I have to say, I adore Bel Thorne and find everything about it (also jarring to me) fascinating.
I actually read the books in the other order Ira suggested - Young Miles first, and then Cordelia second. So my awareness of Bothari is/was a bit strange; with Miles, Bothari is just kind of a screwed up bodyguard -- UNTIL the story about Elena comes to fruition, and I sat up and went, "What." Then I read Cordelia and my mind got blown. Bothari's so complicated that he really is difficult to comprehend - you want to say he's a good guy until you realize that he both is and isn't, and the main things keeping him "good" are his relationships with the ("good") Vorkosigans: he uses Aral and Cordelia to direct his own muddled and confused moral compass.
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I actually read the books in the other order Ira suggested - Young Miles first, and then Cordelia second. So my awareness of Bothari is/was a bit strange; with Miles, Bothari is just kind of a screwed up bodyguard -- UNTIL the story about Elena comes to fruition, and I sat up and went, "What." Then I read Cordelia and my mind got blown. Bothari's so complicated that he really is difficult to comprehend - you want to say he's a good guy until you realize that he both is and isn't, and the main things keeping him "good" are his relationships with the ("good") Vorkosigans: he uses Aral and Cordelia to direct his own muddled and confused moral compass.