Borders of Infinity

Book Details

78.6% complete

Author(s):

Lois McMaster Bujold

First Pub:

1989

Genre(s):

Science Fiction; Space Opera

First Read:

2019

Times Read:

1 time

Rating:

Chapters:

See 7

One

The Mountains of Mourning

Two

Labyrinth

Three

The Borders of Infinity

Four

Internal ID:

1831

Series:

<- Labyrinth - Weatherman ->

The Vorkosigan Saga*

#5.5 of 16

The Vorkosigan Saga*

A series of science fiction novels and short story collections by Lois McMaster Bujold centering around Miles Vorkosigan and his parents Cordelia and Aral. This is the series in original publication order.

View this series in the book list

1) Shards of Honor
2) The Warrior's Apprentice
3) Ethan of Athos
4) Falling Free
5) Brothers in Arms
5.5) Borders of Infinity
6) The Vor Game
7) Barrayar
8) Mirror Dance
9) Cetaganda
10) Memory
11) Komarr
12) A Civil Campaign
13) Diplomatic Immunity
14) Cryoburn
15) Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
16) Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen

Copyright:

Dedication:

For John

First Sentence:

"You have a visitor, Lieutenant Vorkosigan."

Last Sentence:

May contain spoilers

Another kiss, and she was gone.

Comments:

Comments may contain spoilers

Portions of this book were published in slightly different forms:

"The Borders of Infinity" appeared in Freelancers, © 1987
"The Mountains of Mourning" appeared in Analog, © 1989
"Labyrinth" appeared in Analog, © 1989

Synopsis not on file
Extract (may contain spoilers)

How could I have died and gone to hell without noticing the transition?

The opalescent force dome capped a surreal and alien landscape, frozen for a moment by Miles’s disorientation and dismay. The dome defined a perfect circle, half a kilometer in diameter. Miles stood just inside its edge, where the glowing concave surface dove into the hard-packed dirt and disappeared. His imagination followed the arc buried beneath his feet to the far side, where it erupted again to complete the sphere. It was like being trapped inside an eggshell. An unbreakable eggshell.

Within was a scene from an ancient limbo. Dispirited men and women sat, or stood, or mostly lay down, singly or in scattered irregular groups, across the breadth of the arena. Miles’s eye searched anxiously for some remnant of order or military grouping, but the inhabitants seemed splashed randomly as a liquid across the ground.

Perhaps he had been killed just now, just entering this prison camp. Perhaps his captors had betrayed him to his death, like those ancient Earth soldiers who had lured their victims sheeplike into poisoned showers, diverting and soothing their suspicions with stone soap, until their final enlightenment burst upon them in a choking cloud. Perhaps the annihilation of his body had been so swift, his neurons had not had time to carry the information to his brain. Why else did so many antique myths agree that hell was a circular place?

Added: 14-Jun-2015

Last Updated: 07-Jun-2023

Publications

Unknown Date

Baen Enterprises

Mass Market Paperback

Date Issued:

Cir 01-Jan-1900

Format:

Mass Market Paperback

Cover Price:

$3.95

Pages*:

311

Cover Link(s):

World Cat

amazon.com

Internal ID:

23270

Publisher:

Baen Enterprises

ISBN:

0-671-69841-9

ISBN-13:

978-0-671-69841-6

Printing:

Country:

United States

Language:

English

Credits:

Gary Ruddell - Cover Artist

TRICK QUIZ

Which best describes a Vor Lord?

a) Officer in the Barryaran Imperial Space Service
b) Supreme Commander of a Mercenary Company
c) Detective, Judge and executioner in a back-country murder
d) Rescuer of Damsels Deeply Distressed
e) Mole in an escape-proof planetary POW camp

Answer: All of the above of course.*

BORDERS OF
INFINITY

*But only if you're Miles Naismith Vorkosigan!

Cover:

Notes and Comments:

First printing, October 1989

All Covers for this edition of the series

The Warrior's Apprentice

Spectrum Literary Agency, Inc.

Kindle e-Book

Date Issued:

31-Oct-2011

Format:

Kindle e-Book

Cover Price:

$6.99

Pages*:

311

Read:

Once

Reading(s):

1) 11 May 2019 - 1 Jun 2019

Cover Link(s):

amazon.com

Internal ID:

1864

Publisher:

Spectrum Literary Agency, Inc.

ISBN:

Unknown

Country:

United States

Language:

English

From amazon.com:

While Miles is recuperating from injuries, his boss arrives to question him. This forms the framework for the 3 novellas "The Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth", and "The Borders of Infinity".

“Bujold continues to prove what marvels genius can create out of basic space operatics.”
- Library Journal

“Bujold is not just a master of plot, she is a master of emotion.”
- SF Site

“Bujold is one of the best writers of SF adventure to come along in years.”
- Locus Magazine

“A superb craftsman and stylist, Ms. Bujold is well on her way to becoming one of the great voices of speculative fiction.”
- Rave Reviews

"Boy, can she write!"
- Anne McCaffrey

“Bujold has a gift, nearly unique in science fiction, for the comedy of manners.”
- Chicago Sun Times

“Superb far-future saga.”
- Publishers Weekly on the 'Vorkosigan' series

Bujold's "work remains among the most enjoyable and rewarding in contemporary SF."
- Publishers Weekly

"Bujold is also head and shoulders above the ruck of current fantasists as well as science-fictionists."
- Booklist

Lois McMaster Bujold was born in 1949, the daughter of an engineering professor at Ohio State University, from whom she picked up her early interest in science fiction. She now lives in Minneapolis, and has two grown children. She began writing with the aim of professional publication in 1982. She wrote three novels in three years; in October of 1985, all three sold to Baen Books, launching her career. Bujold went on to write many other books for Baen, mostly featuring her popular character Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, his family, friends, and enemies. Her books have been translated into twenty-one languages. Her fantasy from Eos includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife series.

Cover:

Notes and Comments:

Author(s)

Lois McMaster Bujold
Birth: 02 Nov 1949 Columbus, Ohio, USA

Notes:

From the Kindle version of Shards of Honor:

Lois McMaster Bujold was born in 1949, the daughter of an engineering professor at Ohio State University, from whom she picked up her early interest in science fiction. She now lives in Minneapolis, and has two grown children. She began writing with the aim of professional publication in 1982. She wrote three novels in three years; in October of 1985, all three sold to Baen Books, launching her career. Bujold went on to write many other books for Baen, mostly featuring her popular character Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, his family, friends, and enemies. Her books have been translated into over twenty languages. Her fantasy from Eos includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife series.

Awards

No awards found

I try to maintain page numbers for audiobooks even though obviously there aren't any. I do this to keep track of pages read and I try to use the Kindle version page numbers for this.
Synopses marked with an asterisk (*) were generated by an AI. There aren't a lot since this is an iffy way to do it - AI seems to make stuff up.
When specific publication dates are unknown (ie prefixed with a "Cir"), I try to get the publication date that is closest to the specific printing that I can.
When listing chapters, I only list chapters relevant to the story. I will usually leave off Author Notes, Indices, Acknowledgements, etc unless they are relevant to the story or the book is non-fiction.
Page numbers on this site are for the end of the main story. I normally do not include appendices, extra material, and other miscellaneous stuff at the end of the book in the page count.