Borders of Infinity (1989)
Borders of Infinity is a 1989 fiction book written by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Miles Vorkosigan, the brilliant and physically fragile son of a Barrayaran count, recovers in a hospital bed while Imperial Security audits his tangled accounts. That frame threads three adventures. One sends him to investigate a murder in a backwater mountain district still ruled by old prejudice. Another drops him undercover on the pleasure-planet of Jackson's Whole. The last traps him inside an enemy prison camp with no obvious way out. Lois McMaster Bujold moves Miles from inquiry to combat with the same restless intelligence, using each story to test how far a small man with a large mind will bend the rules he serves.
Quick answers
What is Borders of Infinity about?
Miles Vorkosigan, the brilliant and physically fragile son of a Barrayaran count, recovers in a hospital bed while Imperial Security audits his tangled accounts. That frame threads three adventures. One sends him to investigate a murder in a backwater mountain district still ruled by old prejudice. Another drops him undercover on the pleasure-planet of Jackson's Whole. The last traps him inside an enemy prison camp with no obvious way out. Lois McMaster Bujold moves Miles from inquiry to combat with the same restless intelligence, using each story to test how far a small man with a large mind will bend the rules he serves.
When was Borders of Infinity published?
Borders of Infinity was published in 1989.
Who made Borders of Infinity?
Borders of Infinity was written by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Similar books
A few thoughts on Borders of Infinity
Readers who love Miles for his quick tongue and improvised command should try Firefly, where a captain holds a ragged crew together on charm and nerve. The Mass Effect games scratch the same itch for building loyalty across a galaxy of rival factions, while The Expanse trades Barrayaran court intrigue for a grittier system-wide politics that rewards the same appetite for strategy.
If you want more of Miles Vorkosigan's saga
Borders of Infinity catches Miles Vorkosigan between missions, and these carry the saga forward and back. The Warrior Apprentice shows how he first talked his way into command, Cetaganda and The Vor Game send him into fresh diplomatic messes, Memory tracks the costs those years finally catch up to, and Miles, Mystery & Mayhem plus The Vorkosigan Companion round out the wider saga.
Sprawling space operas about power and empire
The novellas that make up Borders of Infinity work at empire scale, moving between prison camps and political audits, and these full novels keep that scope. A Fire Upon the Deep, Pandora's Star, The Reality Dysfunction and Judas Unchained all build galaxy-spanning civilizations under strain, while Cities in Flight follows whole towns that leave Earth behind entirely.
Scrappy crews bantering their way across the galaxy
Miles Vorkosigan talks his way out of every jam with the same quick wit these crews rely on. Firefly and The Expanse follow found families holding a ship together through hostile politics, Mass Effect hands you a similarly mismatched crew to lead, and the Stargate Atlantis tie-in novel keeps that same banter-first exploration going on the page.