The Barrayaran Cycle is a series of popular works by the American writer Lois Bujold, written in the genre of science fiction. Mostly they tell about the adventures of aristocrat Miles Vorkosigan from the warlike planet Barrayar. Therefore, the books presented are also known as the Vorkosigan Saga. The works gained wide popularity. The author has been awarded the prestigious Nebula and Hugo Prizes.
about the author
The author of the Barrayaran cycle is Lois McMaster Bujold. She was born in 1949 in the city of Columbus, Ohio. After leaving school until 1972, she studied at Ohio State University.
Her literary debut took place in 1985, when the story "Barter" was published. The very next year, Bujoldās first novels āShards of Honorā and āApprentice of a Warriorā appeared, which brought her popularity.
Her track record includes three Nebula awards, established by the American Association of Science Fiction Writers, for the books Mountains of Sorrow, Freefall, and Soul Paladin. Five times she received the annual English-language science fiction award Hugo. This Bujold Award went to the novels āGame of the Forces", "Mountains of Sorrow", "Barrayar", "Paladin of Souls" and "Dance of Reflections".
Recently, he has been developing a new fantasy cycle dedicated to the kingdom of Chalion. Bujold has two children. In 1979, she gave birth to a daughter, Anna, and two years later, her son Paul.
Out of series
At the very beginning, two books by Lois McMaster Bujold were published, which are not directly included in the Barrayaran Cycle, but which have the most direct relation to it. For example, they only partially adjoin the Saga of the Dreamweaver. In this case, chronologically, it is considered the very first book, since events take place in it approximately one and a half to two centuries before those described in the novel "In Free Fall".
That is why many people consider the āWeaver of Dreamsā a prequel to the Barrayaran cycle. This is a story that was written before work on the first novel from the Vorkosigan Saga.
The main character of the work is a filiina-dream writer named Anaya Rui. She receives an order to create a dream according to the scenario of a specific customer. She likes work, she gives herself to her with inspiration and fullness. After all, you have to create a dream with elements of a nightmare, and you have never had to do this before. Then events develop as in a classic detective novel. Having received the cartridge, the customer tries to kill Anaya. To understand the reasons for this, the girl decides to start her own investigation.
The self-contained prequel to The Barrayaran Cycle by Lois Bujold, the novel In Freefall, released in 1987. It is here that the reader gets acquainted with the mysterious creatures of the quaddies, which were created thanks to genetic engineering to perfectly feel in a state of weightlessness.
The action in the book develops approximately 200 years before the events of the main cycle. Quaddi is a genetic modification of a person. Its representatives, instead of a pair of legs, have a second pair of arms. Moreover, their lower limbs are more powerful than their upper ones. In addition to noticeable differences by eye, there are other genetic changes that compensate for the likely fatal consequences of a prolonged stay in space.
The experiment on the elimination of quaddies is carried out by Galak-Tech Corporation. Everything is going well until it becomes known that equipment has appeared on the Beta colony that can recreate artificial gravity. After this news, quaddies lose their advantages over ordinary people, and they decide to end the experiment.
The corporation has a welding engineer Leo Graf, who initiates a conspiracy against the corporation. His goal is to give quaddies freedom by letting them hide. He acts with the quaddie girl Silver, who becomes one of the main representatives of the rebels.
Vorkosigan Saga Books
In total, Lois Bujold's Barrayar Cycle includes 17 books. These are mainly novels, although collections of short stories are also found. Here is the sequence of the Barrayaran cycle of Bujold:
- "Shards of Honor."
- Barrayar
- "Apprentice Warrior."
- "Game of Forces".
- "Cetaganda."
- "Ethan from Athos."
- "Brothers in Arms".
- "The boundaries of infinity."
- "Dance of the Reflections."
- "Memory".
- Komarra
- "Civil company".
- "Gifts for the Winter Holiday".
- "Diplomatic immunity."
- "Captain Vorpatril Union."
- "Cryo-burn".
- "Gentleman Joel and the Red Queen."
Of course, it is preferable to read the Chronology of the Barrayar Cycle by Lois McMaster Bujold. In this case, you will understand the motives and actions of the characters, the sequence of events.
First novels
Officially, the first book of the Barrayaran Cycle is the 1986 novel Shards of Honor. In it, the reader gets acquainted with the parents of the protagonist of the entire series of Miles Vorkosigan. He is the son of a senior official serving at the court of the emperor of the powerful and warlike planet Barrayar.
In the book, the captain of the research spaceship Cordelia Naismith studies the recently discovered planet. At this moment, her camp is being attacked. Most of the crew takes refuge on the ship, but Cordelia herself remains on an unknown planet with a badly wounded midshipman and one of the opponents - the captain of the Barrayaran cruiser named Aral Vorkosigan.
