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Young Miles

Young Miles

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Beware....
Review: This book was great, Until halfway through suddenly towards the end of "The Mountins of Mourning" 40 - 50 pages are missing. The stories are great but check before you buy, I don't know if this was a printing error or just my copy. Otherwise I love this series, an old friend informed me that I had to read these books ... Thank you Diana for introducing me to one of the greatest people, Miles Vorkosigan is fun and delightful character to read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: great as always
Review: This is great as always in the Vorkosigan tradition. What I dont understand is why this book has two names,The Vor Game and Young Miles. This is something that happened with the first two books, Shards of Honor and Barrayar, which were released at one point under a different name for both stories. I am always excited to read anything new about Miles and his family and friends. The writing is consistently good and funny and touching too. Thank you Lois!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great book in a great series
Review: This is one book in the saga that started with Shards of Honor which was about Mile's mother and father. Miles Vorkosgian is a wonderful hero -- instead of the usual magnificent physical specimen, here we have a man who is fragile physically in a culture that values physical and military prowess, who is forced to use his (considerable) intellect to achieve his goals. His shrewd manipulation and warm caring nature make him a person that you feel you could respect and admire. On top of that, all of Bujold's books are great stories. My only problem is that I can read so much faster than she can write, and I have run out of new books to read. Ms. Bujold, more, please.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: What an absolutely fantastic book!

Young Miles is a compilation of 2 books and one novella. The three parts of the book are: The Warrior's Apprentice, Mountains of Mourning, and The Vor Game. They have all been published before, so if you own them, don't buy this book expecting anything new. Is it the book's fault some people don't know what they're buying when they purchase it? Cordelia's Honor; Miles, Mystery, & Mayhem, and Miles Errant are also compilations.

This book is the first of the Vorkosigan saga with Miles, a cripple, as the main character, and it starts with him dropping out of military academy because of a broken leg. A member of the Vor (a military caste) class, his father the Prime Minister (former regent)of Barrayar, and living in a society that revolves around the military: this shatters Miles' dreams for his future. That is, until he accidently finds himself the "admiral" of a mercenary fleet and reveals a conspiracy against his father and himself. Unfortunately, being the leader of a private army on Barrayar is punishable by death. In The Mountains of Mourning, Miles is sent to investigate a case of infanticide, with the motive for the murder being an infants deformities. In The Vor Game, Miles has several other adventures, including attempting to stop an interstellar war and save his emperor.

The first book I read by Bujold was Cordelia's Honor, which is a compilation of Shards of Honor and Barrayar. It tells the story of how Miles' parents married and how he became crippled. Cordelia, Miles' mother, was affected by a gas grenade thrown into her room when she was pregnant. Although she survived, her son's bones became twisted and brittle. So, Miles, the hero of this compilation, is 4'10" and has a curved spine, a head the size of a normal 6' person, and brittle bones that snap at the worst times. He's also extremely bright and hyper.

Bujold is an excellent writer that makes each character come to life. There is no such thing as a two dimensional person in her world; each one is so incredibly different and deep. The reader can't help but get attached to some characters, crying and laughing along with them. I found myself giggling hysterically at some points in Young Miles, much to the confusion of those around me. Young Miles, like Cordelia's Honor, is also a page-turner. I read half the night away, only stopping when my eyes couldnt' stay open any longer. It's fast-paced adventure full of politics and military strategies. I often felt like my mind couldn't think fast enough to keep up with the story! It was absolutely wonderful!

For those who have not read anything from Bujold, this is a great starting point in the Vorkosigan saga. It has characters from Cordelia's Honor, but Bujold doesn't expect people reading Young Miles to know everything about them. She does a great job keeping each story independent yet in line with the other stories. I started with Cordelia's Honor, which isn't quite as fast-paced (at least Shards of Honor wasn't) as Young Miles, but it's still an awesome book. It also gives a more in-depth look at Cordelia, Aral, and Bothari (Miles' bodyguard in Young Miles). What's great about these compilations is you get 2-3 books in one! Saves money, and it saves the reader the time it takes to run to the book store to get the next one (which you feel you must have the moment you finish a book). I can't wait to start Miles, Mystery, & Mayhem!

Anyway, this is an excellent book in an excellent saga. A must read for any sci-fi lover! Even if you don't like sci-fi, you're bound to love this saga.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Good Place to Start!
Review: When a friend recommended the Miles Vorkosigan books I was at a loss as to where to start. So I picked this up and saw in the back a timeline listing the books in chronological order. While Shards of Honor and Barrayar (republished together as Cordelia's Honor) tell the story of Miles' parents meeting, poor Sgt. Bothari's troubled mind and how exactly Miles came to be crippled, this is the book that shows the painful process of a young man becoming one of the most unorthodox military leaders in modern sci/fi. I heartily recommend the first two for the sake of getting a more complete picture of Barrayar'a social/political structure, but if you just want to follow Miles around I suggest this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Good Place to Start!
Review: When a friend recommended the Miles Vorkosigan books I was at a loss as to where to start. So I picked this up and saw in the back a timeline listing the books in chronological order. While Shards of Honor and Barrayar (republished together as Cordelia's Honor) tell the story of Miles' parents meeting, poor Sgt. Bothari's troubled mind and how exactly Miles came to be crippled, this is the book that shows the painful process of a young man becoming one of the most unorthodox military leaders in modern sci/fi. I heartily recommend the first two for the sake of getting a more complete picture of Barrayar'a social/political structure, but if you just want to follow Miles around I suggest this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Comic Adventure!
Review: You can start either with this omnibus or "Cordelia's Honor" to start with Bujold's Vorkosigan series.

The two novels in this omnibus, "The Warrior's Apprentice" and "The Vor Game", are the most space-opera of Bujold's books, and also her most hilarious. Her later books focus more on the human level and less on the high stakes and slapstick, though she always has both comedy and character-focus. Both are good reads.

There are some amazing coinsidences which occur throughout this, but I eat it as part of the comedy.

The novellas "The Mountains of Mourning", and the part of The Vor Game which was originally "Weatherman" are more serious and are good in a different way.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Comic Adventure!
Review: You can start either with this omnibus or "Cordelia's Honor" to start with Bujold's Vorkosigan series.

The two novels in this omnibus, "The Warrior's Apprentice" and "The Vor Game", are the most space-opera of Bujold's books, and also her most hilarious. Her later books focus more on the human level and less on the high stakes and slapstick, though she always has both comedy and character-focus. Both are good reads.

There are some amazing coinsidences which occur throughout this, but I eat it as part of the comedy.

The novellas "The Mountains of Mourning", and the part of The Vor Game which was originally "Weatherman" are more serious and are good in a different way.


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