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The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
A brilliant but unconventional officer is dispatched to a backwater post and swept into a web of imperial politics, mercenary gambits, and a war game with very real stakes. Witty, sharp, and daring, The Vor Game delivers military SF mischief at its most exhilarating.
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In The Vor Game, did you enjoy ...
... Miles’s razor-edged banter and bureaucratic satire?
The Android's Dream by John Scalzi
If the way Miles turns a disciplinary posting on Kyril Island and a mess of Hegen Hub politics into a cascade of clever quips and improvised schemes made you grin, you’ll love the whip-smart snark in The Android’s Dream. Harry Creek navigates a diplomatic crisis sparked by a literally explosive trade negotiation, tangles with Senate power brokers, and outmaneuvers secret agencies—all with the same breezy, deadpan humor Miles uses when juggling his duties to ImpSec and his Dendarii persona.
... the cat-and-mouse statecraft around Gregor and the Hegen Hub?
The Player Of Games by Iain Banks
If the covert maneuvering around Emperor Gregor and the tightrope Miles walks between ImpSec directives and mercenary loyalties hooked you, The Player of Games delivers a similarly elegant duel of politics. Jernau Morat Gurgeh is drawn into Special Circumstances’ scheme to destabilize the Azad Empire through its signature game—every move doubles as diplomacy, espionage, and provocation, echoing the way Miles turns negotiations and fleet deployments into political endgames.
... watching a junior officer outmaneuver superiors and rise by sheer competence?
On Basilisk Station by David Weber
If you enjoyed Miles clawing respect out of hostile postings—first in that frigid backwater assignment, then amid skeptical superiors—Honor Harrington’s exile to Basilisk Station will hit the same sweet spot. Like Miles rallying the Dendarii and forcing results during the Hegen Hub crisis, Honor turns a punishment tour into a strategic triumph, exposing a larger plot and earning command through sharp tactics and political savvy.
... audacious tactical gambits and last-minute reversals?
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
If Miles’s seat-of-the-pants feints—slipping between Admiral Naismith and Barrayaran officer, springing traps around the Hegen Hub, and snatching victory from political kidnappers—kept you gasping, Ninefox Gambit offers that same rush of razor-turn reversals. Captain Kel Cheris teams with the infamous tactician Shuos Jedao to retake the Fortress of Scattered Needles; their stratagems and betrayals stack like Miles’s layered ruses, detonating in breathtaking reveals.
... galaxy-spanning stakes with personal loyalties front and center?
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
If the blend of interstellar maneuvering and fiercely personal loyalties—Miles balancing duty to ImpSec with devotion to Gregor and the Dendarii—pulled you in, Ancillary Justice channels that energy. Breq, a fragment of a destroyed warship, pursues a vendetta against the many-bodied ruler Anaander Mianaai, navigating imperial politics and fleet powerplays with the same intimate, character-first drive that fuels Miles’s choices during the Hegen Hub showdown.
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