Lois McMaster Bujold: Barrayar

The second book in the Vorkosigan series, in the internal chronological order when Falling Free is considered a prequel novel. Part of Cordelia’s Honor omnibus.

Publication year: 1991
Format: Audio
Narrator: Grover Gardner
Running Time: 11 hours 40 minutes

The Vorkosigan series is one of my favorite series ever and Barryar is one of my favorites in the series. I strongly recommend reading “Shards of Honor” first where Aral and Cordelia meet, and their worlds are introduced.

Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan is a former exploration ship captain from Beta Colony but is now married to Admiral Lord Aral Vorkosigan who has been appointed the Regent of planet Barrayar. Cordelia comes from a very different culture and she’s still trying to navigate the strange Barrayaran culture. She’s especially lost among the high military caste Vor who have some pretty strange attitudes and customs, from Cordelia’s point-of-view.

She’s pregnant with their first child. Aral is attacked with a soltoxin in their bedroom and Cordelia is exposed to the gas, too. Unfortunately, the toxin deforms the unborn child and Aral’s father wants them to abort the child and try again. However, Cordelia doesn’t give up. Over her father-in-law’s loud objections, but backed by her husband, she has the fetus transferred to a uterine replicator, an artificial womb. In the UR, the doctors can try to correct the damage done to the fetus. At the same time, a civil war breaks out on the planet and the UR becomes one of the hostages.

The start of the book is pretty leisurely with Cordelia trying to figure out Barrayaran culture and getting to know the dowager Empress Kareen and her five-year-old son Gregor. The poor boy is already a pawn in political games but he isn’t spoiled or coddled. Kareen is also a pawn, but she knows it and she’s determined to protect her son and herself. Some of the recurring characters in the series are introduced here: Cordelia’s bodyguard and a very good friend Droushnakovi and Lady Alys Vorpatril who is Cordelia’s guide in the Barrayarn culture and etiquette. It was also a bit strange to see how Aral’s father Count Piotr treated Cordelia before the soltoxin attack. He was one of her guides to the Barrayaran mindset and very kind towards her. Then, after the attack his attitude changes completely, which is sad.

I’m an unabashed fan of Cordelia: her anthropological attitude towards the Barrayarans, her wry humor, and her fierce loyalty to her family. She’s also ruthless when she has to be, to protect her unborn son in any way she can. She’s very resourceful but that could be because she’s grown up in a society where she could be whatever she wanted to be. She doesn’t know that on Barrayar she should be constrained by her gender, and so she isn’t. Of course, being the wife of the most powerful man on the planet helps, too.

Aral is also one of my favorite characters ever. He’s an honorable man who was put into a very dishonorable situation in “Shards of Honor”. Here, he’s still loyally serving his Emperor as a Regent to a five-year-old Emperor. He has every intention of serving well and giving the empire back to Gregor when the time comes, but his enemies are convinced that Aral will take over. So, they launch an attack first.

Both Cordelia and Aral are good people, trying to do the right thing with circumstances and culture which is making it very hard.

I also adore the secondary characters. Count Piotr has lived a turbulent life, earning his Generalship during the fight (with horse cavalry!) against the Cetagandan invaders, making the transition to space flight, and seeing Mad Emperor Yuri kill his wife and eldest son. He surely knows how bloody Barrayaran wars can be. Lieutenant Kou who was wounded during the previous war and has to walk with a cane for the rest of his life in a society where cripples are expected to kill themselves. Cordelia’s bodyguard Drou who would have made an excellent officer, but who lives on planet with males only military. She always thinks that she isn’t as good as the “real officers” because of her gender. And tortured Sergeant Bothari who was used and abused by men with the power to do so.

The book has lots and lots of lovely passages:
“You should have fallen in love with a happy man, if you wanted happiness. But no, you had to fall for the breathtaking beauty of pain”
“Check your assumptions. In fact, check your assumptions at the door.”
“What a strange mix Barryar was: at one moment homey and familiar, the next terrifying and alien.”
“Suicidal glory is the luxury of the irresponsible. We’re not giving up. We’re waiting for a better opportunity to win.”
“I don’t want power. I just object to idiots having power over me.”
“Betan experience [with URs] suggests it doesn’t matter so much how you got here, as what you do after you arrive.”

 

Lois McMaster Bujold: Shards of Honor

The first book in the Vorkosigan science fiction series. Part of Cordelia’s Honor omnibus.

Publication year: 1986
Publication year of Cordelia’s Honor: 1999
Page count for Cordelia’s Honor: 596, 253 for Shards of Honor

Cordelia Naismith is the captain of the astronomical survey ship Rene Magritte. She and her crew are exploring a newly found planet when a group of soldiers attack. The rest of the crew and the ship manage to escape but Cordelia and Ensign Dubauer are left behind. Cordelia is soon stunned but Dubauer is hit by disruptor fire and is essentially brain dead.

When Cordelia wakes up, she realizes that one of the enemy soldiers have been betrayed and left behind. Now, she will have to work with Captain Aral Vorkosigan, also known as the Butcher of Komarr, to get herself and her injured crewman to safety.

