You should probably read the other Bujolds. Well, the Miles Vorkosigan novels--starting with Cordelia's Honor. Those are SF, set in the same universe as Falling Free. And The Curse of Chalion, which is fantasy, pseudo-European, with a fully-thought-out and real pantheon of complicated deities. The hero of that is one of the truly nicest characters Bujold has ever created--a decent human being who is in no way boring.
I keep telling people to read Kate Elliott, but people fail to listen to me. The Crossroads trilogy starts with Spirit Gate and it has fabulous cultures, really interesting characters, adventures, neat world-building, and it's just cool. I also have great fondness for the Jaran novels, starting with Jaran, which is kind of a romance and also kind of a space opera--what do you do when a space traveling linguist accidentally lands in the middle of a nomadic tribe led by the local equivalent of Genghis Khan? The later novels are much more political and complicated but the first one hits the spot if you're in the mood for adventurous cross-cultural romance. Elliott's latest is Cold Magic, the first in a projected series--it's post-colonial icepunk with magic and romance as well.
If you're a big McKillip fan, you might enjoy Pamela Dean, whose magic also works mysteriously and unpredictably. I don't love her prose as much, but she's really creative. Tam Lin is considered a minor classic, although I might prefer Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary. And The Dubious Hills is just cool.
For a total change of pace, the Merrimack novels by R.M. Meluch are slashy classic old-school-type space opera, and she even manages to justify having her space-traveling marines use swords during battles. They're not great on gender issues, but they are quite entertaining.
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I keep telling people to read Kate Elliott, but people fail to listen to me. The Crossroads trilogy starts with Spirit Gate and it has fabulous cultures, really interesting characters, adventures, neat world-building, and it's just cool. I also have great fondness for the Jaran novels, starting with Jaran, which is kind of a romance and also kind of a space opera--what do you do when a space traveling linguist accidentally lands in the middle of a nomadic tribe led by the local equivalent of Genghis Khan? The later novels are much more political and complicated but the first one hits the spot if you're in the mood for adventurous cross-cultural romance. Elliott's latest is Cold Magic, the first in a projected series--it's post-colonial icepunk with magic and romance as well.
If you're a big McKillip fan, you might enjoy Pamela Dean, whose magic also works mysteriously and unpredictably. I don't love her prose as much, but she's really creative. Tam Lin is considered a minor classic, although I might prefer Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary. And The Dubious Hills is just cool.
For a total change of pace, the Merrimack novels by R.M. Meluch are slashy classic old-school-type space opera, and she even manages to justify having her space-traveling marines use swords during battles. They're not great on gender issues, but they are quite entertaining.