I read them in the order they were published. Are we ever getting any more? 🥺

I read the whole Vorkosigan series for the first time this year, and I mostly read them in the author-recommended order. (I read Falling Free last after finishing all of the others, and I think I read one other one slightly out of order.) Thanks for sharing the Plot Trysts podcast! Having read the series so recently, I am enjoying their exploration of the books - especially because I don't have any local friends who have read the books that I can gush about them with.

Thank you for these tips! I got some bad advice to read according to *strict* internal chronology and started with Falling Free, which was definitely a mistake for me. It was fine, but didn't match at all with the selling points of the series that had intrigued me most. Fortunately, I picked up Warrior's Apprentice and fell immediately, madly in love. <3

I started with Borders of Infinity, when I saw it on the new books table at my high school library. And read the others in whatever order I was able to find them in libraries, in the way one does before having an independent income and transport. :-) I remember hunting down The Warrior’s Apprentice in a branch library I didn’t usually go to.
I think Memory was the first I purchased as a new book (but I’d read Brothers in Arms at a library first)
Subsequently, I always suggested people start with TWA or BoI.
It is a shame that the chronology is not included with all of the ebooks, as I found it invaluable when reading out of order.

Stephanie wrote: "Thank you for these tips! I got some bad advice to read according to *strict* internal chronology and started with Falling Free, which was definitely a mistake for me. It was fine, but didn't match..."

Ayup. I rec reading FF just before Diplomatic Immunity, or at any random time after one is hooked.

Ta, L.

Claire wrote: "I started with Borders of Infinity, when I saw it on the new books table at my high school library. And read the others in whatever order I was able to find them in libraries, in the way one does b..."

Well, the reading-order guide/chronology is included in the back of Every. Single. One. of my indie ebooks reprinted through Spectrum. I don't know how people keep missing it.

Baffled, L.

I read them in chronological order. Occasionally I will read FF first. I'm not sure, but Falling Free might have been the first Bujold I read - I believe I grabbed it from the book stack in the rec room at the base I was at in Jordan in mid-2003, having run out of reading material. The next one was one of the stories from BoI in an anthology - Labyrinth. I think I started hunting for the other stories then.

Ilana wrote: "I read them in the order they were published. Are we ever getting any more? 🥺"

Well, I've been a witness as a reader/watcher to the unfortunate things that happen to a series dragged out past its best-by date/proper ending by market forces. (Or its alternate, a series cut off mid-breath, truncated and not allowed to complete, for the same cause.) To my eye, the VK series feels round and right, thematically complete, as it stands. Anything added at this point would seem to me to be like writing my own fanfiction.

Not that I'm writing anything at the moment. This has been the season for major utilities disruptions and dying appliances, all this summer. The end is not yet in sight. (When they say, "I'm sorry, but I have to red-tag your furnace," they mean it literally.)

Ta, L.

I believe I read them more or less in publication order, within 1-2 years of being published. But all I can be certain of is that I bought Mirror Dance in HB as soon as I knew it was out and the same for each book after. I know I had a strong sense that I was missing books until I read Barrayar. I adored the series from the start, but it was The Mountains of Mourning that blew me away and put you very high on my favorite author list.
Thank you so much for these books and the inspiring individuals that are barely contained within them.

I started with Warrior's Apprentice because it happened to be the first book I found in my local library. As I was returning it my friendly librarian pointed out that it wasn’t the first in the series and set about ordering up the others in the series from the Oxfordshire branch libraries! For which I was grateful.

I impulse-bought BoI and Brothers in Arms together in the early 90s, and they did make a rather splendid introduction, giving me a sampler of great variety while setting up much that comes later. I was *wildly* confused about who Miles actually was, since he spends quite a bit of both books lying about various aspects of his dual identities, but I liked all the characters so much and found their relationships so interesting I was sucked right in. I actually read Brothers first — the chaotic delight of it as a first encounter has stuck with me all these years. Having BoI handy when I immediately wanted more was perfect, but I honestly found it even more interesting for the background it filled in on things I now had some context for. (The BoI cover just grabbed me less, to be honest! People say all kinds of things about the covers, but I just rolled with it on Brothers in Arms. I just rolled with a whole lot of Brothers in Arms, and while I was interested in filling things in later, it was great fun to go in blind.)

I read the series in internal-chronology order, starting with Cordelia's Honor (I still remember visiting at least three bookstores on one day to collect as much of the series as I could) - and I wasn't quite ready for them to exit center stage, nor for Miles in TWA!