Cordelia and Aral are from different backgrounds and cultures but they have very similar value systems and goals. They both are middle-aged and single. Both are honorable almost to a fault and they both want peace for their planets. Cordelia is from Beta Colony which is pretty liberal and values individuals. Aral is from Barrayar which has just climbed out of their Middle Ages, is patriarchal, and values family and kinship more than individuals, especially women. Barrayarans have also brutal ways of dealing with people with permanent injuries and Cordelia has to defend her decision to bring Dubauer with them on the dangerous journey.

The story is mostly a mystery. Cordelia has to find out why Aral was betrayed and what is happening. Aral is in a hard place between his honor and his duty to the old and crafty Emperor of Barrayar. There is a romance aspect, too, but it doesn’t take over the rest of the story.

Bujold writes character driven novels and her first novel isn’t an exception. All of the characters feel like real people who have their own lives outside the pages of the book.

One of my favorite sf novels and I recommend starting the Vorkosigan saga with Cordelia’s Honor.

 

Whee!

The eARC of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance is out!

 

Lois McMaster Bujold: Paladin of Souls

The second fantasy book set into Chalion.

Publication year: 2003
Format: Audio
Publisher: Audible Inc.
Narrator: Kate Reading
Running Time: 16 hrs and 22 minutes

PoS is one of my favorite fantasy books but I’ll try not to squee too much.

PoS is set about three years after the end of Curse of Chalion but it’s not strictly necessary to read Curse first. However, you’ll get more out of the characters and the setting if you read Curse first. And of course, PoS spoils Curse mercilessly.

Ista is pretty much a unique main character in fantasy, or I’ve never encountered anyone like her. She’s an adult woman, and a mother of an adult woman, and a grandmother, and according to tradition her life is pretty much over and she should just wait for death, quietly. She’s a widow, a dowager royina (a queen), who had lived under a curse for decades and so was considered mad. People close to her aren’t convinced that she’s gotten better and they still want to protect her, especially from herself. During her years of madness she lived in Valenda, under the care of her mother who was a formidable woman and a guardian of her daughter.

Now, Ista’s mother is dead and Ista grows restless in the suffocation of the castle and the older waiting women who want everything to continue as it had before. Ista is also afraid the people still think that she’s mad and in anxiety she simply walks away in her silk slippers. The castle warden and some guards fetch her back but she has time to meet a rather eclectic group of people on a pilgrimage and she decides to do that. The elderly people around her try to make is huge affair but she manages to escape with a small group of young people: the courier girl Liss as Ista’s lady in waiting, a group of soldiers from the Daughter’s Order as protection, and by Cabon, a divine of the Bastard’s Order, as a spiritual adviser.

They journey for a while until they are attacked by a bear which turns out to be possessed by a demon. The demon jumps into one of Ista’s protectors and shortly after, the group is attacked by group of soldiers. They are from Roknari, a neighboring country where the servitors of Bastard are considered demon worshipers, and tortured and killed.

The start is pretty slow. Ista and her entourage journey quite a while until something “happens” in the traditional sense. However, the payoff is very much worth it. PoS is a character driven story where things often turn out to be different than what you can see at first glance.

Also, theology is actually important to the people and the plot. The five gods in this setting are everywhere; they each have a season, a color, professions, and times of people’s lives dedicated to them. For example, the Father’s season is winter and he governs over male parents, justice, and law, and his colors are gray and black while the Bastard is the god of things that are out of season, and his color is white. A couple of gods make appearance in the book. However, they can’t influence anything directly; but have to work through people and animals so they are quite limited.

The cast of characters is pretty diverse. Ista herself is still bearing a lot of guilt for the things she has done in the past. She is bitter towards the gods that they didn’t make things clearer but she also blames herself for being too stupid to understand. She has a grim sense of humor.

Ista appropriated Liss, the courier girl, as her lady in waiting. Liss is a straight forward country girl. She’s often uncomfortable with other nobles but not around Ista. Liss is honest and learns quickly. She loves horses and riding, of course, and is very good at her job. Ista very much appreciates Liss down-to-earth attitude after dealing with the uptight elderly nobles for decades. Even though a courier seems to be an uncommon profession for a woman, nobody suggests that it’s not proper.

The dy Gura brothers are the leaders of the small soldier group. They are also honest and down-to-earth men and they were minor characters in the Curse of Chalion.

Dy Cabon is a more complex character. He’s a bastard but his noble father acknowledged him and gave him a good education. He’s obese but, for once, he isn’t made a villain or a humorous stick figure. Instead, he tries very hard to give Ista advice when her strange dreams start.

Later we meet another pair of brothers: Lord Arhys and his half-brother Lord Illvin. Arhys is the handsome master of Castle Porifors who, it seems at first glance, to get everything he wants. However, he spent his boyhood trying to please an absent father who died before Arhys could impress him so Arhys couldn’t get what he most wanted in life. Illvin grew up in his brother’s shadow but instead of hating Arhys, he loves Arhys dearly and they are quite close. They are both experienced soldiers.

