Falling Free (Vorkosigan Saga #4) by Lois McMaster Bujold

 

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Buhold is the fourth book in the Vorkosigan Saga, but is the first full-length one if you read in internal chronological order, which is how Bujold herself recommends you read the series, so there you have it. It seems like I just jumped into the middle of things, but I didn't really.  I'm following instructions.

Once again, I am using r/fantasy's Top Books by Women 2021 and that is how I even stumbled on this series.  Bujold is royalty in science fiction, up there with Anne McCaffery, Ursula K LeGuin, and Octavia Butler, and it's a glaring missing entry in my reading history.  I've only read about a quarter of the books on the the above linked list, so I have a lot of reading to do.

This book introduces us to Leo Graf, an engineer mysteriously sent to join the Cay Project, but he wasn't given any other real information about it. When he arrives, he learns he's there because this jerk he once worked with requested him and he learns that there's been some biological engineering happening and he's introduced to quaddies. I'm not going to say more than that because I don't want to spoil things. 

Turns out that for boring reasons, his company, GalacTech,

(sidenote: I just love this name. It seems exactly what a giant inter-galaxy corporation run by ruthless capitalists would be called.)

wants to stop the project and destroy the quaddies. Leo does not want that to happen. Viva la Revolucion!  

I mean, I read this book in a few hours on a rainy Sunday, hunkered down on the couch with my cat.  It's readable and interesting and posits an absolutely fascinating world. I am, as you can imagine, eager to read more. These books get recommended all the time for a reason and I'm excited to get started since I imagine this will go into the pantheon of my much-beloved science fiction and fantasy loves with Realm of the Elderlings, Murderbot, Wayfarers, and Temeraire. Ordering the next book from the library right now!