The Vor Game

Lois McMaster Bujold

The Vorkosigan Series

This series came highly recommended by fellow fans of my favourite author, so I decided to give it a try. It's a long series. Each book is usually a space adventure, involving a mystery of some sort. It is a stand-alone and can be read independently of the others, but there is an overall character development that threads the entire series together. The enjoyment I get from reading these books is like watching episodes of a favourite TV series. The mystery is usually secondary to the charcter development, the building of the societies and worlds that make up this universe.

Her universe is believable because she takes elements of our world and then extrapolates this into the future. These futuristic elements are deftly weaved into the story without hitting you over the head with its technicalities. She also brings up issues that are already looming on the horizon for us, issues such as cloning and society's responsibilities towards these clones, mutants, genetic therapy. All this without making you feel as if you're sitting in a schoolroom with someone force-feeding this down your throat.

I started with The Vor Game which won the Hugo some years back, one of the more prestigious awards in the sci-fi genre. And so I was introduced to the world of Miles Vorkosigan, whose mother suffered an enemy attack which resulted in Miles being born as a mutant into a society that abhors mutants. His parents are the cream of society so that offers him some protection. Unfortunately, this privileged position can also be a hindrance as few people ever believe in his capabilities and he has to try extra hard to prove that he can succeed on his own abilities rather than his parents' protection. This is probably a well-used character construction but the strength of her stories are the heroic yet believable characters, people I'd love to spend time with. People with courage, heart, integrity and best of all, a great sense of humour. These are not deep stories filled with profoun d meaning, but occasionally Bujold comes up with simple yet thoughtful lines that offer a small window into the complexities of human society.

If it's a good few hours of enjoyable reading you require, you won't go far wrong with these books.