Uglies was ok. I haven't read The Pretties yet. But there are a lot of westerfield's other books that I really really like. Including Peeps , the vampire book.
'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
The Vorkosigan novels are not written in chronological order. Or not published, anyway. It's a bit frustrating.
Steph: Shards is a romance-with-politics-and-battles. Barrayar, which follows it immediately, is a political thriller with rich character details. (And battles, but those are mostly offstage.) If you don't like those two, you won't like the rest; but even if you're kind of meh on Shards, stick it out to Barrayar, which -- shopping, yes. Sigh.
After those two, the order is:
The Warrior's Apprentice, (space battles! adventure! fun and angst!, thus setting the tone for the series)
The Vor Game, (somewhat disjointed but it has some fun stuff in it)
Borders of Infinity (a short story collection, some of them awesome),
Cetaganda (a political intrigue/mystery which I found kind of meh),
Brothers in Arms (politics/intrigue, and necessary, as it sets up the next few),
Mirror Dance (politics and adventure),
Memory (Miles hits 30; 30 hits back),
Komarr (a mystery, mostly),
A Civil Campaign (a Sayers/Heyer tribute, which works better in theory than in practice, but is often very fun: primarily a romance),
Diplomatic Immunity (a mystery, which was also quite meh).
That's the main line: there's also Falling Free and Ethan of Athos, which are set in the same universe but the Vorkosigans do not appear onscreen.
(Did I miss any?)
Shards of Honor (1986)
Barrayar (1991)
The Warrior's Apprentice (1986)
"The Mountains of Mourning" (1989) (short story in Borders of Infinity)
The Vor Game (1990)
Cetaganda (1995)
"Labyrinth" (1989) (in Borders of Infinity)
"The Borders of Infinity" (1987) (in Borders of Infinity)
Brothers in Arms (1989)
Mirror Dance (1994)
Memory (1996)
Komarr (1998)
A Civil Campaign (2000)
Diplomatic Immunity (2002)
Ethan of Athos rules.
You know, it's been years since I read it. I don't even own a copy.
Chronologically, Ethan of Athos comes somewhere between The Vor Game and Brothers in Arms. It has a major character in common with the other books.
And haven't the first few been repackaged a few times as Young Miles or somesuch?
I swear they've all been repackaged as something. I keep seeing a title and hoping it's a new book, but not so much.
Ethan of Athos rules.
The more I think about it, the more I like it. I should reread. And rebuy, I don't think I own it anymore.
I've been thinking about rereading the whole series, but I was hoping to do that when there was a NEW BOOK.