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I have often started new readers on "A Civil Campaign" because it is funny and introduces a broad spectrum of characters, so many types of readers can find a character they are drawn to. I always warn them that it is in the chronological middle of the series and contains spoilers for earlier books just in case that is a deal breaker for them. But so far everyone I know who has picked it up has loved it and happily gone back to read all the other Vorkosigan books, and usually all the Bujold books. The only complaints I ever recieved came from friends complaining of the sleep they lost when they couldn't put it down and they were up all night reading. So now I include that alongside my warning about spoilers when suggesting to new readers. I am holding a mini book club over the winter with neighbors and chose this book as the perfect winter read. Time will tell how they like it!
The first one I read was Ethan of Athos.
I consider it a good entry point for a first-timer. A new reader gets introduced to the universe through the eyes of an intelligent outsider and there's no problem worrying about continuity.
"A Civil Campaign" is one of my favourites, yes, but I'd say it's in the later part of the Vorkosigan series, not in the middle. I count 12 books before it and only 4 books after it. The middle of the series in another sense comes two books earlier, in "Memory", when Miles ends his military career and begins his civilian career.
I agree with David that "Ethan of Athos" is a good story, perhaps my favourite of the early books, and it functions well as a standalone novel, having only minimal links to the rest of the series. It's a bit of an oddity, though, and no member of the Vorkosigan family appears in it, which is very untypical!
For the fantasy books, there are three starting points that all work well: "The Curse of Chalion" (the first to be published), "The Hallowed Hunt" (the first in chronological order), and "Penric's Demon" (the first of the Penric stories). I started with "Penric's Demon", myself: it's a novella, so less of a commitment than starting with a novel.
In response to Jonathan.... I was thinking of "middle" as anywhere "between the first and last/beginning and end" rather than as "the center/mid-point between two points". If that helps to clarify.
I don't usually think of these things as exact points because there remains the possibility of books being added, as has happened many times since I began reading the series in the 90s. My concern in choosing recomendations is more with what is the style of which ever book, since they are all stand-alones really (perhaps an exception for the Sharing Knife series).
Bujold has a wonderful way of using many different styles/themes/structures that keeps the series interesting and avoids being formulaic and predictable. By that I mean some books are "Action-adventure" while others are structured more as "mysteries" or in the case of "A Civil Campaign" as "romantic comedy" and so forth. I find a broad spectrum of readers, and even non-readers, are open to the "romantic comedy" style of aCC, although sometimes I recommend a differently styled novel if I think that is what that particular potential reader would be most open to.
The beauty of the books being stand alone is that you can jump in pretty much anywhere and read a book because it is the kind of thing you are looking for, be it space opera, mystery, fantasy, whathaveyou. Then you fall in love with the rich characters and vibrant world-building, and you are rewarded with having other books to enjoy that include those things but which might stretch your reading habits into new territories. There were many folks who fussed about "Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen" because they wanted it to be a particular style (mostly action-adventure) that it wasn't. But I loved it much because it was a whole new kind of story, to add to all the other kinds of stories in that series. And there are still more styles to explore or create so perhaps there will be more books. One style the Vorkosigan series hasn't attempted yet for instance is something from a child's perspective, or a close look at parenthood with children. So perhaps there might be another someday. And I would particularly like to see more concerning the opposite end of life's spectrum. Since it is a view we rarely get as readers.
Sandy: OK, thanks for the clarification!