Lois wrote: ". Well, the reading-order guide/chronology is included in the back of Every. Single. One. of my indie ebooks reprinted through Spectrum. I don't know how people keep missing it.

Baffled, L.."

I have the original Baen ebooks, some of them eARCs, not the indie reprints, so that might be the problem. :-)

I tore through the whole series in 2016 and am just beginning my first full re-read. I started with Falling Free (internal chronological and all that) and enjoyed it, but it wasn't what I was expecting, so I jumped to Warrior's Apprentice and was hooked. As I recall, I read Shards of Honor next, but then jumped back to Miles in Vor Game and went forward for a while. When I finally read Barrayar, having spent so much time with the Vorkosigans, Kou and Drou, etc. as the elder generation, I remember thinking "My God! They went through so much together! If only I had known!"

I also had to take a break from the series and read a few other books after Mirror Dance. It was, as I told a friend, "too intense." :)

This time, I started at Shards of Honor and am making my way stolidly forward (including reading "Mountains of Mourning" between Warrior and Vor Game).

You've already answered this, probably a thousand times, but for my own satisfaction I'll throw my hat in the ring: if you were to ever write another VS novel or novella, I've always thought it was a damn shame we didn't get to see old Count Piotr fighting off the Cetagandans on horseback...

Much love and gratitude for my favorite sci-fi novels of all time! :)

I read Warrior's Apprentice first and continued with the Miles books up to about Diplomatic Immunity (what was out) before going back to do Cordelia's Honor. And then had to re-read the Miles books over again and had a completely new experience. The first time, I only knew what MILES knew about his parents. The next time, I knew much more about Cordelia and Aral than Miles did (and other characters also, of course), so they became very different books. I can never again have the experience of reading Warrior's Apprentice out knowing the backstory, but I am so glad that I had it on my first reading. How you managed to write those Miles centered books so that the reader doesn't realize what they are missing, yet on a re-read after learning that backstory seeing the hints and indications I can't imagine. Masterful.

My mother was a fan and got me started with Shards when I was a teen in late middle school in the mid 90s. I still have papers from school where I used them for various reading/writing assignments. I read all there was in internal order, and bought and read each new book as it was published in the years following. When I recommend the series to others, I vary my suggestions based on what I think will work best for that person. One good friend, when we were married with young kids, I convinced to try A Civil Campaign, because she needed something humorous. She called me later cursing me and praising me because she had been up until 4 am absolutely unable to put it down until she had finished it. She went and devoured the entire series afterwards. BoI has always been one of my most re-read of the series and I often recommend it to folks who are hesitant to start longer stories. I know once they meet Miles, they won't be able to resist reading all the rest.

I started with Warriors Apprentice, it was free in Baen Library. I believe that was your first book of any I read. Having started there, I'm always conflicted when trying to suggest reading order to others, because they are really different books if you read either Cordelia's arc first or later and you only get that first impression once. I try to match it to the most likely interest of the person I'm recommending to but I don't think there is a universal best order to read them in.

Weirdly, I first read Memory, because that was the one a friend lent me. I had no idea what was going on at the start but enjoyed the mystery aspect and was very curious about the whole setting. I then read Komarr and A Civil Campaign, and then went back to find all the rest. Probably Memory isn't anybody's recommendation for a way into the series but it worked for me!

My first was Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, for two reasons: I needed an audiobook and that was the only one in the series my library had in audiobook for some reason. And a friend had recommended the series but I wasn't sure if I wanted to commit, and this one seemed like a soft jumping in point that probably wouldn't give too many big plot spoilers and was a little more lighthearted and self-contained.

It worked for both purposes. All the little nods and in-jokes and references only served to make me want to know who this Vorkosigan guy was and why Ivan felt that way about him. After that I read in publication order, since I almost always prefer to read series that way. It's the way og readers have to read them, and it obviously works well enough for them.

I agree, largely because I did read much of the series (multiple times, even) without reading Labyrinth. I only went back and read it to be a completionist. Labyrinth isn't one I reread (I've read it twice maybe, while I've read most of the rest 10ish times times, and Komarr/ACC probably close to two dozen times) but looking back I do wish I had read it before Mirror Dance.

We first met in 1986 at Marcon in Columbus Ohio. My
librarian friend and I were thrilled to meet a real live author who had just sold her first books to Baen. We’ve been hooked since Shards of Honor. I thoroughly enjoyed the Plot Trysts podcasts. They gave voice to my own thoughts about the series.

