Reading and thinking.
On a couple of prior posts, I had people commenting that there's some older scifi that's worth reading for disability related input. I haven't gotten to Starship Troopers, but I have read Barrayar and The Warrior's Apprentice. As the library didn't have Cordelia's Honor on audiobook, I started with the 2nd book in the series. (I am now worried that if I go back to read Cordelia's Honor, I'm going to hate Bothari...)
In Barrayar, I was surprised at how much I cared about the characters. I wasn't sure I was going to last through the political wrangling (not my usual speed), but then the coup happened and shit hit the fan and I was hooked.
I really felt for Cordelia, and while I don't have a maternal bone in my body, I understand and empathize with her fierce protectiveness.
Miles, as he spans from the ending scenes of Barrayar to the end of The Warrior's Apprentice is interesting on several levels. I think medical knowledge has moved on a bit, so I had a couple of times where my brain chunked over plot points, but not bad enough to toss me out of the story.
I find it interesting that Bothari's fractured personality and mental health issues (some of which were inflicted on him) weren't mentioned as vital to the story lines, nor was Koudelka's imperfectly artificial nervous system, just Miles' disabilities. Bujold does a decent job of trying to make space for people of different abilities in her worlds.
Having been introduced to Bothari after he's been mind-screwed to the point that he's in pain if he tries to remember things, I may over-empathize with him. I'm still dealing with the after effects of a concussion that means that I don't remember things easily, as I once did, and that thinking too hard about anything gives me a headache more than two years after. So, instant "I know that feeling!" connection... with a rapist, sadist, torturer, and murderer. Well played, Bujold. He's also loyal and clings desperately to the people who help him be a better man.
I had more trouble with Koudelka and his pride. I think this was mostly because he was a more passive character, still caught up in the grieving and adjusting to his new body... and to be honest, he handled it poorly. Not because of any personal failings, but just how damned bigoted Barrayar was about disabilities. He is able to find love, eventually and with a lot of tripping over his pride, so there's that... but Kou and his struggle is more background noise and necessary body for a rescue plot point, less about him being involved in the arc of the story. It was easier to stay emotionally distant and let Cordelia's emotions filter my views on Kou. Bothari grabbed my attention much more strongly. In some ways, more than Miles.
As a writer I wonder if Bothari was killed in The Warrior's Apprentice in part to force Miles to step up on the decision making, but also to prevent Bothari from backsliding too far. Cordelia and Aral had enough awareness to handle Bothari and keep him on a short leash. Miles was less skilled, much less aware of Bothari's darker nature... and he let the monster off his leash. Miles did pay, emotionally, for the results of that action, but I could see where having Bothari for the dirty jobs would have tempted Miles. For all the talk of being responsible for Bothari's actions, I think there's a mental distance from ordering someone to do something, and doing it yourself. Removing Bothari meant Miles couldn't have that distance.
Now to Miles. His brittle bone issues have parallels to genetic issues and brittle bones in our world. I think he'd be labeled ADHD if he were plopped in front of most people, but to me he has the same sense of desperate energy that I feel on days when there's so much I want to do, and so little I can actually do.
In some ways, the tech Bujold dreamt up is amazing, in others medicine has moved on. The Warrior's Apprentice opens with Miles being needled to impetuous action by his pride, resulting in a boy with more broken bones than he can remember jumping off a wall on a hope that he'll somehow roll out of the impact unharmed. It goes badly, of course. Given how well he thinks things through and the descriptions of his intellect, this felt a bit like Bujold handed Miles the Idiot Ball.
On the other hand, I've absolutely had my share of "fuck it, doing it anyway!" moments, so there was some wincing sympathy with his decision to jump. His broken legs end his dreams of military service, and set him and Bothari and Elena on an off planet trip to see Mile's grandmother.
From there, Miles' wit and inability to keep his nose out of other people's business drive the plot. Other than threatening to break his own bones trying to stop Bothari from strangling someone to death, mentioning being glad he was kicked in the stomach and not a bone, and how a suit was like an exoskeleton, making him as physically able as the others while he's in it... Miles' disability is set aside for the rest of the book.
The medical stuff also feels off. They can rewire nerves, but they can't remodel bone or give him cadaver grafts? There are now drugs on the market to prevent brittle bone breaks from osteoporosis. "Actonel (risedronate sodium) tablets is a pyridinyl bisphosphonate that inhibits osteoclastmediated bone resorption and modulates bone metabolism." It stops the bone from reforming the same frail latticework. So the book's a bit dated, but not too bad.
We now know ulcers are most often caused by H. pylori infections, not stress, so having a stomach bleed be what took Miles out of action at the end of the story felt discordant. And not just because it's an additional roadblock, but because he seems to set aside his bone issues and go chasing after adventure without his main handicap ever becoming more than a mentioned bit of background.
For all that Miles' ability to set aside his issues when they were no longer plot relevant was annoying (wish I could set my issues aside!), it was only annoying in retrospect. I was engaged in the story for the most part. I do think it was telling that he was much more depressed over Bothari's death than his grandfather's, and I respect him for getting the hell over himself and giving Elena and Jesek his blessing.
