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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Unlike many Sci-Fi authors, Bujold does not burden her readers with complex societal histories or baffle them with technobabble. Set in the indeterminately distant future where Earth seems to have been abandoned and humans inhabit a range of differing worlds (some inhabited by non-humans) linked by wormholes, Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series are simple and accessible without detracting from sophisticated plotting and excellent characterisation. In this particular novel, Miles, by now in the Imperial Service (though soon to be disgraced), becomes caught up in an increasingly dangerous heightening of interstellar tensions. Quite where the pressure is coming from, or rather, who is planning to attack who, remains unclear, and Bujold's plotting is first-rate as the reader is kept guessing along with Miles. Characters carry over from her previous Vorkosigan tale, The Warrior's Apprentice, which adds extra depth to the already well-portrayed characters, but, as I've said before, part of the beauty her writing is that you could quite happily read her novels as one-offs, without losing a great deal; conversely, to read them in order is a real treat. Intriguing and exciting stuff.
Starts well but then 1/3 of the way in it turns into a repeat of the Warriors Apprentice
15 Dec 2011
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I read this when it first came out and heartily enjoyed it but I re-read it again recently and found it to be shallow and predictable. The first time round I was young, naive and to be honest had not read much.
Don't get me wrong its not so awful that I couldn't finish it. Its just that after about a third of the way through the story, which has been developing nicely into a mystery, it suddenly changes direct into what reads like a rehash of the Warriors Apprentice. The hero's actions suddenly feel like they have no consequence and there is little real sense of threat or danger to him. Gone is the very real sense of for shadowing that had been building nicely and instead everything becomes very immediate and convenient. It goes from being a novel that was genuinely interesting and dealing with racial/sexual/disability prejudice, the military's role in society and the pressures of familial responsibility into a merely adequate piece of pulp fiction. Many in my Bookclub club felt the same way.
By all means give it a go but after the 'discovery in the drain' keep your ear's open for a screeching sound. Its the sound of the book suddenly changing direction without explanation....
Don't get me wrong its not so awful that I couldn't finish it. Its just that after about a third of the way through the story, which has been developing nicely into a mystery, it suddenly changes direct into what reads like a rehash of the Warriors Apprentice. The hero's actions suddenly feel like they have no consequence and there is little real sense of threat or danger to him. Gone is the very real sense of for shadowing that had been building nicely and instead everything becomes very immediate and convenient. It goes from being a novel that was genuinely interesting and dealing with racial/sexual/disability prejudice, the military's role in society and the pressures of familial responsibility into a merely adequate piece of pulp fiction. Many in my Bookclub club felt the same way.
By all means give it a go but after the 'discovery in the drain' keep your ear's open for a screeching sound. Its the sound of the book suddenly changing direction without explanation....
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
more or less once a year. It's amazing, a great adventure, a lot of suspence, a peculiar hero... and you laugh to death. I read almost everything that she wrote, and I loved everything, but this is one of her best.
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