I read them all in publication order, except I think I read ETHAN OF ATHOS before THE WARRIORS APPRENTICE because of the guy on the cover, When I reread I usually go by internal chronology order, but I like to reread internal arcs, like MIRROR DANCE through A CIVIL CAMPAIGN, or the CORDELIA’S HONOR novels. I’ve reread GENTLEMAN JOLE AND THE RED QUEEN a lot, CRYOBURN fewer times.

I hopped around in the old days, buying or borrowing whatever Vorkosigans I could find. Now, my partner and I are listening in the car, my 6th time through the series in internal order, and my partner's 2nd time. We are delighted to find that each audio experience brings dialog and circumstances that are new, or forgotten, and thus very fun all over again. The series contains my very favorite characters in all the world. I'm 85, a lifelong reader. and a deep admirer of Ms. Bujold, who is very possibly the best writer of readable novels - ever.

Happy birthday for Saturday!

I read them in publication order with the exception of Barrayar, which my mother advised me to defer until after my eldest had been safely born as she suspected some themes might weigh too heavily at the time.

I never felt there was an issue with that reading order.

My first book was Falling Free. I saw it on the shelf in the local book shop in Brighton, UK, in 1989. The 4-armed people on the cover intrigued me enough to take a chance. I enjoyed it enough to go back and see if there was anything else by you, and Brothers In Arms was there. So I first met Miles while I was in the bath. There were enough references to prior events to make me think I'd missed something, so I checked out the bibliography page and saw that there were 3 other books already out. So, when I went back to the bookshop, I looked for them. They had one on the shelf and one in the sale rack; the other (Ethan of Athos) they had to order in for me. They got 2 copies and the other one didn't stay on the shelf for long, so hopefully another fan was created from that.

Since then, I've got each book as it was published. I was sent to work in the US for a couple of months in late 1996 and picked up Cetaganda in paperback and Memory in hardback. It wasn't until years later that I realised that Cetaganda didn't get a UK publication at all, so that was handy, what with the internet still being in it nascent stages back then (Amazon didn't reach the UK until 1998).

It's not just been the Vorkosigan books that I've bought, but everything you've written, as far as I'm aware. For a while, I was getting the hardback, the audiobook and the paperback; the e-book has replaced the hardback more recently, though still triple-dipping where possible (still hoping for some sort of paperback of The Flowers Of Vashnoi... and more Pen & Des collections...?).

I remember, when A Civil Campaign was on its way, that a large sample was made available on the Baen website - up to the dinner, I seem to recall. And then I had to WAIT for the rest of it!

All the paperbacks I still have, right back to Falling Free. The hardbacks I gave to my Dad to read. You're my favourite author and my 3 favourite works are (in no particular order): A Civil Campaign, The Curse Of Chalion and Captain Vorpatril's Alliance. Which just goes to show that I've got more of a soft spot for romances that I would have previously confessed to. Of course, being *your* kind of romances, things don't exactly run smoothly. "Abject. Hah".

What you've written so far has given me enormous pleasure over the last 35 years, and will do again when I re-read them in the future. Thank you so much.

My first exposure to the Vorkosiverse was through my dad’s Analog subscription, reading Weatherman. Next I saw Warriors Apprentice in a used bookstore on vacation and thought “Is this that same Miles guy?” After that I was completely hooked and went on to acquire everything I could get my hands on, piecemeal. This led to me reading Brothers in Arms before Borders of Infinity, which I wouldn’t recommend.
I distinctly remember my crogglement when Cetaganda came out after Mirror Dance—I hadn’t realized it was going to a different part of Miles’ timeline. And I think Memory was the first book I bought in hardcover (not in my budget in those days!) because I just couldn’t wait.
Thank you SO MUCH for the hours of pleasure I’ve had reading, rereading, and recommending your books. Your writing is the standard by which I judge pretty much every other author. And thanks for your recommendations, too. I’ve picked up a number of new authors that I might not otherwise have tried.

It sounds like I may be unique in my approach so I'll share...

As a mainly fantasy reader, I started with the World of the Five Gods series first, and it was only when that ran out and I had to have more Bujold writing that I met the Vorkosigans. I spent some time reading suggestions (including yours) about where to start, and I remember someone's comment that the Warrior's Apprentice can be read as a mystery if you read it first, so that's where I decided to start. I immediately went back to Shards of Honor and Barrayar after that to get the back story before proceeding through the series chronologically (except FF - read that before DI I think). I think this order worked well.

