The Vorkosigan Series by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Vorkosigan Series, authored by Lois McMaster Bujold, follows the compelling adventures of Commander Cordelia Naismith and her son, Miles Vorkosigan, against the backdrop of the politically charged planet Barrayar. The series begins with Cordelia's experiences during a war initiated by Barrayar, leading to her partnership and eventual marriage with Captain Aral Vorkosigan. As the narrative unfolds, it explores themes of identity, loyalty, and the complexities of military and political life.
Miles, whose physical deformities from a childhood incident prevent him from entering the military academy, embarks on his own journey, becoming a military genius and founding the Dendarii Mercenaries. Throughout the series, readers witness Miles tackle various challenges, including uncovering conspiracies and navigating the intricacies of galactic politics. The series is known for its mix of humor, action, and thought-provoking commentary on societal issues, making it appealing to a wide audience. Ultimately, the Vorkosigan Series combines elements of science fiction with rich character development and intricate world-building.
On this Page
The Vorkosigan Series
First published:Shards of Honor (1986), The Warrior’s Apprentice (1986; collected with Shards of Honor as Test of Honor, 1987), The Borders of Infinity (1989; includes “The Borders of Infinity,” Freelancers, 1987, “The Mountains of Mourning,” Analog, 1989, and “Labyrinth,” Analog, 1989), Brothers in Arms (1989), The Vor Game (1990; collected with Brothers in Arms as Vorkosigan’s Game, 1990), Barrayar (1991), Mirror Dance (1994), and Cetaganda (1996)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Science fiction—interplanetary romance
Time of work: After c.e. 2500
Locale: In the wormhole nexus of explored space
The Plot
Chronologically, the series begins with the adventures of Commander Cordelia Naismith of the Betan Astronomical Survey. In Shards of Honor, she gets caught in the preliminary moves in a war of conquest originated by the planet Barrayar. Stranded on a recently discovered planet, Cordelia finds herself in the company of a Barrayaran officer, Captain Lord Aral Vorkosigan. A conspiracy has landed him in the same predicament. Together, they undertake a long march to reach safety. Surviving several plots and stopping a war in which they serve on different sides, they finally get back together and marry.
In Barrayar, Aral Vorkosigan finds himself drawn into the deadly politics of his home planet. His and Cordelia’s unborn son, Miles, suffers for it when a poison gas attack hits home. Miles is placed in a uterine replicator in the hope of repairing some of the damage to him. When a coup against the young emperor forces the planet into civil war, Aral commands the armies for the emperor’s side. Cordelia, meanwhile, undertakes a desperate journey to the capital to save her son. She succeeds in doing so and kills the usurper.
At the time of The Warrior’s Apprentice, Miles Nai-smith Vorkosigan is a seventeen-year-old military genius whose fondest wish is to enter Barrayar’s top military academy. Unfortunately, the poison gas has deformed him, leaving his bones dangerously brittle. A botched physical prevents him from entering the academy. Heartbroken, he decides to visit his grandmother on Beta colony, accompanied only by his bodyguard and the man’s daughter. He runs into a Barrayaran deserter and a half-crazed wormhole pilot, whom he more or less adopts.
Soon thereafter, Miles finds himself and his people smuggling arms to one of the sides in a planetary conflict. En route, their ship is boarded by mercenaries working for the opposing side. Miles manages to take over their ship and incorporates the mercenaries into his self-invented Free Dendarii Mercenaries. As Admiral Miles Naismith, he collects more and more mercenaries. Using them in unorthodox actions, he manages to reverse the fortunes of war for his employers. He returns home barely in time to unravel a plot against his father. The emperor gets him into the academy for safekeeping.
In the first tale of Borders of Infinity, “The Mountains of Mourning,” Miles is on graduation leave. When a young woman seeks justice for the murder of her baby, he is sent as investigator and judge. He faces the many problems and prejudices still to be solved in Barrayar’s underdeveloped backwaters.
The Vor Game begins with Miles’s first military assignment, as arctic weatherman. He soon gets involved in a conflict with the base commander, who is fired as a result. Miles winds up buried behind a desk in Imperial Security Headquarters. Months later, he is ordered to accompany an experienced agent on a simple intelligence gathering mission. Things go wrong when a mysterious meeting leads to Miles’s arrest. When locked up, he is horrified to find himself in the company of Emperor Gregor of Barrayar, who apparently has run away. What follows is a struggle to get Gregor back to safety. To do so, Miles once again has to take control of the Dendarii mercenaries and prevent an invasion by Barrayar’s archenemies, the Cetagandans, in a neutral system. Cetaganda tells of Miles’s adventures when he is assigned to the Barrayaran embassy on Cetaganda.
“Labyrinth,” in The Borders of Infinity, describes how Miles and the Dendarii, now on regular assignment for Imperial Security, try to smuggle a scientist out of Jackson’s Whole. Their various actions put them at odds with the planet’s rulers. Another assignment, described in “The Borders of Infinity” in the same volume, leads to a daring mission in which Miles infiltrates a Cetagandan prison camp and stages one of the greatest prison breaks in history.
A lengthy pursuit by the Cetagandans drives the Dendarii to Earth in Brothers in Arms. There, the fleet stops for a refit of the ship and medical care. Unfortunately, the retainer expected from Imperial Security fails to arrive. Forced back into his identity of Lieutenant Lord Miles Vorkosigan, Miles must unravel a conspiracy of Komarran rebels against the Barrayaran empire. His task is complicated by the fact that the Komarrans use a clone of him against him.
Two years later, in Mirror Dance, Miles’s clone, Mark Pierre, turns up again. Posing as Admiral Naismith, Mark manages to commandeer a Dendarii ship and go to Jackson’s Whole in an attempt to rescue some clones. He botches the mission, and Miles, in hot pursuit, gets him and the clones out, but at the cost of his own life. His frozen body remains behind. Because medical technology allows some well-preserved corpses to be revived, desperate attempts are made to find Miles’s remains. Old enemies on Jackson’s Whole conceive this as a golden opportunity for revenge, and they reopen the hunt for Mark and the repaired Miles. Even capture does not prevent the two from prevailing, however. Home on Barrayar, Mark is welcomed officially as Miles’s younger brother.