"Cranks out" is hardly accurate. This Hugo is very well deserved. I am a fan of the Vorkosigan books and I find the Chalion series compares very well with her Vorkosigan work -- it is easy to demonstrate, in fact, that Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls have a significantly higher quality of prose and characterization than her earlier work. Fewer writer's tics, too (he caroled).
The fact is, she is simply maturing as a writer and addressing new themes and scenarios that interest her. I can see how the new stuff would be less appealing to readers who prefer space opera (the Vorkosigan books transcend space-opera anyway). But it is definitely unjust to call the later books inferior because they are not to your taste.
Personally I thought that she should have won a couple years back when Curse lost to American Gods -- her characterization and worldbuilding and riffs on history are of a higher order: Gaiman bit off a big project and accomplished much, but he fell short of his goals and I felt the novel was ultimately disappointing.
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"Cranks out" is hardly accurate. This Hugo is very well deserved. I am a fan of the Vorkosigan books and I find the Chalion series compares very well with her Vorkosigan work -- it is easy to demonstrate, in fact, that Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls have a significantly higher quality of prose and characterization than her earlier work. Fewer writer's tics, too (he caroled).
The fact is, she is simply maturing as a writer and addressing new themes and scenarios that interest her. I can see how the new stuff would be less appealing to readers who prefer space opera (the Vorkosigan books transcend space-opera anyway). But it is definitely unjust to call the later books inferior because they are not to your taste.
Personally I thought that she should have won a couple years back when Curse lost to American Gods -- her characterization and worldbuilding and riffs on history are of a higher order: Gaiman bit off a big project and accomplished much, but he fell short of his goals and I felt the novel was ultimately disappointing.