Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr is a professional – good at her job, and well respected by her company. It turns out that the larger galaxy is populated by a bunch of fairly peaceful species, and when a warrior group called the Others starts to invade the Confederation’s territory, they’re completely unprepared to fight back.    Instead,

This is the kind of book you can point to when some sneering “literary writing only” nitwit tries to tell you that genre fiction can’t address larger themes or important messages. In this book, the planet of New Tahiti (as the Earth human refer to it) already has an indigenous population of humans that happen

Due to a botched attempt on his mother’s life while she was pregnant, Miles Vorkosigan was born with severely weakened bones and unable to walk without extensive surgeries. He’s also born as a member of a warrior caste on a planet that’s just emerged from isolation, and only a generation ago would have exposed Miles

In this book, Britain has been divided into four separate countries, based on the old theory of body humors and the personalities associated with them – sanguine, melancholic, choleric and phlegmatic.    There is no interaction between the new countries – you’re considered contaminated if you do. When the country is divided, every single person is

So, as I’ve probably mentioned any other time I’ve written up a McKillip book, is how she will throw you into the middle of a fully built up world, and you’ll just be along for the ride, picking up clues to what the heck’s going on as you go along.    What makes this book different

The is the final book in the series that began with The Cold Minds, in a universe where humanity has had to flee Earth after it was taken over in an alien invasion.    They found refuge in the Hidden Worlds, but in the last book, the Cold Minds have found them there. Also in the

A little background on this one: back when I was in middle school, my older brother got this book for Christmas (I’m guessing when it was new, and probably on display in the bookstore so it caught someone’s eye).    It was still laying out later that day, and I read the first couple of chapters.