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A Civil Campaign: A Comedy of Biology and Manners (Miles Vorkosigan Adventures) [Mass Market Paperback]

Lois McMaster Bujold (Author)
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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 544 pages
  • Publisher: Baen Books; Reprint edition (1 Aug 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0671578855
  • ISBN-13: 978-0671578855
  • Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 10.5 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 452,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Lois McMaster Bujold
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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

If you relish costume adventure in an intergalactic society starring strong, convincing male and female characters, you'll adore the Vorkosigan Series. If you haven't met Miles Vorkosigan, whose brilliance, manic energy, and unstoppable determination make him a larger-than-life hero despite his dwarfish stature, pick up Komarr and A Civil Campaign. Read them, and then go back and catch the previous nine books (10 if you count Ethan of Athos, which features not Miles but his partner, Ellie Quinn); or read the series in order, starting with the romance of Miles's parents in Shards of Honor.

A Civil Campaign opens where Komarr ends with Miles determined to court Ekaterin. Unfortunately, his approach is described as "General Romeo Vorkosigan, the one-man strike force" by his father. The potential for comic disaster increases when Miles' clone brother Mark arrives. He has brought a brilliant but scatterbrained scientist who has created a bug producing a perfect food: bug butter. They set up a lab in the basement of Vorkosigan House. Mark has also found a nice Barrayaran girl--she even likes the bugs--with whom he got together on the sexually liberated world of Beta. But now Kareen's living at home. Naturally, disaster strikes, repeatedly and on all fronts.

Bujold unfolds her comedy of manners while continuing to explore familiar themes: the difficulties in becoming a strong adult woman in a patriarchy; the need for trust and honesty in relationships between the sexes; the difference between appearance and identity; and the impact of advanced biotechnologies on society. A Civil Campaign is a sure-fire Hugo and Nebula award nominee, likely to add another statue to Bujold's already full shelf. It's charming, touching, and quite funny too. --Nona Vero --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

ONE CUNNING PLAN TOO MANY. . . ? It's spring in Vorbarr Sultana, and a young person's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love . . . money . . . bio-genetics . . . love . . . lack of money . . . incompatible planetary sexual mores . . . love . . . District succession scandals . . . the Emperor's wedding . . . and, of course, love . . . Lord Miles Vorkosigan, youngest Imperial Auditor to be appointed by the Emperor since the Time of Isolation, has a problem all his new power can't solve: unrequited love for the beautiful Vor widow Ekaterin Vorsoisson. Ekaterin is violently allergic to marriage as a result of her first exposure. But as Miles learned from his late career in galactic covert ops, if a frontal assault won't do, go to subterfuge. He has a cunning plan . . . Lord Mark Vorkosigan has a problem: his love for the sunny Kareen, daughter of Commodore Koudelka, has just become unrequited again. But if all his new money can't solve their dilemma, perhaps a judicious blending of science and entrepreneurial scheming might. He has a cunning plan . . . "It's another winner with all kinds of unexpected adventures . . . Georgette Heyer has met her match for intrigue and STYLE! A sprightly conducted romance with twists and turns that could only happen in a Vorkosigan-inspired novel. . . . Boy, can she write!" -Anne McCaffrey
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Patrick Shepherd TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Miles Vorkosigan is at it again, merrily planning (and attempting to execute) a very exacting military campaign. The only trouble is, the military objective is inducing his new-found lady love Ekaterin to marry him. His plan includes notable pieces of strategy: not to be too obvious about it, as she is still in mourning for her late husband (see the earlier book Komarr for details); keep other suitors well away; make sure there are frequent opportunities for the two to be in each other's presence; ensure that she becomes aware of all the niceties that would entail from marrying into one of the noblest families on Barrayar. Each piece of his plan, though, runs into one minefield after another, and as he puts emergency stop-losses in place, his situation continuously deteriorates, culminating in a dinner where absolutely everything goes wrong.

The dinner may be the high point of this book - the person who can read this section and not fall over laughing, cringing, and crying all at the same time isn't a real human being. For this book is not about military action, political plots, or single-handed world-saving, but is rather a very witty comedy. The picture of Miles making just about every mistake a lovelorn suitor can is both marvelously funny and very believable, and the picture of Barrayaran society is solidly fleshed out, making the whole a perfect environment in which to play out such a comedy of manners. As usual, Bujold keeps several plot threads spinning at once, whose resolution, while (for once) not at all earth-shaking, makes for a nicely unified wholeness to the basic story.

