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Click here
to return to the full review of MEMORY.
A Note for New Bujold Readers
If MEMORY were
the first Bujold book you ever picked up, you wouldn’t have
any problems reading it.
I expect there
are quite a few people who would disagree with me on that one.
And I’ll admit that it’s hard for me to judge how a newcomer
would come to this book: The first time I came to it, I was
reading the entirety of the Vorkosigan series in published order
– so I was distanced from the newcomer’s perspective then,
and I certainly haven’t regained my objectivity by re-reading
the book multiple times.
But, looking at
it as objectively as possible, I do think this is a book which
is accessible to the first time reader. And, more importantly,
its *effective* for the first time reader. Perhaps not as
effective as it would be for a long-time reader, but that’s
simply a natural consequence of the strengths to be found in
series fiction.
All that being
said: I wouldn’t *recommend* this book to the first time
reader. If you’re approaching Bujold for the first time, this
is my advice:
(A) Start with
SHARDS OF HONOR, Bujold’s first book. If you find that you
enjoy this light, romantic adventure – despite its minor flaws
– then keep reading in publication order until you finish the
series.
(B) If you
don’t enjoy SHARDS OF HONOR, then you should know that Bujold
improves dramatically over the course of her career. Skip ahead
to BARRAYAR.
(C) If BARRAYAR
doesn’t, at the very least, make you interested in the series,
then it probably isn’t going to work for you. You might want
to try Bujold’s fantasy.
(D) If BARRAYAR
does work for you, then I suggest going to back to read BROTHERS
IN ARMS and BORDERS OF INFINITY. Then go to MIRROR DANCE and
read in publication order from there until the end of the
series. After that, you may feel compelled to go back and pick
up the stuff you haven’t read yet.
Have fun.
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