CryoBurn
I stumbled across Cryoburn as one of this year's Hugo nominees; it's the first book in Bujold's Vorkosigan saga that I've read. I wasn't particularly bothered by reading it alone and out of order; it fared moderately well as a stand-alone despite numerous references to the past storyline. While it may not have been a spectacular read, it was an enjoyable one. Bujold's writing style is witty and she maintains a good pace; her characters are memorable and interesting. The plot itself was a bit on the formulaic side but still contained enough verve to hold my interest.
This is certainly not hard scifi, though. Cryoburn falls firmly in the category of "human drama set in lightly sketched future landscape"; while quite successful on these terms, it won't satisfy hard-core speculative science junkies.
Will I seek out further novels in this series? The answer is a positive-leaning maybe. Bujold won't take McDevitt's place in my reading life, but it was definitely entertaining and well-crafted.