In another departure for Bujold, this story is told from several viewpoints, not just Miles', which adds a lot to the reader's perspective of the society and situation, and also allows for much greater character development of Ivan Vorpatril, Mark (Miles' clone brother), and Ekaterin than has been the case with previous books in this series.

Perhaps my only real objection to this book was that some of the side plots from the main story just didn't seem to have enough importance and weren't detailed enough to make me really get involved with them, so that their major effect on the final outcome seemed to be larger than justified and a little bit of a surprise. This is a pretty minor quibble, though. Nominated for the 2000 Hugo award, this is a fine entertaining read, full of chuckles and belly-laughs, managing to make Miles into a normal human being without totally losing his aura of impossible competence, engaging and heart-warming. Possibly the best of all the Vorkosigan books.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Readers of previous Vorkosigan books will know how Bujold has been able to combine a cracking adventure yarn with serious issues (as in the best in the series, Brothers in Arms and Mirror Dance). Even as Miles has retired from his mercenary fleet, Bujold has kept the series fresh by involving him in the fascinating political scheming of Barrayar and its neighboring worlds (in Memory and Komarr). While A Civil Campaign might seem to be a throwaway volume, focusing on the imperial wedding and Miles's own romantic frustrations, Bujold has managed to fill it with still more political intrigue, interesting ideas on gender issues, and more character development for Miles, as his romantic hopes can only be fulfilled by using strategies different to those which have brought him success in the past. His love interest, Ekaterin, is also a fully developed character, and clone brother Mark and his friend Kareen get much attention as well. Then there's the comic scenes--Bujold has hinted at a skill for these in the past, but the chapters on Miles's first dinner party are classic! While A Civil Campaign is different in tone from other books in the series, it's still written to as high a standard. I hate waiting for the next volume!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I thoroughly enjoyed all the Miles Vorkosigan books, but I think this is the best of the series. Its combination of lovers' problems and final success with intriguing action works well. I particularly liked the passage where Ekaterin asks Miles to marry her as a way of refuting a political point made by a very nasty character. The development of Ivan into a surprisingly effective character is also enjoyable.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Vorkosigan Triumph
Lois produced one of her finest works with this book. Impossible to put down. She wove a tale that took you heart in mouth through Miles' highs and lows, and Ekaterins personal... Read more
Published 12 months ago by W. Bryant
Best in a hysterically funny series
The Miles Vorkosigan series of adventures is far and away the most amusing comedy science fiction series ever written. Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2006 by Marshall Lord
The best of a great series
This is quite simply a great book. Even allowing for the fact that I am a “fan” of Bujold’s work this one and ‘Memory’ stand out from all the others. Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2006 by David Topping
Four Weddings & a Funeral in Space!
Decidedly different from most other works in the series, as the acton is all romantic rather than military, this is an amiable enough book, if a little lightweight. Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2001 by johnppotts@excite.co.uk
What a book!!
This is a fantastic read. While Lois is great at the breath-taking fights, politics and sabotage, she now shows her genius in the romantic comedy. Read more
Published on 8 May 2001 by James of the Shire
A Civil Campaign is fun!
Associate Reviewer David Brown writes: Lord Miles Vorkosigan, a recent galactic covert agent & now the youngest Imperial Auditor appointed since the Time of Isolation, is madly... Read more
Published on 29 April 2001 by Rebecca Brown
Superb fun!
OK, this is probably not the all time best from Ms. Bujold, and it is a pivotal book. It's also great fun to read! Read more
Published on 13 Nov 2000 by Joss Delage
Brilliant and very funny!
A fantastic book! Miles has faced many difficult tasks in the past but none so difficult as trying to court Ekaterin without letting her know about it. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2000
"A Civil Campaign" is hard SF & Bujold's funniest book...
I have just re-read "A Civil Campaign" and, as always when I re-read one of Lois Bujold's books, I am delighted by all the little details I had forgotten. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2000 by James M. Bryant
Great, can be read and reread, interesting at every level
I now buy Lois Bujold in hardback since I couldn't bear waiting once I'd seen the sample chapters (still on website Baen.com). Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2000
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