The Vor Game

A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

By: Lois McMaster Bujold

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Miles Vorkosigan graduates from the Barrayaran Military Academy with high expectations of ship command, but is disappointed with an assignment as meteorologist to Lazkowski Base, an arctic training camp. His tenure in the windy, snow-covered north is cut short when Miles narrowly averts a massacre between the trigger-happy base commander and mutinous recruits. After a brief stay under 'house arrest', Miles is re-assigned to investigate a suspicious military build-up near a wormhole nexus. Reviving his undercover persona as mercenary Admiral Miles Naismith, his routine information-gathering duty expands to a rescue mission when the Emperor of Barrayar disappears during a political conference on a nearby space station. Miles must use his considerable negotiating skills to avoid a showdown between competing powers for control of the wormhole, find the Emperor, and watch his back for the arctic base commander seeking bloody vengeance.

©1990 Lois McMaster Bujold (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

• 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Science-Fiction
• Hugo Award Winner, Best Novel, 1991

A Wild Romp

I recently finished listening to the Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold and narrated by Grover Gardner. This is the fifth book in the Vorkosigan series.

I find it is hard to review most books within a series without providing some spoilers for the previous story lines in the series. If this is an issue for you I suggest you skip down to the conclusion. If this isn't an issue, then read on.

Miles Vorkosigan is a somewhat crippled mutant on a planet and in a military where such physical deformities are not viewed well.
After graduating officer school he is assigned to an Arctic training base for troops, an assignment that doesn't seem to suit his skills.

From that point on the adventure madly careens from point to point with no clear goal and lots of witty banter. This a traditional adventure novel where the adventure is full of unexpected twists and turns.

The narrator, Grover Gardner, really carries off the character well. Miles is intelligent and displays the full range of emotions in this story. Grover deftly portrays of each of the characters, adding real life to them.

Conclusion: This is a great Sci-fi adventure novel. The dry humor of the author mixed with the sarcastic delivery of the narrator makes Miles Vorkosigan really live. I highly suggest this as an excellent, if unusual, style of Sci-fi novel.

Miles Hits His Stride!

Would you listen to The Vor Game again? Why?

Absolutely. These early Miles Vorkosigan stories might just be my favorite. Unadulterated adventure at its best.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Miles. He has qualities in his personality that anyone can relate to and his intelligence and wit are the keys to his success.

What about Grover Gardner’s performance did you like?

Grover Gardner is probably the best narrator in the business and he gives Miles a voice. Gardner gets the sarcasm, wit and humor that Bujold was writing into the character of Miles Vorkosigan and delivers a pitch perfect performance.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes. This book and series stands out amongst its competition and is truly original and just so much better than all of the generic, two dimensional and cookie cutter sci-fi that has been produced in recent years.

Any additional comments?

Do yourself a favor and read this series. You will absolutely not regret it.

Miles of Entertainment

I am hooked on this series like I was with CJ Cherryh. There’s unpredictable adventure and interplanetary stories spanning generations. Miles Vorkosigan is smarter than any of them, loyal to his emperor yet always on the edge of possible disaster.

Engrossing

i stumbled onto one of the books as a freebie from audible. i had no idea it has an entire galaxy backstory. Action, political intrigue, different forms of government, diplomacy, & twists and turns. I'm officially hooked. i even read about the "Vorgaverse" on wikipedia. Love it

Space opera continues

The "mutant" is now a Lieutenant,wonder what mischief he'll get into now; don't you?

Outstanding

One can only hope that there is more of the Vor Story to come. It’s been a great ride so far.

Finally!

Finally some of her Miles series is making it onto audio books. I read this entire series and I loved it. The Vor Game is a great example of the series and is a great moving book about honour and commitments. I recomend any of her books in this series, I have never been disappointed by any of them. Her characters fly from the pages, real and complete, pulling you along through the story as you want to see if Miles manages to succeed, or not. You never quite know for sure what the outcome will be, since he doesn't always get everything he hoped for.

A good book in a great series

This book has a bit of a mystery, a bit of science fiction, a bit of military fiction, and a lot of fun, but is not just light fiction. I really cared about the characters and enjoyed the story. This is one of the best series in science fiction. This is not the best book in the series, but it is still much better then most in the genre. The narration is excellent. Read the series in order (see the Audible series feature). The first two books are good, but are not at good as the rest of the series, and are better when read again after reading the rest of the series. This is as good as the best of classic science fiction.

Deceptively unfocused.

A fun book. Some military complications. Some coming of age stuff (not an YA book though). Some space opera. Some heavy spy intrigue. Some political strategizing. Story seemed a bit unfocused well into the book, but I should have trusted the author not to mess it up. It all came together as the plot progressed. Will keep following the series.

Grover Gardner's narration is good.

A good read

I am totally not a military affectionado but found this book fascinating. I am now going to backtrack to the beginning and start the series