Brothers in Arms: A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

I hope someday Audible publishes the whole series (or at least numbers them), in the

meanwhile, here is something that might be useful.

The Vorkosigan Saga, in series order:

- Dreamweaver's Dilemma
- Falling Free
- Shards of Honor
- The Warrior's Apprentice
- The Mountains of Mourning (included in Borders of Infinity)
- The Vor Game
- Cetaganda
- Ethan of Athos
- Labyrinth (included in Borders of Infinity)
- The Borders of Infinity
- Brothers in Arms
- Mirror Dance (1994)
- Memory (1996)
- Komarr (1998)
- A Civil Campaign
- Winterfair Gifts
- Diplomatic Immunity

In truth you can skip around, but it's more fun if you kindof read these in order.

I've read every thing this author has written and this is one of the better self-contained novels. The back story does not intrude in the action. There are several referals to the action in the novelette "Borders of Infinity" and Audible would be well served to acquire it and "Mountains of Mourning" for our listening pleasure.

Really pleasant characters in a fleshed out universe. One of the best, highly prolific sci-fi writers I have found. These books are about people (human and otherwise) and science-fiction is only a scaffolding for the issues and actions of the characters. So far these have been quite consistently good. I really should give this 4 stars not 5 but I just can't stop myself...

In the beginning of Brother in Arms (1989), the fourth novel in Lois McMaster Bujold's popular science fiction series about Miles Vorkosigan, Miles and the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet he heads under the fake identity of Admiral Naismith have limped into orbit around earth to repair their ships and restore health to their personnel. Miles' first visit to earth is immediately plagued by a host of prickly problems. First, the Dendarii may still be being pursued by assassins sent by the Cetagandan Empire to exact revenge on Admiral Naismith for the covert action the Dendarii recently conducted against Cetaganda. Second, the money owed the Dendarii by the Barrayaran Empire for that contract hasn't been paid, leaving the mercenary company on the edge of bankruptcy. Third, in his true identity as Lieutenant Miles Vorkosigan of the Barrayaran military, Miles must report to Captain Galeni of the Barrayaran Embassy, which has a mole who might be Galeni. Fourth, Miles must decide how far to take his relationship with the beautiful Dendarii Comander Elli Quinn, his right-hand woman and bodyguard. Beneath those problems Miles' lugs his perennial baggage: at age 24 he's only 4' 9" with an over-sized head and brittle bones, which (he believes) leads many of his fellow Barrayarans to figure that his military career is due to nepotism because his father is the Prime Minister of the Barrayaran Empire, or that he should have been killed at birth as a mutant.

As the novel progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult for Miles to keep his two incompatible identities secret and separate. How much of Miles is Admiral Naismith? How much is Lieutenant Vokosigan? How much is Miles? Early in the novel Miles is forced to ad-lib a clever cover story: Admiral Naismith is Lieutenant Vorkosigan's clone, created by the Cetagandans to cause trouble for their Barrayaran rivals. Needless to say, the fabrication has intriguing unintended consequences.

Miles is a wonderful protagonist: witty, clever, cocky, insecure, unflappable, empathetic, insubordinate, and loyal. No action hero, throwing a punch would break every bone in his hand. Instead, he relies on his chutzpah, brains, knack for improvisation, and facility with falsehood to get out of sticky situations that are dangerous to his fragile body and to his Barrayaran home culture.

The reader of the audiobook, Grover Gardener has a dry and articulate voice ideal for Bujold's witty writing. In the text, Bujold writes Miles' impertinent and caustic thoughts in italics, without writing, "he thought," and Gardener is skillful at subtly indicating those italics when Miles is thinking something subversive or rude rather than speaking it.

Through the plot strand about Miles' dual identity, Bujold threads plenty of the espionage, kidnappings, rescues, showdowns, family dynamics, and witty dialogue spawned by the galactic history and politics of her fictional universe, in which human beings have dispersed over the millennia from earth into competing cultures on different worlds in different solar systems linked by a limited number of rapid transit wormholes. Bujold does not write sublime space opera ala Iain Banks or Alistair Reynolds, mostly ignoring the wonders of nature and mind-boggling scales of size, time, or space. She also does not write hard science fiction, leaving the scientific workings of her advanced technology unexplained. Instead, she writes fast-paced, suspenseful, and funny space opera driven by appealing and psychologically believable characters and by interesting and politically believable cultures.

This book maybe isn't as good as the first two books in the miles vorkosigan series if you fancy the space battles and the commanding of armies. It sort of rides the coat tail of the next book on audibles list (Border's Infinity) which lays the ground work for what happens in this telling of Mile's life. I don't think Border Infinity is exactly necessary to read before, although, it takes place in the form of a report that accounts for what happened to create this novels mess of events in the first place. This book has more to do with politics, the past, and dealing with Miles sense of identification. Everything is very cleverly pulled off by the McMaster Bujold and by the end of the story all points seem to intersect in a great mess plots that seem determined to cause conflict to Miles and his counterparts.

Fascinating story line, perfect narration, overall a great audio book. If you are new to this series start with "The Warrior's Apprentice" and go from there. This is one of the best science fiction series available.

I didn't really think I would like something dubbed a "space opera" but someone who shares my taste in most books was practically breathing these books in...so I decided this would be the one to start my adventure with Miles Vorkosigan....and oh, what a delightful journey. I am reading them in chronological order (I went back and read the two "prequels" about one third of the way through the series) and each one is better than the one before...whichever one I am reading is the best! After a few chapters I was hooked. Miles Vorkosigan is to me one of the most compelling hero's of literature...hovering up there with Frodo and Harry Potter...and Lois McMaster Bujold is an exquisite writer. The Miles Vorosigan novels are far and away my favorite new books to read in 2012. This audio version is very well narrated. HIGHLY recommended to you!

I loved the purring blanket... The psychological interplay between Miles and Mark is simply brilliant. Plus much, much more.

Audio books give the reader more time to savor the words and actions of the characters. This is a book that should be both read and listened to.

This book is comparable to other books in the series. There are no characters quite comparable to Mile Vorkosigan and no author quite like Bujold. As part of the series this book works well in establishing Ivan and Eli Quinn as well as introducing Galeni and Mark. Since all of these characters add their own particular voice to the series I consider this book an essential.

Very good as always

Too long for one setting but it makes a great trip book and is good company while doing yard work.

This is a great book in a great series. It is one that no reader of Science Fiction should miss.

I don't think you can compare the two versions. The audio version gives you someone else's take on the characters, the way of speaking and so forth. The written version allows you to build your own mental picture. I find it interesting that there are some things I put emphasis on in the written version which are just whisked over in the audio version while there are things in the audio version which stand out more that in the print version.

Other than other Vorkosigan books by Bujold there really is no other comparison

Miles Vorkosigan

I reccommend this like any other Vorkosigan book as among the best fiction I have read