When I recommend to other people, I make different suggestions based on their reading preferences. If someone is new to SciFi, I tend to suggest Shards as a starting place instead.

I was lucky enough to read Borders of Infinity first - three excellent stories, any one of which would have convinced me to pick up more. Since then I've read your books as soon as they appeared in the UK, usually US imports. In the olden days it was a haphazard delight finding a new Bujold had appeared on the shelves. Such a contrast now to the immediate thrill of reading one of your posts here about your latest book and being able to download and read it the same day! I've enjoyed every single one of them. Thank you so much.
While I'm disappointed to hear you say that the Vorkosigan series is complete and won't be added to I can only imagine how satisfying it must be for you to have reached that peak. Chapeau!
p.s. more Penric please!

I read the entire series for the first time over the last year and a half. I started with Shards of Honor & Barrayar and continued in chronological order exactly as recommended by Bujold. The only one I did different was Falling Free. I waited until the Quaddies were first introduced in the main story, then I read Falling Free to get the whole history of them. I think it was between Labyrinth and Borders of Infinity. I thought that was a good way to do it. That way you can start with the main story and get hooked right away in the series and also not spoil anything.

Chiming in late. I've been reading SF and fantasy since I was about 5 (if Superman and Danny Dunn count).

I've stopped reading "paper" books because, at 65, it's hard for me to read even hardback books due to deteriorating eyesight. Almost everything I read now is either on the Kindle or the computer.

I didn't read any LMB books until relatively recently. In many ways, I'm glad I waited, because my tastes have matured.

I have always liked reading books in chronological order unless there's a compelling reason not to. I started with Falling Free, followed by the Cordelia stories, and then on to Miles. I took a break in the middle and devoured the Chalion books, followed by the Penric books (yes, I know), the Sharing Knife books, and then the Spirit Ring before returning to the Vorkosigan books.

As I write this, I'm about to start Cryoburn, and then Gentleman Jole, which will leave me with no new LMB books. Except I love re-reads too.

Thank you for enriching my reading with your very enjoyable books.

Andrew L. Shaffren wrote: "Chiming in late. I've been reading SF and fantasy since I was about 5 (if Superman and Danny Dunn count).

I've stopped reading "paper" books because, at 65, it's hard for me to read even hardback ..."

You, and all the others who have chimed in above, are entirely welcome!

Ta, L.

I started reading your books in the mid '90s with 'Cordelia's Honor'. From there I read the books in what ever order I could find them. Later I went back and read them in your recommended order. It made sense to read them in order.
I took 'Shards of Honor' with me to read in the waiting room while my husband had surgery.

I missed them when they were coming out and I was devouring quite a lot of science fiction and fantasy. But I wasn't terribly into military sci-fi, so the marketing of those books in the 80's missed me. So instead, I was introduced during the early bit of the pandemic, by a friend who's read them extensively. So I had the benefit of looking up reading order recommendations, and being able to get them all through the university library here.

Spotted the Plot Trysts podcasts earlier this year and began a reread, so they could be fresh in my head as I listened to those. Got stuck at Mirror Dance (which is dark in a few ways that made my brain avoidant) and read other things for a time. Finally got past and am working through Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen now, so I can listen to the last bits of the podcast when I'm back to work after the holiday. Didn't quite finish by year's end as I'd hoped.

I love that even with only a few years space in between, I'm seeing more and different things than on the first pass. I can tell that many of the books would have hit very differently if teen me had been reading them and only now getting in that reread. I suspect they'll remain friends to revisit for the remainder of my life. Even if I'm sorry there may not be more, it is indeed a full and round shape, beginning and ending with Cordelia fits. Moving on to everyone's children is, in effect, another setting, given how Barrayar has and will change, which would have a lot of the feel of 'give us something new and different from the old stuff...oh maybe not like that. It doesn't feel like 'home' that way.'

About 8 years ago I was just looking for something *older* to read, and found "Shards of honor". The cover with the bubbles. Nearly halfway reading it I wasn't really feeling it at that time. So I put it away, but somehow I kept thinking about it from time to time, so I did finish it. And then I got hooked and read all of them in chronological order in a few months time. Binging books is fun.

The first Vorkosigan book I read was A Civil Campaign. As was the second and the third and...
After laughing while re-reading it for the umpteenth time, I noticed that nifty 'books by the same author' page at the beginning and started hunting.
I might have read them in internal order as soon as I got them all.
It has been over two decades and I still laugh with A Civil Campaign.
Thank you for that laughter in bad times.