I probably will read it. (It's already sitting on my iPad.) But I've been unimpressed with…well, basically with everything after A Civil Campaign. (My take on it: one Miles is happy, he becomes boring.) Up through that book, I was so engaged that I re-read immediately after finishing each book. Now I have a hard time working up the interest to read the first time.
Re: Can anyone find the post that pointed out that Tej's family are Jacksonian and Cetagandan war criminals benefiting from Barrayaran nepotism and corruption in the linked Vorpatril, Vorbarra and Vorkosigan families?
One thing I regularly say about the Vorkosigan series is that it makes me deeply uneasy in how I am seduced into sympathizing with monsters. I run into a lot of confusion over how I could view the characters as monsters. This. This is what I'm talking about. "War criminals…nepotism…corruption." Glad it's not just me.
Yes! Aral Vorkosigan wasn't the Butcher of Komarr, but he certainly fought in a number of wars, participated in the execution of Emperor Yuri, and was responsible for the Komarran occupation. Miles Naismith Vorkosigan's tendency to ignore his commanding officers and go off on his own is just terrifying. A loose cannon mercenary captain leading an army is not generally a good idea.
And Miles would have gotten into much more trouble, much more often, if he weren't consistently getting special treatment as the foster brother of the Emperor.
I'm not reading your review just yet because I'm still waiting for the library's copies to move from "in process" to "on holdshelf." (As I'm person #8 on 10 copies, I'm hoping I don't have to wait for much longer.)
I've heard that it's better if you go into it with expectations very different from the usual Vorkosigan books. I'll try to remember to stop back here once I've read it.
Amazon lists the publication date as February 2nd, so I'm hoping that means the library will change the status of the ten copies on Tuesday. Of course, that's ten copies at ten different branches, and only one of those copies is at my branch (that being the central branch), so I don't know whether being #8 automatically gets me a copy, or if it's more complicated than that. Guess I'll have to wait a few days and see what happens.
I'm not very far into the book yet myself but as a bisexual person I was super disappointed that it reinforces the stereotype that bisexuals need at least two lovers to be satisfied. I'm fine with polyamory, but keep it separate from the issue of bisexuality, plz :(
On the other hand, it was lovely to read about a healthy polyamorous relationship between main characters in an established series. Too bad it seems to have been retconned in.
Not exactly retconned. The hints were on the page all along. The first time we saw Jole, in Vor Game, Miles noticed his physical beauty - which is a markedly odd choice given Miles's extremely heterosexual POV. See further analysis here.
Book showed up Friday, and I finished it this afternoon. It was quite refreshing to be back in Vorkosigan-land, and to be back inside Cordelia's head after so long. Now that Miles has kids, he's much less interesting as a protagonist, as they keep him from truly going off on adventures. (I feel like, if there's another Miles story that needs to happen - and I remember reading that Bujold knows how/when he dies, so I expect there will be - it needs to happen once his children are grown up and out of the house
( ... )
I would love a uterine replicator. I mean, insert genetic material into machine, visit occasionally, open in nine months - that sounds like the perfect pregnancy to me! But... yeah. (Honestly, my and L's variously inbred Ashkenazi Jewish genes probably shouldn't combine.)
Much of Bujold's best writing centers around her taking the sci-fi concept of the uterine replicator and extrapolating entire societies and rippling possibilities based on that one initial development. I did appreciate that part of this book.
Were you able to combine your genes, you'd just have to do some genetic testing first. (By your logic, most Ashkenazi couples shouldn't be having children with each other, you know...)
And yes, uterine replicators sound awesome. Though it breaks my brain a bit as I try to think how those would affect abortion debates.
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Re: Can anyone find the post that pointed out that Tej's family are Jacksonian and Cetagandan war criminals benefiting from Barrayaran nepotism and corruption in the linked Vorpatril, Vorbarra and Vorkosigan families?
One thing I regularly say about the Vorkosigan series is that it makes me deeply uneasy in how I am seduced into sympathizing with monsters. I run into a lot of confusion over how I could view the characters as monsters. This. This is what I'm talking about. "War criminals…nepotism…corruption." Glad it's not just me.
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And Miles would have gotten into much more trouble, much more often, if he weren't consistently getting special treatment as the foster brother of the Emperor.
So, yes.
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I've heard that it's better if you go into it with expectations very different from the usual Vorkosigan books. I'll try to remember to stop back here once I've read it.
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The part I find odd is that Miles never knew.
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And yes, uterine replicators sound awesome. Though it breaks my brain a bit as I try to think how those would affect abortion debates.
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