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Amazon.co.uk Review
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Battlefield of Love,
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This review is from: A Civil Campaign (A Miles Vorkosigan adventure) (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.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is there anything Bujold can't do?,
This review is from: A Civil Campaign: A Comedy of Biology and Manners (Miles Vorkosigan Adventures) (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!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The best of the series.,
By
This review is from: A Civil Campaign (Miles Vorkosigan Adventures) (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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