The last associates deliberately left on a distant planet. He became a victim of a conspiracy. Opponents now have to forget yesterday's enmity in order to together overcome the difficult path to the Vorkosigan warehouse and save themselves. The very first novel of the Barrayaran cycle by Lois McMaster Bujold captivates readers so much that it is not surprising that many could not come off until they read all 17 books.
The second is called Barrayar. In it, the action takes place on the planet of the same name. It is interesting that, talking about the Barrayar cycle, Bujold notes that when describing the political structure of this state, the USSR, pre-war Japan and the German Empire were taken as the basis.
At the very beginning of the book, Emperor Ezara dies. His heir becomes the 4-year-old grandson Gregor Forbarra. The husband of the main character of Cordelia Naismith Aral Vorkosigan under the young ruler performs the functions of regent. However, his candidacy does not suit many in the government of Barrayar. An attempt is being organized on him, as a result of which his unborn child gets severe poisoning. To save the fetus, the embryo is placed in the uterine replicator.
Soon a rebellion erupted on the planet, led by Count Fordarian, who proclaimed himself emperor. Cordelia hides young Gregor, while trying to save her unborn son, as the replicator falls into the hands of the rebels.
As a result, the coup is prevented. Count killed. A couple of the main characters have a son, Miles, who, despite the treatment, still has physical impairments.
If we read the Lois Bujoldās Barrayar cycle in order, then the third novel is The Apprentice of the Warrior. In it, Miles is growing, trying to build a military career. But due to a gas attack, the victim of which he was still in the womb, fails the physical preparation exam.
Frustrated, he goes to Beta colony, to his motherās homeland. There he is drawn into the arms trade. Soon, Miles is already at the epicenter of a local war. Only thanks to his organizational talents, he manages to take control of the situation and even lead the mercenary fleet. The whole galaxy recognizes him under a new name - Admiral Naismith.
"For game"
The novel āGame of the Forces" is the next in the Barrayaran cycle about Vorkosigan. Miles is already becoming a lieutenant in the imperial security service, and as the admiral, he leads the Dendarii flotilla. He is sent to Hedgen to collect intelligence and try to convince the mercenaries to leave the site of a potential conflict.
Everything is not going according to plan. Miles comes into conflict with Commander Cavillo, is arrested. In the cell, he meets the current emperor Gregor. He admits that he could not be a ruler, escaped, hid under an assumed name, and now he got into trouble and was arrested.
The next book, The Barrayaran Cycle (The Vorkosigan Sagas), is Cetaganda. In it, Miles graduates from the imperial academy. By distribution, he falls into the Cetagandan Empire as part of a diplomatic mission.
Arriving at the Empressās funeral, he again finds himself embroiled in adventure. As a result, he manages to uncover a conspiracy in a neighboring state, the purpose of which was his home planet.
Reading the Barrayaran cycle in order, then you need to get acquainted with the novel Ethan from Athos. This is one of the few books in which Miles does not appear. The main character in it is the doctor Ethan Erkhart from the reproductive center. He works on a planet inhabited by male sexists. Erkhart travels in search of biological material that he needs in the cycle of human reproduction.
"Brothers in Arms"
The next in the Barrayaran cycle is the Brothers in Arms novel. In it, Miles Vorkosigan returns with the rank of lieutenant of the imperial security bureau. And the main intrigue of the new story is an attempt by terrorists to replace it with a clone in order to stage a coup on the planet Barrayar.
The book "The Boundaries of Infinity" from the "Barrayaran Cycle" ("The Vorkosigan Saga") in the Russian edition is only three short stories. In the first story, āMountains of Sorrow,ā Miles, as his fatherās voice, goes to investigate the death of a baby with some kind of birth defect. These events take place about a week before the events of the fourth book of the Barrayaran cycle - "Game of Forces".
In the story "Labyrinth", the main character is faced with the task of taking out a deserter from Jackson's archipelago, which is of great value to his planet. For the first time in this work, Taura appears.
Finally, in the final story, āThe Boundaries of Infinity,ā Miles enters the camp with prisoners of war, one of whom he has to save.
In the next book, in order from the Barrayaran Cycle, The Dance of Reflections, the main character is not Miles himself, but his clone Mark, who focuses on the main plot. Using his indistinguishability from the main Vorkosigan, he impersonates him to pick up one of the ships of the Dendarii fleet. On it, Mark goes to the Jackson archipelago. His goal is to save the clones that are grown there for brain transplant operations.
The expedition, which began so successfully, ends in disaster, Mark is stuck on the planet with the Dendarii. Miles, who arrived to their rescue, is mortally wounded. His body manages to freeze in a cryochamber, but they lose it in a hurry during the flight.
Mark goes to Barrayar to meet Miles's parents. He manages to find out what happened to his brotherās body, and then organize a full-scale rescue operation.
