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Summary: You will laugh and cry at the same time.
Review: Bujold knows how to suck you into her world, lead you down a path you think you can predict, then...WHAM, off you go in some new direction that takes your breath away. Following the trail of Miles Vorkosigan as like the Space Mountain ride at Disney (roller coaster in the dark). Reading this book the first time was the only time a book made me laugh And cry at the same time: a rare experience
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Summary: Great. The whole thing. (short Stories)
Review: Don't read this book first. You need to go back and read Shards of Honor, and Barrayar. And then Warrior's Apprentice. But this was just about my favorite. I loved it. Fast packed, funny, Intelligent. Everything you expect from Miles. I'd love to see more shorts from Bujold.
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Summary: Fantastic! And I hate short stories!
Review: I usually can't stand short stories because I just NEED that lengthy feel of a novel to be able to get into the author's mind. But from reading Bujold's previous works, it was no problem to get the feel of Miles' world - I already knew it by heart. Ironically enough, I think Bujold has done her best characterization in the Borders of Infinity and in Ethan of Athos - her shortest works. At times the tone is light-hearted but the overriding themes were truly compelling. I LOVE Borders of Infinty (the short story), I love it, love it, LOVE IT - Especially the moment when Miles bows down with the hat and does that poetic dance in front of the women. I can't believe how well and how completely Bujold created a world within the dome. Read it, you'll know what I mean.
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Summary: Good introdution
Review: If you want to lear about miles and how he has come to be theperson he is now GET THIS BOOK. Iv read this book twice already and agot it just a month ago (That is REAL good for the amont of time I have).
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Summary: Excellent Collection of Three Short Stories
Review: Normally, I disklike reading short stories: there's just no time to fully flesh out the characters. However, in this case, since these are part of the Miles saga (and we're all familiar with him, his background, and his environment by now), I loved them. Each of the three short stories in the collection ("The Mountains of Mourning," "Labyrinth," and "The Borders of Infinity") are about 100 pages long, very interesting, and very well done. These short stories are also not peripheral to Miles' story. They seem to be covering central aspects of Miles and the Dendarii. The only downside to the book is that even though the first two of the short stories happen after the novel "Cetaganda" and before the novel "Brothers in Arms," the last short story takes place immediately AFTER (and the setting appears to be a direct result of) "Brothers in Arms." Nothing insurmountable, but it's disconcerting.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Collection of Three Short Stories
Review: Normally, I disklike reading short stories: there's just no time to fully flesh out the characters. However, in this case, since these are part of the Miles saga (and we're all familiar with him, his background, and his environment by now), I loved them. Each of the three short stories in the collection ("The Mountains of Mourning," "Labyrinth," and "The Borders of Infinity") are about 100 pages long, very interesting, and very well done. These short stories are also not peripheral to Miles' story. They seem to be covering central aspects of Miles and the Dendarii. The only downside to the book is that even though the three short stories happen after the novel "Cetaganda" and before the novel "Brothers in Arms," the SETTING apparently takes place immediately AFTER "Brothers in Arms." Nothing insurmountable, but it's disconcerting.
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Summary: A satisfying collection highlighted by Mountains of Mourning
Review: The stories are interesting, but vary in quality. The best story is Mountains of Mourning about Miles' sojurn into a backward village that is part of his father's fiefdom. The story is unpredictable and compelling and very sad. Even in the future prejudice lives unless Miles is around to question it and make others see their folly. This is a winner.
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Summary: Great stories to add to series - but watch what you buy
Review: The stories of Miles are wonderful and Lois McMaster Bujold remains one of the most talented writers in sci-fi literature today. Her style is rapid, full of dialogue, and you hardly notice that you're reading - it's so smooth. This book is a collection of stories about Miles, who recounts them to Simon, his boss in the imperial secret services. Miles himself is in hospital and cornered by Simon to cough up some details on the somewhat ambiguous reports Miles has been sending in. Like a rat caught in the corner, Miles has no choice but to spill the details. The first is a story of Miles' younger years when his father sends him off to judge on an issue that happened among his own people. Barrayar, unfortunately, still murders babies that are deformed. It's a short murder mystery. The second story revolves around Jackson's whole and the dubious activities that go on there. Miles' mission is to "collect" a person; but it's never as easy as it seems. The third is the strangest yet. Miles ends up in an enemy prison camp. At first it's not obvious how he got there, but Miles being Miles, he soon gets people moving. Bujold's writing certainly deserves five stars, as do the stories about Miles. The reason I give this only four stars is that two out of the three stories featured in previous "collections". It's very confusing to the buyer: which novel comes before which? And although Bujold has a lovely table in the back of each book to help you with the chronology, it's almost impossible to buy books that only feature the stories you want. I now own three versions of the same story, and I resent having spent money on the same thing (not to mention the waste of trees that produced the paper for this).
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Summary: Significant Background Stories
Review: This book contains two short stories and a novella which fill in gaps between what we've seen in the Vorkosigan novels, with orientation on Miles Vorkosigan. Other characters show up in the framework used to glue the stories together. The stories are "The Mountains of Mourning", which explains some very basic things about Miles' drive and is wonderfully told. "Labyrinth" tells of the discovery of Nicol and Taura, two characters which show up often, and of the beginning of the trouble between Admiral Naismith and Ryoval. "Borders of Infinity" tells of a "pickup" Admiral Naismith attempts from a Cetagandan prison camp. All of these are excellent stories and are worth your time.
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Summary: An excellent collection despite...
Review: This collection of novellas was my introduction to Miles Vorkosigan, and while I suspect that the first book (The Warrior's Apprentice) Might have been a better opening, it did convince me to read every one that our libraries contained, and finally to begin collecting the series. This collections contains three complete novellas and a, well, best described as sort-of-a-story to connect the three very different events in Miles' career. This wrap-around story is the main reason I gave the collection a mere four stars; it contains a suggestion of a rather scanty plot against Lord Aral Vorkosigan via Miles' more unusual adventures (Or rather, his monetary expenses), which serves no purpose except to perhaps introduce the idea of the imperial Auditors used in the later book Memory (And much better introduced within that book itself). As another reviewer said, the novellas could probably stand alone safely. As for the three stories themselves, they vary immensely in theme. "The Mountains of Mourning" is a tale of Miles Vorkosigan's early years, and in theory it is a murder mystery, but the emotional impact on both Miles and myself as reader was quite incredible. This is probably the best of the three stories. Following this, "Labyrinth" is a bit of a surprise; an almost rollicking adventure of Miles as the little "Admiral Naismith". It was grerat fun, but there was very little real emotional impact. It contained another excellent character, but felt to me like it was lacking depth - it was a plot-driven story, and shamelessly so. Having reread it sicne, it is better than my first impression, but the difference between the two stories was a bit of a shock. The last story, "the Borders of Infinity", combined the two nicely - a rapid-paced adventure with a strong heart and some emotional twisting. Here Lois achieves something amazing in itself - she shows the story from the point-of-view of the one character who *really* knows everything that's going on, yet doesn't give away her own plot in so doing. All in all, this hooked me on the little hyperactive madman; I've sought out every book of hers I can since.
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