By the time I got to "A Civil Campaign", I already knew a fair amount about the world it's set in, although I hadn't read ALL the preceding books. I'm not sure how it would strike someone coming to it completely fresh: would the mass of named characters be confusing? Also, "A Civil Campaign" is the sequel to "Komarr" (in which Miles first meets Ekaterin), and if you haven't read the latter then you're missing significant backstory. I agree that "A Civil Campaign" makes a nice starting point in some ways, as long as readers don't find it overwhelming. I suppose they could catch up by reading "Komarr" next…
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Sandy
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Dec 28, 2021 12:53PM
I have often started new readers on "A Civil Campaign" because it is funny and introduces a broad spectrum of characters, so many types of readers can find a character they are drawn to. I always warn them that it is in the chronological middle of the series and contains spoilers for earlier books just in case that is a deal breaker for them. But so far everyone I know who has picked it up has loved it and happily gone back to read all the other Vorkosigan books, and usually all the Bujold books. The only complaints I ever recieved came from friends complaining of the sleep they lost when they couldn't put it down and they were up all night reading. So now I include that alongside my warning about spoilers when suggesting to new readers. I am holding a mini book club over the winter with neighbors and chose this book as the perfect winter read. Time will tell how they like it!
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The first one I read was Ethan of Athos.I consider it a good entry point for a first-timer. A new reader gets introduced to the universe through the eyes of an intelligent outsider and there's no problem worrying about continuity.
"A Civil Campaign" is one of my favourites, yes, but I'd say it's in the later part of the Vorkosigan series, not in the middle. I count 12 books before it and only 4 books after it. The middle of the series in another sense comes two books earlier, in "Memory", when Miles ends his military career and begins his civilian career.I agree with David that "Ethan of Athos" is a good story, perhaps my favourite of the early books, and it functions well as a standalone novel, having only minimal links to the rest of the series. It's a bit of an oddity, though, and no member of the Vorkosigan family appears in it, which is very untypical!
For the fantasy books, there are three starting points that all work well: "The Curse of Chalion" (the first to be published), "The Hallowed Hunt" (the first in chronological order), and "Penric's Demon" (the first of the Penric stories). I started with "Penric's Demon", myself: it's a novella, so less of a commitment than starting with a novel.
In response to Jonathan.... I was thinking of "middle" as anywhere "between the first and last/beginning and end" rather than as "the center/mid-point between two points". If that helps to clarify.I don't usually think of these things as exact points because there remains the possibility of books being added, as has happened many times since I began reading the series in the 90s. My concern in choosing recomendations is more with what is the style of which ever book, since they are all stand-alones really (perhaps an exception for the Sharing Knife series).
Bujold has a wonderful way of using many different styles/themes/structures that keeps the series interesting and avoids being formulaic and predictable. By that I mean some books are "Action-adventure" while others are structured more as "mysteries" or in the case of "A Civil Campaign" as "romantic comedy" and so forth. I find a broad spectrum of readers, and even non-readers, are open to the "romantic comedy" style of aCC, although sometimes I recommend a differently styled novel if I think that is what that particular potential reader would be most open to.
The beauty of the books being stand alone is that you can jump in pretty much anywhere and read a book because it is the kind of thing you are looking for, be it space opera, mystery, fantasy, whathaveyou. Then you fall in love with the rich characters and vibrant world-building, and you are rewarded with having other books to enjoy that include those things but which might stretch your reading habits into new territories. There were many folks who fussed about "Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen" because they wanted it to be a particular style (mostly action-adventure) that it wasn't. But I loved it much because it was a whole new kind of story, to add to all the other kinds of stories in that series. And there are still more styles to explore or create so perhaps there will be more books. One style the Vorkosigan series hasn't attempted yet for instance is something from a child's perspective, or a close look at parenthood with children. So perhaps there might be another someday. And I would particularly like to see more concerning the opposite end of life's spectrum. Since it is a view we rarely get as readers.
Sandy: OK, thanks for the clarification!By the time I got to "A Civil Campaign", I already knew a fair amount about the world it's set in, although I hadn't read ALL the preceding books. I'm not sure how it would strike someone coming to it completely fresh: would the mass of named characters be confusing? Also, "A Civil Campaign" is the sequel to "Komarr" (in which Miles first meets Ekaterin), and if you haven't read the latter then you're missing significant backstory. I agree that "A Civil Campaign" makes a nice starting point in some ways, as long as readers don't find it overwhelming. I suppose they could catch up by reading "Komarr" next…
