I actually stopped reading this novel a little before I reached the halfway point, but strangely I still I want to read it. I was missing the romance elements, but obviously I stopped too soon.

I don’t know about the Kindle (it doesn’t exist in the UK yet) but if you can order ebooks directly from Baen.com they cost about $5 for the omnibus collections – you usually get two books & a short story in each. (I’d start with Young Miles and read Cordelia’s Honor later, but purists would probably suggest you read them in order.) There are also really long excerpts – nine, ten chapters of each book, so you can see if the writing appeals before you buy.

I’d perhaps think of the two series as the town mouse and the country mouse – Miles has the more immediate appeal, but given time The Sharing Knife series has it’s own charms.

Also, you might enjoy her Chalion books.

jmc wrote:

the “real fantasy” note, I wonder if the fantasy world Bujold uses here is too “alien” for some traditional fan

Yes, this is sort of what I was trying to say in my review. The fantasy elements are often very gentle, very personal, and very domestic. In LoTR, for example, they are violent, widescale, and public/political. I would guess the latter is more common.

jmc wrote:

You may already have read this online, but Bujold has said that the first two books as published were written originally as a single book. And she sees books 1 & 2, then 3 & 4, as smaller story arcs within the framework of the four book series.

This makes a lot of sense. Book 2 really feels more like the second half of a book. I can see why readers may have been annoyed at the separation, but it felt ok to me.

Kaetrin wrote:

This sounds like the romance isn’t sacrificed at all in the fantasy which means, for me, it won’t be all that different from reading say, a paranormal romance – there is a different world and the worldbuilding has to be done so the story makes sense, but at its heart, it is a story of two people and the journey they have to get their HEA.

Yes, I really do think romance is at the heart of this book, although it is written in a different way than I think paranormal romance authors often write it. That is, these two fall in lust and love, but there are other things going on . It is not page after page of lust think, and lots of drama and big misunderstadnings, which too often proliferate in paranormal romance. Also, if you compare it to, say JR Ward, the worldbuilding is much much richer.

Kaetrin wrote:

as for the sci-fi review you quoted – well, that’s just ridiculous. In a thriller, you know the bad guy is going to get caught, in a fantasy, you know the good guys are going to save the world (whatever world it is) and in a romance you know the h/h will end up together – as you said, it’s the how – I would add in ALL cases, it’s the HOW. I mean, srsly, would a fantasy reader devote hours and hours of time to a multi book series only for the world to blow up and the evil doers win in the end? I’d think they’d feel pretty betrayed – how blind to think that sci-fi/fantasy doesn’t have its own tropes. …you know the quote makes just as much sense (ie, none) if you insert tropes from other genres…

so that comment was even dumber than I originally thought. You are so right!

Marianne McA wrote:

I actually liked books 3 & 4 best. It was almost as if the world opened up, instead of the tight focus on Dag and Fawn and their relationship. I think Bujold does casts of characters really well.
I enjoyed Books 1 & 2, but I’d have traded them for a new Vorkosigan book in a heartbeat. And I did feel Book 1 read like half a book. Hate that.

I wonder if anyone who read the Vorkosigan first actually preferred the Sharing Knife? I am not a big fantasy reader (I think the Pullman and Harry Potter books are pretty much the only fantasy I have read as an adult) but I may just have to try this series.

This sounds like the romance isn’t sacrificed at all in the fantasy which means, for me, it won’t be all that different from reading say, a paranormal romance – there is a different world and the worldbuilding has to be done so the story makes sense, but at its heart, it is a story of two people and the journey they have to get their HEA.

I’ve been listening to Outlander on audio and I think I’ll put this one on my audio list for the future.

thanks for the recommendation Jessica!

PS – as for the sci-fi review you quoted – well, that’s just ridiculous. In a thriller, you know the bad guy is going to get caught, in a fantasy, you know the good guys are going to save the world (whatever world it is) and in a romance you know the h/h will end up together – as you said, it’s the how – I would add in ALL cases, it’s the HOW. I mean, srsly, would a fantasy reader devote hours and hours of time to a multi book series only for the world to blow up and the evil doers win in the end? I’d think they’d feel pretty betrayed – how blind to think that sci-fi/fantasy doesn’t have its own tropes. …you know the quote makes just as much sense (ie, none) if you insert tropes from other genres…

On the “real fantasy” note, I wonder if the fantasy world Bujold uses here is too “alien” for some traditional fantasy readers. I’ve not read that widely in the genre, but what I have emphasizes what I would call “high” fantasy with a European or LotR-like world construct.

You may already have read this online, but Bujold has said that the first two books as published were written originally as a single book. And she sees books 1 & 2, then 3 & 4, as smaller story arcs within the framework of the four book series.

Can’t wait to hear what you think of the second book!