Welcome to the first Reading Roundup post for December. I chose a target for the year on Goodreads back in January and I am now getting very close, despite the six months sharing this bed with injured Lovely Husband over the Spring and Summer when I was unable to spend much time with ebooks.

This week I read two books from one of my very favourite Science Fiction series: the Vorkosigan Saga. I am carefully tackling them in Lois McMaster Bujold’s recommended reading order, which is different from the order in which they were published. Here they are:

The first of the two books was Mirror Dance (Vorkosigan Saga – #08 publishing order/ #09 chronological order). This is the blurb:

“Mark Vorkosigan is the cloned “twin” of Lord Miles Vorkosigan, born six years after Miles and raised by a psychopathic madman for nefarious political purposes. That’s old news, however, conveyed in the prequel Brothers in Arms. Now, in Mirror Dance, Mark still has no identity of his own and no place to call home. One thing he does know: He must free the young clones from the sinister “orphanage” he left behind years ago, on Jackson’s Whole. Pretending to be his twin, Admiral of the Dendarii Mercenaries, he just might be able to pull it off. But at what cost? And is Miles his brother’s keeper?”

And this was my response on Goodreads:

Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is another brilliant book in a brilliant series! I continue to be amazed at the quality of Bujold’s writing. She is such an excellent story-teller, weaving a complex plot and many characters together, whilst ensuring that the main protagonists continue to develop from book to book. At the same time, she drops in pearls of wisdom amongst the action and mayhem. It is also interesting that these books, at nearly 30 years old, do not seem too dated.

I am so pleased that she is a prolific writer and that I have many more of her books to savour. On to the next one…

View all my reviews

---

My second read of the week was Memory (Vorkosigan Saga – #10 publishing order/ #10 chronological order). Now for the blurb:

“Miles hits 30… Thirty hits back.

Miles turns 30, and–though he isn’t slowing down just yet–he is starting to lose interest in the game of Wall: the one where he tries to climb the wall, fails, gets up, and tries again. Having finally reached a point in his life where he can look back and realize that he has managed to prove his courage and competence, he can move on to bigger and better things.”

Oh dear, these blurbs are so poor and not at all informative! Anyway, I have just finished reading this wonderful book and this is what I wrote on Goodreads:

Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From a slow start this book ended up being one of my favourites in this brilliant series. The author took the main protagonist and completely changed the direction of his tale in the course of one book.

As I read the first chapters I began to think that Bujold was losing her path in this series. The detailed story of Miles Vorkosigan’s life seemed a rather strange change to her previous style of writing. But I held on. Then came a huge upset and the book took a new turn. And the rest was tremendous!

I just love Bujold’s thoughtful and insightful writing and am so pleased that I decided to read this fabulous series.

View all my reviews

---

Funnily enough, the series hasn’t dated too much considering that these two books were published in the 1990s. The second one, however, made me smile at how technology has moved on. So much of the plot might have been different if the characters had owned mobile phones and laptops! Younger readers might find this jarring, but I am too old to care.

I think I will choose something very different for my next book before returning to the Vorkosigan universe once again. No idea what will take my fancy…

Happy Reading to you all.

Love and best wishes,

Anne

📚📕📚📕📚