These are quite woman-oriented, unlike the Miles Vorkosigan Books. However, they give good background.

Shards of Honor (1986) and Barrayar (1991) published together in Cordelia’s Honor – The story of Cordelia Nalsmith’s adventures as a commander of a Beta (planet) astronomical survey ship. She is stranded on a dangerous planet with an enemy (Barrayaran) commander, Aral Vorkosigan. They march across rugged terrain to a cache he knows of. She is his captive but after further very bloody, depraved adventures, she finally escapes to Beta. There she is suspect after having spent so much time with an important Barrayaran commander. She and Aral are in love despite being traditional enemies. She finally ends up on Barrayar and marries Aral. In the second book Cordelia finds Barrayar very medieval in many ways. There is an attempted coup with lots of bloody fighting, but Cordelia comes out a heroine, ending up with a brilliant but handicapped son.

(omnibus) - We are introduced to the adult Miles Vorkosigan.

The Warrior’s Apprentice (1986) – Handicapped and fragile but brilliant, 17-year-old Miles is often in trouble. He, under the name of Miles Naismith accumulates an army by chance, forming them into the Dendarii Mercenaries, getting him deeper and deeper in trouble with his home planet. However, he cleverly works everything out to the satisfaction of almost everyone involved. Lots of funny bits and pieces.

The Mountains of Mourning (1989) novella – Miles, at 20, after graduating from the Service Academy, represents his father in solving the murder of a baby in the mountains that are part of his father’s responsibility. Clever solution.

The Vor Game (1991) – Miles is sent to a polar station and immediately gets in trouble (what else is new?) and makes a nasty enemy. He ends up working for Security but of course gets in trouble on a space station and is arrested successively by various groups, finding his young emperor, Gregor, caught up in a press gang. He ends up with the Dendarii Mercenaries again in order to rescue Gregor and stop a war. Again, some really funny parts as well as the requisite intrigue.

(omnibus) – These stories each show different aspects of extra-uterine gestation. Each book shows a different viewpoint of its use. In previous books there had been some reference to this process, especially in the birth of Miles, but not the other aspects of the process.

Cetaganda (1995) – Miles and his cousin Ivan are to represent the Barrayaran government at the ceremonies surrounding the death of the Cetaganda Dowager Empress. Even before getting on the planet they are plunged into complex intrigue that Miles works to remove them from. We learn a lot about Cetagandan politics and culture and as usual Miles gets into all kinds of trouble before extricating himself along with a goodly number of other people, including Cetagandans. We are introduced to genetic engineering by the Cetagandan haut women.

Ethan of Athos (1986) – Miles is not part of this very good book. The story is basically about Ethan from the all-male planet of Athos, who is traveling to find ovarian cultures to use for maintaining their population, after having received junk in place of ovarian cultures they had paid for. When he gets to Kline Station, the transfer station, he sees women for the first time and is totally in fear for his soul. He becomes part of a convoluted mystery concerning bioengineering and is obliged to work with a female Dendarii Mercenary, Elli Quinn, whom we met in a former book. It is interesting to see the viewpoint differences of him, from an all-male planet and station- born persons.

Labyrinth (1989) novella – Miles is trying to extract a scientist involved in genetic engineering for Barrayar from Jackson’s Whole, a planet where anything goes. He of course gets involved in much more than intended, rescuing a few other misfits. Has some really funny situations.

(omnibus) – In all these stories Miles is out to save people, and in the two novels, specifically his clone brother whom he names Mark, following the Barrayaran tradition.

Borders of Infinity (1998) novella – Miles ends up in a Cetagandan prison camp in order to save a colonel who ends up dying while he is there. He manages to organize the camp in preparation of being extracted by the Dendarii Mercenaries.

Brothers in Arms (1989) – after having escaped with all the prisoners from the Cetagandan camp, Miles is on earth for repairs. He for the first time meets his clone, who has been groomed to replace him and create havoc on Barrayar. The plot to replace Miles doesn’t work and Miles allows his clone brother to escape as he feels strongly that he is a brother, naming him Mark, and he knows his mother would be very upset if he got rid of him. Since they look so much alike, this helps solve some of the questions which arise because of his double life.

Mirror Dance (1994) – Mark is determined to save many of the clones being raised on Jackson’s Whole for nefarious purposes and disguises as Miles, taking a ship and team there to extract 50 of the clones. He has no experience so gets in way over his head and is rescued by Miles, who is killed in the process. Fortunately Miles is put in cryo chamber and is shipped out to an unknown destination. Mark is taken as a prisoner back to Barrayar where he meets his genetic parents and is accepted by them as a son. Through his ability in analyzing data, he figures out where the cryo chamber was sent and heads a team to get Miles. Mark endures a lot of torture but comes out the other end more or less whole and a lot more self-assured. Miles and Mark get back to Barrayar and become a family. A very well written book.