It went back to Barrayaran politics at the end of the book, and I still don't find that sort of plot to be terribly engaging. I'm much more an action and adventure fan than a thriller or suspense fan. I don't know that I'll continue with the Vorkosigan Saga, but I do, on the whole, like Bujold's writing, and think that ending fit with the world building she'd done.
In Barrayar, I was surprised at how much I cared about the characters. I wasn't sure I was going to last through the political wrangling (not my usual speed), but then the coup happened and shit hit the fan and I was hooked.
I really felt for Cordelia, and while I don't have a maternal bone in my body, I understand and empathize with her fierce protectiveness.
Miles, as he spans from the ending scenes of Barrayar to the end of The Warrior's Apprentice is interesting on several levels. I think medical knowledge has moved on a bit, so I had a couple of times where my brain chunked over plot points, but not bad enough to toss me out of the story.
I find it interesting that Bothari's fractured personality and mental health issues (some of which were inflicted on him) weren't mentioned as vital to the story lines, nor was Koudelka's imperfectly artificial nervous system, just Miles' disabilities. Bujold does a decent job of trying to make space for people of different abilities in her worlds.
Having been introduced to Bothari after he's been mind-screwed to the point that he's in pain if he tries to remember things, I may over-empathize with him. I'm still dealing with the after effects of a concussion that means that I don't remember things easily, as I once did, and that thinking too hard about anything gives me a headache more than two years after. So, instant "I know that feeling!" connection... with a rapist, sadist, torturer, and murderer. Well played, Bujold. He's also loyal and clings desperately to the people who help him be a better man.
I had more trouble with Koudelka and his pride. I think this was mostly because he was a more passive character, still caught up in the grieving and adjusting to his new body... and to be honest, he handled it poorly. Not because of any personal failings, but just how damned bigoted Barrayar was about disabilities. He is able to find love, eventually and with a lot of tripping over his pride, so there's that... but Kou and his struggle is more background noise and necessary body for a rescue plot point, less about him being involved in the arc of the story. It was easier to stay emotionally distant and let Cordelia's emotions filter my views on Kou. Bothari grabbed my attention much more strongly. In some ways, more than Miles.
As a writer I wonder if Bothari was killed in The Warrior's Apprentice in part to force Miles to step up on the decision making, but also to prevent Bothari from backsliding too far. Cordelia and Aral had enough awareness to handle Bothari and keep him on a short leash. Miles was less skilled, much less aware of Bothari's darker nature... and he let the monster off his leash. Miles did pay, emotionally, for the results of that action, but I could see where having Bothari for the dirty jobs would have tempted Miles. For all the talk of being responsible for Bothari's actions, I think there's a mental distance from ordering someone to do something, and doing it yourself. Removing Bothari meant Miles couldn't have that distance.
Now to Miles. His brittle bone issues have parallels to genetic issues and brittle bones in our world. I think he'd be labeled ADHD if he were plopped in front of most people, but to me he has the same sense of desperate energy that I feel on days when there's so much I want to do, and so little I can actually do.
In some ways, the tech Bujold dreamt up is amazing, in others medicine has moved on. The Warrior's Apprentice opens with Miles being needled to impetuous action by his pride, resulting in a boy with more broken bones than he can remember jumping off a wall on a hope that he'll somehow roll out of the impact unharmed. It goes badly, of course. Given how well he thinks things through and the descriptions of his intellect, this felt a bit like Bujold handed Miles the Idiot Ball.
On the other hand, I've absolutely had my share of "fuck it, doing it anyway!" moments, so there was some wincing sympathy with his decision to jump. His broken legs end his dreams of military service, and set him and Bothari and Elena on an off planet trip to see Mile's grandmother.
From there, Miles' wit and inability to keep his nose out of other people's business drive the plot. Other than threatening to break his own bones trying to stop Bothari from strangling someone to death, mentioning being glad he was kicked in the stomach and not a bone, and how a suit was like an exoskeleton, making him as physically able as the others while he's in it... Miles' disability is set aside for the rest of the book.
The medical stuff also feels off. They can rewire nerves, but they can't remodel bone or give him cadaver grafts? There are now drugs on the market to prevent brittle bone breaks from osteoporosis. "Actonel (risedronate sodium) tablets is a pyridinyl bisphosphonate that inhibits osteoclastmediated bone resorption and modulates bone metabolism." It stops the bone from reforming the same frail latticework. So the book's a bit dated, but not too bad.
We now know ulcers are most often caused by H. pylori infections, not stress, so having a stomach bleed be what took Miles out of action at the end of the story felt discordant. And not just because it's an additional roadblock, but because he seems to set aside his bone issues and go chasing after adventure without his main handicap ever becoming more than a mentioned bit of background.
For all that Miles' ability to set aside his issues when they were no longer plot relevant was annoying (wish I could set my issues aside!), it was only annoying in retrospect. I was engaged in the story for the most part. I do think it was telling that he was much more depressed over Bothari's death than his grandfather's, and I respect him for getting the hell over himself and giving Elena and Jesek his blessing.
It went back to Barrayaran politics at the end of the book, and I still don't find that sort of plot to be terribly engaging. I'm much more an action and adventure fan than a thriller or suspense fan. I don't know that I'll continue with the Vorkosigan Saga, but I do, on the whole, like Bujold's writing, and think that ending fit with the world building she'd done.