Comments | kiezh: my tl;dr thoughts on the Vorkosigan Saga and the upcoming book

kiezh

my tl;dr thoughts on the Vorkosigan Saga and the upcoming book

Mar 18, 2015 02:14

Everyone is so excited about the new Vorkosigan book, and I feel like I am the only one who is worriedBujold used to be my very favorite author; nowadays I cringe when I hear a new book of hers is out, because the last several were so heartbreakingly disappointing. I wanted to love them! I want to love everything she ever writes! But she used to ( Read more... )

meta, vorkosigan

Comments 3

avanti_90 March 18 2015, 08:05:35 UTC

You aren't alone. I've been watching all the squee and keeping quiet because I just couldn't think of a good way to say that I don't think I'll be reading the new novel, but... yes, this is exactly what I wanted to say.

ETA: Actually, this is so much what I wanted to say that I now want to share it on my journal. May I?

springwoof March 18 2015, 17:42:55 UTC

I think I agree on most of what you said, except I loved Ivan's book. What you said about Captain Vorpatril's Alliance may have some validity, but I enjoyed Ivan finding someone who loved him for himself and not his title or position in society. And I enjoyed the Jacksons Whole perspective and characters and how their perspective differed from Barrayar's characters (even Mark's).

That aside, nice analysis! We can but hope for the best in the coming work...

bunsen_h March 19 2015, 03:48:23 UTC

You're a more analytical reader than I am. But... I found Cryoburn very light, and too much driven by coincidence. CVA was better, but still light. My reaction to the latter was partly influenced by disappointed high expectations, since I'd been told by one of LMB's beta readers that with that book she was back in top form -- that it was up there with A Civil Campaign.

I was wondering what Bujold was working on (and hoping that she was in fact making progress on something). I'm still subscribed to the Bujold mailing list but haven't read any of the messages in something like a couple of years. ("Swamped" doesn't describe things here. "Keeping my head above water, mostly, with occasional setbacks" would be closer.) Do you know when this new work is set? If it's post-Cryoburn, I can imagine some significant challenges for Cordelia as she tries to maintain authority on her own, merely as a complicating factor on top of some independent problem. Sergyar would be far more progressive than Barrayar, and neither of the ( ... )