For Vorkosigan series, order definitely matters. It matters to understand the relationships, Miles's career, and the family timeline. I've read them all twice, and plan to again.
I've read the entire Vorkosigan series. The place to start is probably Shards of Honor, which is a first novel and is probably not very good, but Barryar is a direct sequel that starts, literally, in the last moment of Shards. My own favorites are Mirror Dance (though, again, you should read Brothers In Arms first) and A Civil Campaign (which has one of the worst original covers in the history of science fiction). The first one I read is one of the end ones, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, which is a broad farce. Much as I love Hyperion, it's half a book. You HAVE to read Fall or you haven't read it. I'm not as sanguine about the Endymion books, but later Simmons isn't my bag (he tends to make sure you know he used ALL his research). If you haven't read it, I recommend Carrion Comfort, which is the novel he wrote before Hyperion. If I was to pick a favorite Hugo winning sci fi novel? If I'm honest it's The Forever War (Thomas Disch once said it should have won the Pulitzer rather than the Hugo and he's not wrong). I don't even know what would be in second place. This is How You Lose the Time War, probably, but that's not in the "Novel" category.
This was a spectacular video Jonathan. Most of these I haven't read yet, as I'm new to science fiction reading, but through recent book hauls I have bought some of them. You have a great way of explaining the books that really lets me know if I will like them or not. Thanks Jonathan
I got to babysit my 11 year old nephew last Saturday and I had a deal with him. he finishes a roughly 400 page book in 3 weeks and I buy him a game. Was gonna let him read Red Rising but I ended up somehow picking Ender's Game. I tried to convert him to books and also into Scifi/Fantasy. I think seeing this video made me want to bump up the book in my TBR, made me feel that I made a good choice for his first book, and also save Red Rising for when he is older since I just finished Red Rising and am like 30 percent of Golden Son right now and man oh man it is stuff I think he is not ready for yet.
I read all of the Vorkosigan novels and started at Warrior’s Apprentice but went back to read the earlier novels. I feel it didn’t hurt to read them out of order at this point as it was still rather early in the series. It’s a really enjoyable series.
Ender's Game is an absolute classic. Written in a style that is very accessable, thus a perfect book to dabble into the genre if new to sci fi. I liked books 2 and 3 but nothing could compete with the first
I barely finished Hyperion - hated the ending and was so glad it was over. Then, 10 days later I was still thinking about it. A lot. And realized, oh my god, I really liked that book. Still pissed off at the ending, though. I am looking forward to reading Fall of Hyperion.
Really interesting discussion - thank you! The Vorkosigan Series was one of my big loves back in the day. I think reading them in their internal chronological order works the best. I had a great time with most of the books you all mentioned, particularly Ender’s Game and Ancillary Justice. Other favourite Hugo novels are those by Connie Willis and CJ Cherryh. Long time since I’ve read them though so I can’t say whether they hold up.
The Vor series is fun, but I think you will appreciate them more if you read them in order. The author provides a chronological list for the series on her web page. You might like The Word for World is Forest better than the Left Hand of Darkness or The Dispossessed. If you don't like it, at least it's short. Has anyone read Axis and Vortex, the sequels to Spin? I liked Spin and am wondering if they are any good.
I started with The Vor Game and absolutely loved it and then read almost all the Vor world books. I picked it up when I was bored and needed something to read. So I told myself That I would read the first page and if I didn't like it I would put it down. Read the first page and didn't want to stop, so I thought, I'll read the rest of the chapter. By the time I got to the end of the chapter I stopped challenging myself to continue because I was hooked.
About Barrayar, it is a direct sequel to Shards of Honor, starting within days of the ending of that book. They are the first two books chronologically in the series. Note that their quality of writing is worlds apart. Shards her first book, obviously. Barrayar was written later and is a masterpiece of characterization, IMO.
What a great video, thank you all....about reading enjoyment I am Team Jonathan jejeje....please read Genesis, I would like to know your thoughts. big hug.
As a senior just never saw tha appeal of playing video games, especially any that deal with shoot-em-up segments. I once did a sierra game of role playing but somewhere in the middle to advance I had to play a war game and promptly lost interest in continuing.
yes aliens in fire upon the deep are very inventive thousand yr war was terrific even though I've always found idea of interstellar war implausible esp a thousand yr one still trying to get thru first bk of 3-body the cultural revolution stuff kind of depressing have heard nothing but good about hyperion but it's a monster hesitant to take on at my age HAVE NOT read ender's game yet partly cause already know ending and also have issues with author got spin but haven't read it yet sounds kind of literary for sf novel if I want that can just read dickens or tolstoy haha⚛
It's important to understand that the MC of To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Richard Francis Burton, was a real person, a Victorian era adventurer who was much like he's portrayed in the book. It makes a certain kind of sense for him to be the main character. It's OK to dislike Burton, but you cannot fault Farmer for how he wrote him. The guy was a larger than life Indiana Jones/Lawrence of Arabia/sex machine chasing the ladies all around the world and publishing porn about it. Not exactly admirable, but you sure could write a book about him and it wouldn't be boring. Also, I don't think the sequels are worth it. Read a plot summary somewhere
Richard Burton was a Victorian explorer who searched for the source of the river Nile...just as his resurrected self searches for the source of the massive river in TYSBG. Read the second book. It features a neanderthal with a lisp who teams up with Mark Twain (Sam Clemens) and calls him "Tham."@@WordsinTime
Sir Richard Francis Burton IMO is the model that George Macdonald Frasier used as inspiration for Sir Harry Flashman. If you are interested in the Flashman books l highly recommend the audio versions.
Death's End felt like the author had 2 books worth of story, but it had to be one book. And the author only figured out they were going over after they had one long book written they had to finsih up in a hurry. Quite disappointing. The first two books were pretty damned interesting, as was the first 1/2 to 2/3 of Death's End.
Interesting! I didn’t feel like that at the time, but thinking about it now I can see how the ending might seem rushed. I still thought it was pretty crazy in a good way haha
I just couldn't get in to The Left Hand of Darkness. I found it so boring and uninteresting. The themes sounded really interesting but it just didn't engage me in the slightest
