Lois’s answer to “What does the Chef Recommend with regards to Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen fitting into a story …” > Likes and Comments
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I re-read the entire Vorkosigan Saga prior to reading GJATRQ and found it immensely satisfying—but then, I enjoy reading the entire series regardless. I agree that the book is stand-alone, but that if you haven't read the Cordelia books in a long time, it's great to see how her narrative voice has and hasn't changed with time.
I really enjoyed exploring the older, wiser, and less-inclined-to-take-crap Cordelia.
I was a bit nonplussed by the negative reviews complaining that she'd changed since the last time readers saw into her head at age 34, as if this were some sort of arbitrary authorial bait-'n-switch, and not a truthful account of what happens to a person in 43 years of further living. (Because, really, if a person doesn't change, learn, and grow in that much time, there's something very wrong.)
Ta, L.
I've followed the saga from the very beginning and have no problem now, on catching up. In some ways it is good that it has been years since I read about Cordelia , she is now in a way, a fresh character in my mind. She is different from the Cordelia I remember, but not too different. I did think a few pages in, that knowing the "Vorkosigan terminology" beforehand is a good thing as I don't have
any problems catching up on "stuff".
Sorry for my clumsy explanation. I read english far better than I speak or write it. Hope you get my meaning none the less. PS: love the book so far.
I reread both Cordelia books, then the key Miles books (in my opinion: Warrior's Apprentice, Vor Game, Mountains of Mourning, Labyrinth, Borders of Infinity, then jumped ahead to Memory, perhaps my favorite.) I stopped at Memory as the rest featured less character development and/or were fresher in my mind. Reading Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen right after Memory felt right. I especially appreciated how Memory ended on Aral giving Miles the recognition he always wanted. I feel like that was the last meaningful interaction they had in the novels. Memory was a high point - thoroughly enjoyable, full of character development, established the recurring themes of later books around romance, family, mortality, and identity, and for good reason is the highest rated in the Vorkosigan saga on Goodreads.
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Ara
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Mar 22, 2016 07:42AM
I re-read the entire Vorkosigan Saga prior to reading GJATRQ and found it immensely satisfying—but then, I enjoy reading the entire series regardless. I agree that the book is stand-alone, but that if you haven't read the Cordelia books in a long time, it's great to see how her narrative voice has and hasn't changed with time.
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I really enjoyed exploring the older, wiser, and less-inclined-to-take-crap Cordelia.I was a bit nonplussed by the negative reviews complaining that she'd changed since the last time readers saw into her head at age 34, as if this were some sort of arbitrary authorial bait-'n-switch, and not a truthful account of what happens to a person in 43 years of further living. (Because, really, if a person doesn't change, learn, and grow in that much time, there's something very wrong.)
Ta, L.
I've followed the saga from the very beginning and have no problem now, on catching up. In some ways it is good that it has been years since I read about Cordelia , she is now in a way, a fresh character in my mind. She is different from the Cordelia I remember, but not too different. I did think a few pages in, that knowing the "Vorkosigan terminology" beforehand is a good thing as I don't have any problems catching up on "stuff".
Sorry for my clumsy explanation. I read english far better than I speak or write it. Hope you get my meaning none the less. PS: love the book so far.
I reread both Cordelia books, then the key Miles books (in my opinion: Warrior's Apprentice, Vor Game, Mountains of Mourning, Labyrinth, Borders of Infinity, then jumped ahead to Memory, perhaps my favorite.) I stopped at Memory as the rest featured less character development and/or were fresher in my mind. Reading Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen right after Memory felt right. I especially appreciated how Memory ended on Aral giving Miles the recognition he always wanted. I feel like that was the last meaningful interaction they had in the novels. Memory was a high point - thoroughly enjoyable, full of character development, established the recurring themes of later books around romance, family, mortality, and identity, and for good reason is the highest rated in the Vorkosigan saga on Goodreads.