(1996) – Miles has been plagued by seizures and accidentally harms a hostage the Dendarii Mercenaries are rescuing. He lies to his Barrayaran boss, Illyan, who of course finds out about the false report and fires Miles. Emperor Gregor, after years of refusing to marry any of the Barrayaran ladies, falls in love with a Komarran, Laisa Toscane. Miles is totally depressed about losing his exciting job, but when Illyan suffers a sudden, crippling mental impairment, Miles suspects it is not natural. He asks Gregor to assign an Imperial Auditor (a top-level troubleshooter with practically unlimited authority and answerable only to the Emperor) to investigate and Gregor unexpectedly makes Miles himself a temporary Auditor. During and after his investigation, Miles comes to terms with himself. I couldn’t put this book down. Very good.

(omnibus) - Ms. Bujold has a very interesting afterword in this book. The most interesting is that women write love stories where the men actually grow up into responsibility. I like it! These stories explore the woman’s side of the Barrayar culture, which gives us a better picture of the changes on Barrayar over the previous 30 years. The character developments throughout these stories is really wonderful, and I think this is what I like best about Ms. Bujold.

Komarr (1998) – After becoming a permanent Auditor, Miles is sent with another Auditor to Komarr to investigate the partial destruction of the solar insolation mirror that helped bring more sunlight to Komarr. It turns out to be far more complex than expected, but Miles meets and falls in love with his future wife, Ekaterin. As usual, lots of excitement.

A Civil Campaign (1999) – This is the funniest book I have read from this author. Miles makes disastrous attempts to woo Ekaterin, with the worst disaster being a dinner party he throws. His brother Mark, in the meantime, is starting a new business based on a biological invention by a mad scientist he has more-or-less stolen from Escobar from under the noses of the police. He sets up shop in the basement of Vorkosigan House, producing butter-producing bugs who manage to get away. More humor follows. This book involves the emperor’s wedding and the many engagements of other couples that follow. Besides the humor and love in the air, there is plenty of political intrigue as well.

Winterfair Gifts (2006) novella – This is the story of Miles and Ekaterin’s wedding and the attendant drama, including the attempted murder of Ekaterin. Taura is back and gets an elegant makeover, which is also pretty funny.

(omnibus) - The quaddies are the unifier in this omnibus.

Falling Free (1988) – This takes place 200 years prior to other stories with no Vorkosigans in sight. This is the story of an engineer, Leo Graf, and his attempt to free 1,000 quaddies, a four-armed genetic experiment, before they get terminated. The normal mix of nasty, good and passive humans. Exciting.

Labyrinth (1989) novella – This shows up in another omnibus described previously, but the only reason it is also in this one is because of the quaddie muscian, Nicole, who plays a major part in the next book.

Diplomatic Immunity (2002) – Miles is on his honeymoon and is asked to solve a problem in Quaddiespace, on Graf Station. There he runs across his old friend Bel Thorne and his partner, the musician Nicole. The problem is much more complex than originally thought, and involves helping the Cetagandans who think the Barrayarans have stolen items of great value to them. Again, Miles puts himself in danger, but his wife is of great help in helping others understand the issues. They of course get home just in time for the births of their twins, a son and daughter.

(2012) – This is mostly about Ivan, Miles’ cousin. It also involves the Jackson’s Whole House Cordonah Arqua family trying to get their house back. People are trying to kidnap various Arqua family members, including a young woman, Tej, whom Ivan saves by marrying her. It starts out as a marriage of convenience, but ends up with them in love, although refusing to admit it. There are some really funny scenes, especially when they go to court for a divorce, but it is found they have no grounds for a divorce. There is a lot of nail-biting drama, with an undercurrent of humor. A very enjoyable book.

(2011) – Miles is sent by Emperor Gregor to the planet Kibou-daini to investigate White Chrysanthemum Cryonics Corporation. WhiteChrys is a major cryocorp, to which sick or dying people go to be frozen in hopes of one day being revived and cured. It is opening a subsidiary on Komarr, but something seems wrong. The narrative follows three points of view: those of Miles, his Armsman Roic, and Jin Sato, a local Kibou-daini boy. There is kidnapping, Jin helping Miles and saving his mother, and we see the Durona Group again, along with Miles’ brother Mark. There are some funny scenes and the whole thing is very fast-moving.