I came to Bujold through a friend who was into other Military Science Fiction writers, such as David Drake, Harry Turtledove, Jerry Pournell, and David Weber.
I think that the heart of the books may be in the words of Aral Vorkosigan, "A weapon is anything that makes your enemy change his mind".
Miles Naismith Vorkosigan is certainly a mental giant, using his brains to come up with ways to defeat his enemies. Psychological warfare, on and off the battlefield, seems to be the expertise of these novels... but Bujold isn't afraid to delve into the more hardcore realms of fighting within her universe, with victims of plasma weapons and neural attacks. She doesn't pull any punches, and thus describes a very real and visceral world for her readers to explore.