read what have come to be known as the Vorkosigan Books, the Vorkosiverse, the Miles books, and other names, since I neglected to supply the series with a label myself.  The debate now wrestles with some fourteen or so volumes and counting, and mainly revolves around publication order versus internal-chronological order.  I favor internal chronological, with a few caveats.
 
I have always resisted numbering my volumes; partly because, in the early days, I thought the books were distinct enough; latterly because if I ever decided to drop in a prequel somewhere (which in fact I did most lately with Captain Vorpatril's Alliance) it would upwhack the numbering system.  Nevertheless, the books and stories do have a chronological order, if not a strict one.
 
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 good 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, though mine usually run 20k - 30k 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  (upcoming in late 2012)
CryoBurn
                  
 
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 story to tie the pieces together. Again, beware duplication.  The frame story does not stand alone, and generally is of interest only to completists.
 
 
The Fantasy Novels
 
My fantasy novels are a bit easier to order.  Easiest of all is The Spirit Ring, which is a stand-alone, or aquel, as some wag once dubbed books that for some obscure reason failed to spawn a subsequent series.  Next easiest are the four volumes of The Sharing Knife--in order, Beguilement, Legacy, Passage, and Horizon--which I broke down and actually numbered, as this was one continuous tale divided into non-wrist-breaking chunks.
 
What have come to be called the Chalion books, after the setting of its first two volumes, were also written, like the Vorkosigan books, to be stand-alones as part of a larger whole, and can in theory be read in any order.  (The third book actually takes place a few hundred years prior to the more closely connected first two.)  Some readers think the world-building is easier to assimilate when the books are read in publication order, and the second volume certainly contains spoilers for the first (but not the third.)  In any case, the publication order is:
 
The Curse of Chalion
Paladin of Souls
The Hallowed Hunt
 
Happy reading!
 
-- Lois McMaster Bujold.

Product Details

• Paperback: 752 pages
• Publisher: Baen; Original edition (August 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743435583
• ISBN-13: 978-0743435581
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

157 of 157 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An omnibus, but worth owning if you don't have the others, August 31, 2002

By 

Maddi Hausmann Sojourner "madhaus" (Silicon Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Miles Errant (Miles Vorkosigan Adventures) (Paperback)

This isn't a new book. If you were hoping to read about the further adventures of Miles Vorkosigan after _Diplomatic Immunity_, you're going to have to wait! Instead, this is a collection of earlier works arranged in a logical sequence.

The three works are "The Borders of Infinity," a novella about Miles' rescue mission to a POW camp; _Brothers in Arms_, a novel that takes place four months later on Earth, where Miles first meets his "evil twin" brother/clone; and _Mirror Dance_, another novel where Miles' brother/clone returns to cause havoc for him by acting on his earlier intent to destroy the clone labs (where he was created and saw dozens of clone-children destroyed) on Jackson's Whole.

I came across the Vorkosigan saga in a somewhat nonlinear order, reading whatever I found with a lot of backing and filling. It is really a pleasure to read these works again, in a way that lets all those asides to previous adventures have the proper resonance instead of experiencing a series of throw-away dialogue. If you already own the books there is no point in buying it, but if you don't, do buy this. Despite having read all of these books in the last 2 years I am really enjoying the rereading. Bujold is such a great writer that her works can be read many times with just as much pleasure.

214 of 232 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This is NOT a new book; it's a compilation, August 21, 2002

By 

Ivy (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miles Errant (Miles Vorkosigan Adventures) (Paperback)

This is an anthology - one of the series of Vorkosigan anthologies Baen is releasing. It contains Borders of Infinity (the short story), Brothers in Arms, and Mirror Dance. Don't buy this thinking it's a new book!

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely wonderful!, July 1, 2003

By 

Empyreal (LA, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miles Errant (Miles Vorkosigan Adventures) (Paperback)

This is a compilation of two novels and one novella. No new material, but still a wonderful gift for someone just starting off on Bujold. Three books for the price of one! The novella is "Borders of Infinity" and the two novels are _Brothers in Arms_ and _Mirror Dance_

In "Borders of Infinity," Miles winds up as a POW in a Cetaganda camp. in _Brothers in Arms_ he goes to Earth and discovers he has a clone who is part of a conspiracy against Barrayar. In _Mirror Dance_, the clone returns to assume Miles' identity Admiral Naismith, gets himself in huge trouble, and Miles faces his own mortality as a result.

Bujold's writing gets better and better as her books go on, and since her first works are still fabulous you can imagine how great these later works are! Each book is independent enough to stand alone, but still part of a greater web which all the books make up. Even if you've never read a Bujold book, you will still develop an attachment to her various characters in book 10 as you would have in book 1. She's a literary genius.

One of the stronger points about the Vorkosigan saga is that the characters grow. _Mirror Dance_ takes place 10 years after we first saw Miles in his own book, and he has changed in some ways and remained the same in others. He has lived, learned, suffered, and gained. Throughout it all, some aspects of his personality have remained. _Mirror Dance_ also allows his clone Mark to grow and change. He realizes he has his own destiny just as Miles does. Each of the characters are unique and realistic, very deep in their personalities.

Another strength of Bujold's writing is that although it's not from Miles' point of view (it's written in 3rd person), you are just as unsure of what's happening to others as Miles is. Just as Miles can't see what his mother is doing, the reader can't either. So both Miles and the reader wait in suspense to find out the results of some plans, messages, etc. The history of Barrayar and the various planets are also given in snippets throughout the saga. Just as if you were visiting Barrayar from another planet and just beginning to delve into its histories. At first I was frustrated by this style because I wanted to know everything that was happening with all teh characters, and all that had happened with all the planets. Eventually I realized it is better the way Bujold gives you a snippet here or there. Not only does itkeep you coming back for more, it also makes the stories more suspenseful and enjoyable.

All around, a great book. A great starting place in the Vorkosigan saga, or just as a continuation of the books you've already come to love by Bujold. For us poorer folk, it's also wonderful to just pay the price of one book instead of 3!