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The Vor Game
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The Vorkosigan Saga: Book 5

The Vor Game (1990) (edit title/settings)

by Lois McMaster Bujold (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

Miles manages to graduate from the Imperial Service Academy. His reward? A first post on icy Kyril Island, predicting and combating the local weather and his commanding officer's homicidal moods. His reputation and stunted form further battered by both, Illyan finds a way to combine (sort of)... read more

Summary edit see section history

Miles graduates from the Academy, and is upset to learn he is being sent to replace the weather officer at the Empire's winter infantry training base on remote Kyril Island, to see if he can handle the discipline and military routine. Miles refuses to obey what he deems a criminal order by the... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Miles graduates from the Academy, and is upset to learn he is being sent to replace the weather officer at the Empire's winter infantry training base on remote Kyril Island, to see if he can handle the discipline and military routine. Miles refuses to obey what he deems a criminal order by the base commander, who has him arrested for mutiny, and as he is Vor, treason. He is quickly returned to the capital and sequestered in the bowels of Imperial Security by Simon Illyan who, along with his father, conclude that Miles behaved correctly. Unfortunately, given the political climate in Vorbarr Sultana, they decide it would be most prudent to assign Miles to ImpSec and send him away (far, far away) from Barrayar for the time being.

On his first ImpSec mission, an information-gathering operation in the Hegen Hub, Miles is framed for murder and arrested. While in custody, he is startled to find Barrayaran Emperor Gregor (a childhood friend) also being held. Gregor explains that he had run away from the embassy on Komarr after a drunken night and then was shanghaied as a technician by an unscrupulous ship owner. Miles muddies the waters in an attempt to extricate Gregor, and is soon up to his neck in a mysterious plot involving an amoral femme fatale, his murderous former Kyril Island commanding officer, and Hub power politics. Miles encounters his mercenary friends and, after some problems with the former leaders who have regained power, resumes his Admiral Naismith persona and takes charge. He is able to rescue Gregor, stop the fiendish plot (which involves a Cetagandan invasion fleet), and as a bonus, unify the Hub systems to repel the Cetagandans, with a little timely help from a Barrayaran fleet co-commanded by his father and Emperor Gregor.

Gregor and ImpSec decide to put the Dendarii on permanent retainer for covert missions, with Miles officially installed as liaison and admiral.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Miles Naismith Vorkosigan: Son of Aral and Cordelia; Lord Vorkosigan.
  • Ivan Vorpatril: Lord Vorpatril; son of Alys Vorpatril and Padma Vorpatril (deceased). Miles' cousin.
  • Simon Illyan: Captain; Chief of Imperial Security.
  • Major Cecil: The decision man in Personnel for the Barrayaran Imperial Service.
  • Ahn: Lieutenant; meteorology officer at Lazkowski Base.
  • Stanis Metzov: General; Base Commander at Lazkowski Base.
  • Aral Vorkosigan: Count Vorkosigan, an Admiral, and former Regent of Barrayar, now Prime Minister of Barrayar; married to Cordelia, son of Piotr.
  • Olney: Corporal on Lazkowski base; works in the motor pool. Of Barrayaran Greek descent.
  • Pattas: Tech on Lazkowski base; of Barrayaran Greek descent.
  • Bonn: Lieutenant; in the Engineering department on Lazkowski Base.
  • Overholt: Lieutenant; assigned to Imperial Security.
  • Jole: Lieutenant; military secretary to Prime Minister Vorkosigan.
  • Cordelia Vorkosigan: Countess; wife of Aral. Native of Beta Colony.
  • Gregor Vorbarra: Emperor of Barrayar.
  • Ungari: Captain; a galactic operative with ImpSec.
  • Liga: An arms dealer on Pol Station Six.
  • Clive Chodak: A combat-drop-shuttle squad commander on the Triumph in the Dendarii Mercenaries.
  • Baz Jesek: Commodore/Fleet Engineer in the Dendarii Mercenaries and a Barrayaran deserter; married to Elena.
  • Yuan Oser: Admiral of the Oseran Mercenaries.
  • Ky Tung: Chief of Staff in the Dendarii Mercenaries; a native of Earth.
  • Cavilo: Head of the Randall's Rangers.
  • Elena Bothari: Daughter of Sergeant Konstantin Bothari; wed to Baz Jesek. Serving in the Dendarii Mercenaries.
  • Arde Mayhew: A pilot with the Dendarii Mercenaries; liegeman to Miles.
  • Bel Thorne: Captain of the Ariel in the Dendarii Mercenaries; a Betan hermaphrodite.
  • Auson: Captain of the Triumph in the Dendarii Mercenaries.
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”
    Cordelia Vorkosigan
  • “A retreating enemy should be offered all the face he can carry off. Just don't let him carry off anything else.”
    Aral Vorkosigan
  • “I once swore an oath to serve an emperor. The most morally dangerous moment for a guardian is when the temptation to become a puppet-master seems most rational. I always knew the moment must. . . no. I knew that if the moment never came, I should have failed my oath most profoundly. It was still a shock to the system though. The letting go.”
    Aral Vorkosigan
  • “The cream pie of justice flies one way.”
    Miles Vorkosigan
  • “If I don't send you someplace else, you'll be right here.”
    Simon Illyan

Setting & Locations edit see section history

Organizations edit see section history

First Sentence edit see section history

"Ship duty!" chortled the ensign four ahead of Miles in line.

Glossary edit see section history

  • Time of Isolation: The 700 years between the collapsing of the original wormhole route to Barrayar and the discovery of a new wormhole route to Barrayar through the planet Komarr.
  • Vordarian's Pretendership: An attempted coup of Lord Aral Vorkosigan's Regency government by Count Vidal Vordarian.

Errata edit see section history

The first several chapters of The Vor Game (Chapter 1 through part of Chapter 6) were originally published in a slightly different form as a novella entitled "The Weatherman" in the February 1990 issue of Analog magazine.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 5 of 19 in The Vorkosigan Saga. (standard series)

Preceded by The Mountains of Mourning, and followed by Cetaganda.

This is book 7 of 15 in The Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order). (standard series)

Preceded by Borders of Infinity, and followed by Barrayar.

This book is in F-sari. (publisher series)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Lois McMaster Bujold (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Baen
Country: U.S.A.
Publication Date: 1990
ISBN: 0671720147
Page Count: 345

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • On Basilisk Station
  • Trading in Danger
  • Ender's Game
  • The Complete Hammer's Slammers: Volume I

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • The Vorkosigan Companion
  • Dreamweaver's Dilemma
  • Federations

Books That Influenced This Book edit see section history

   
  • Strategy
  • THE MINT: A DAY-BOOK OF THE RAF DEPOT BETWEEN AUGUST AND DECEMBER 1922 WITH LATER NOTES BY 352087 A/C ROSS.
  • Mr. Midshipman Hornblower
  • Whose Body?

Books Influenced by This Book edit see section history

   
  • GURPS Vorkosigan Saga

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