Wow! What an extremely thoughtful and thorough guide. I'm almost finished listening to the series (about to start Captain Vorpatril's Alliance) and I've been surprised at my voracity to listen almost every night. I'm reading them in chronological order starting with Falling Free and including all the novellas. I generally agree with your core 5 and also think that the reader would be missing out on a lot of great stories of they only stick to the core 5. I thought about starting with Warrior's Apprentice but found I really appreciated Cordelia's and Aral's story and it made their minor appearance that much more meaningful in later books. I actually was initially dismayed that Cordelia wasn't the main protagonist after the 1st 2 books but quickly came to like Miles like an old friend. I normally don't read sci-fi that is so character-driven / romance focused but ended up really liking the series and consider it in my top sci-fi books.
Wow! What an extremely thoughtful and thorough guide. I'm almost finished listening to the series (about to start Captain Vorpatril's Alliance) and I've been surprised at my voracity to listen almost every night. I'm reading them in chronological order starting with Falling Free and including all the novellas. I generally agree with your core 5 and also think that the reader would be missing out on a lot of great stories of they only stick to the core 5. I thought about starting with Warrior's Apprentice but found I really appreciated Cordelia's and Aral's story and it made their minor appearance that much more meaningful in later books. I actually was initially dismayed that Cordelia wasn't the main protagonist after the 1st 2 books but quickly came to like Miles like an old friend. I normally don't read sci-fi that is so character-driven / romance focused but ended up really liking the series and consider it in my top sci-fi books.