"Memory"
In the novel Memory, Miles comes to life after a cryogenic chamber, but is not fit for military service. However, he does not want to remain idle at the same time, his childhood friend is finding occupation - Emperor Gregor. He instructs the protagonist to investigate the mysterious disappearance of memory from the head of the Barrayaran security service, Simon Illyan. It turns out that the memory chip that was implanted into his brain many years ago was destroyed.
Miles needs special powers to investigate, which he receives after being appointed imperial auditor. This is a special official to whom everyone is obliged to obey, as well as the emperor himself. Only in this way he manages to uncover a tangled plot on the planet Barrayar.
The next book in the Barrayaran cycle is the novel Komarra. In it, Miles continues to work as an imperial auditor. In this position, he is now entrusted with investigating the causes of the collapse of the solar reflector that occurred on the planet Komarra. This case leads him to yet another conspiracy against the well-being of the Barrayar Empire.
In the novel "Civil Campaign" on the planet Barrayar, everyone is preparing for the upcoming wedding of Emperor Gregor. It is in this setting that palace intrigues reach their zenith. At the center of events, as always, is Miles Vorkosigan.
"Gifts for the Winter Holiday"
This is a short story, which is considered a separate book in the saga about the planet Barrayar. The main character is going to marry himself, but not everyone likes his plans. Insidious detractors decide to crack down on his bride, and send the hero himself to a psychiatric hospital. He has to figure out who his opponents are. It will be very difficult to do this.
The next book in the Barrayaran cycle is the novel Diplomatic Immunity. In it, Miles goes with his wife on a honeymoon delayed several years ago across the starry worlds. On Barrayar, they expect to return to the birth of the children whom Katrion placed in the uterine replicator.
Miles in the status of an imperial auditor receives a message from Emperor Gregor, who sends him to Quaddi's space to solve the emerging diplomatic problems. There was an incident with the fleet of the Tuscany house, in which paratroopers from the Barrayaran warship participated. At the station, Graf discovers that the problem is even more complicated than he initially thought. An officer of the imperial security service who supervised the merchant fleet disappeared from the board of the imperial ship Idris.
During the investigation, Miles is faced with a whole heap of attempts and mysterious puzzles. Even the Jackson archipelago and the Cetagandan empire are involved in the case.
Finding himself on the brink of death, Vorkosigan prevents sabotage at Graf Station by preventing a war between the Cetagandan and Barrayar empires. Only after this, happy parents return home to catch the birth of their children.
In Captain Vorpatrilās Union, the main character is Captain Ivan, who is the cousin of Miles, still an imperial auditor. On the planet Komarra, Ivan is saved by the daughter of the Jacksonian baron Tej Arkva, who was announced to be hunted by opponents of her father
Ivan wants to help the girl, unexpectedly for himself and many others, he decides to marry her. He does everything according to the Barrayaran custom, bringing her to her home planet. Following the girl, a large number of relatives are expected to appear, which makes the further development of events completely unpredictable.
Kriozhog
In the novel Kriozhog, the action takes place several years after the events described in the book Diplomatic Immunity. This time, Miles, on instructions from Emperor Gregor, is sent to the planet New Hope. He will investigate the activities of the corporation "White Chrysanthemum", which specializes in freezing people.
On this planet, the main character is trying to abduct. However, he manages to escape from his pursuers using the underground tunnels. In this maze, he meets a teenager named Gene. This acquaintance becomes crucial for the imperial auditor, leading him to success in the investigation.
The final novel of the cycle and saga is considered the book "Gentleman Joule and the Red Queen." In it, Cordelia remains the Dowager Countess Vorkosigan, but she does not intend to devote all her remaining life only to sorrows and sorrows for her beloved. She wants to radically change her life in order to direct her into a fundamentally new direction.
At this time, uphill is the career of Admiral Joel. The officer, whose appearance was envied by Ivan, and even Miles, is becoming a responsible and successful commander at the head of the planetary fleet by the age of 50. Fate offers the hero several attractive gifts at once. Which of them he will choose, how the fate of Cornelia will develop, remains to be seen in the final novel, The Vorkosigan Sagas.
Reviews
Many readers admired the novels by Lois McMaster Bujold, noting that they did not accidentally receive so many prestigious awards and prizes in the field of literature and science fiction.
Some saw Bujoldās connection with the Strugatsky brothers, arguing that this would be what their immortal novel āIt's Hard to Be a Godā would look like if it were written by a woman.
Each subsequent part is even more impressive than the previous one. This is the case when, from one book to the next, the narrative becomes more and more fascinating.
In the novels, readers will find an exciting plot that literally does not allow you to relax for a minute, unexpected twists and turns of the fate of the main characters are amazing, the characters are well written. It is important that they are not clearly divided into exceptionally good or bad. With this, the narrative becomes even more like reality and the reality surrounding us.