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I am way behind on Bujold, so I'm going back and reading earlier ones as a refresher. As they were rereads, I wasn't being careful about order. Being me, i ended up reading three different ones in three different locations. It was fascinating. In one room Miles was making love to Taura; in another her character arc for the sequence was ending. In one room, Ilian was in decline, in another he was newly introduced as a young fresh faced officer. Miles hit his major depression before Aral hit his.... In one, Ma Costi is hired; in another she's a fixture. It was weird and fascinating. I read Falling Free and parts of Shards of Honor for the first time long ago when they were in the magazines as short stories. I'm not bothering with FF, as I know it bears the marks of being stretched to make novel length and it's not like I really need it for Vorkosigan. Shards shows the obvious marks from having been published as stories first, then cobbled together as a novel, but it reads so much better. I'd forgotten how much of Aral is in Miles, really. I had not forgotten how much I'd liked Aral and Cordelia and how much I would have liked to slap his cousin silly if I were Miles. I am fascinated by how much better the later ones were crafted once she got her novelist feet under her and how well the series hangs together as a whole. Now to get my hands on whatever's after Winterfair Gifts.