I rather enjoyed the pilgrimage group at the start. They’re quite a colorful collection of people. I believe their inspirations were the characters in Chaucer’s Cantebury Tales.

The writing is lush and beautiful, and the book has some beautiful lines. “She knew what she feared: to be locked up in some dark, narrow place by people who loved her. An enemy might drop his guard, weary of his task, turn his back. Love would never falter.”

“The gods and I are not on speaking terms.”

“Anyone who desires to see the gods face-to-face is a great fool, thought Ista. Although that was not an impediment in her experience.”

 

Lois McMaster Bujold: the Spirit Ring

A stand-alone historical fantasy and Bujold’s first fantasy book.

Publication year: 1992
Page count: 370
Publisher: Baen
Format: Print

The setting for this story is sort of Renaissance Italy with magic.

Fiametta Beneforte is a fifteen year old girl who wants to be a mage and find her true love. She’s already a capable metalworker and when her father allows her to make her first independent metalworking, she puts into the ring a spell to find her true love. She already likes the local Duke’s guard Captain Uri Ochs but he turns out not to be her true love. Instead, Uri says that his brother might be a good apprentice for Fiamatta’s father, Prospero Beneforte. Prospero agrees and Uri writes a letter to his brother Thur.

Thur’s working in a mine in Switzerland. However, the mine is plagued by kobolds. One of them tells Thur that his future will be in fire and air, and not in the mines. Then disaster strikes and the mine is half submerged. Thur saves other men with heroic action but afterward he decides to become a metalworker-mage’s apprentice and leaves. He pays his way as a muleteer in a small caravan.

Prospero and Fiametta are invited to a party at the Duke’s castle. The Duke’s twelve year old daughter is getting engaged to powerful Lord Ferrante. Prospero hopes that he will get new and better paid commissions from the Duke and Fiametta is delighted to wear her mother’s finest velvet dress. Her Ethiopian mother died when Fiametta was eight so the girl didn’t really know her mother.

However, in the middle of feasting Lord Ferrante kills the Duke and his guard Captain. Fiametta and Prospero manage to escape with nothing more than the clothes they’re wearing. However, the excitement is too much to Prospero’s heart and his dies from a heart-attack leaving Fiametta without any money or protector.

While most of the setting is historical, Bujold has added working magic to it. The magic seems to be mostly done with rituals: words, gestures, objects, and diagrams drawn in chalk. The Catholic Church has a tight control over the mages; it issues licenses not only to magic use but also for apprenticeships. The Church has also an Inquisition which seems to especially concentrate in controlling women who use magic (what a shocker… not!). Scholars and mages seems to be educated by the Church and so they are men. Women are referred here as hedge witches. On the other hand, it seems that Prospero could have gotten a license to apprentice Fiametta but was too cheap to get it, so women seem to be able to do magic for commercial purposes.

The point-of-view characters are Fiametta and Thur, and for most of the book they have alternate POV chapters.

Fiametta is a strong willed, impatient, and impulsive. She’s also been told her whole life that she’s “just a girl” and should keep her mouth shut around her male betters. This is clear when she could have suggested ways to improve a magical ritual but instead says nothing. Her father calls her “stupid girl” and threatens to beat her but we don’t know if he’s ever actually beat her. She doesn’t cringe from him, so maybe it’s just a threat. Fiametta’s mother was dark skinned so she’s also darker skinned than the people around her. She’s a bit self-conscious about it.

Thur is a very gentle and honorable young man who tries to do the right thing. When he first sees her, he’s very taken by her and tries to help her. Unfortunately for him, things go awry and he isn’t able to help as much as he would have liked to. He also has magical abilities even though he’s never considered himself a mage: he can find things easily. This is a very handy ability.

The plot is pretty straight-forward once Fiametta and Thur realize what they must do. Lord Ferrante has taken over the castle and the lands, and is laying siege on the nearby abbey where people have fled. Ferrante has also stolen Prospero’s body and is going to use it in black magic. Of course, Fiametta can’t allow that and Thur is determined to help her. They hope that the abbey’s Abbot-Bishop Monreale can help them. Monreale is a former soldier and a skilled mage.

The book has a romance and a spell that finds a person’s true love. I wasn’t happy with the whole spell thing because it seems that lovers are predestined for each other instead of actually getting to know each other first. However, even though Thur immediately falls in love with Fiametta, she’s mortified that her spell brought to her a smelly muleteer who a stranger to boot. It also seemed to me that the spell is a self-fulfilling prophecy: once Fiametta knew that Thur was her true love, she started to think about him and pay attention to him.

The romance itself is very low-key and more realistic than is typical for fantasy these days. The characters even plan their future together instead of their lives apparently ending at the wedding. They think about setting up a metalworking shop and who works at what.

I didn’t like this book as much as Bujold’s Chalion fantasy books but it’s still good with a fast-paced plot and magic that actually has rules and makes sense.

 

Lois McMaster Bujold: Komarr

The fourteenth book in the long-running Vorkosigan series. This time Miles meets Ekaterin Vorsoisson.

Publication year: 2004
Format: Audio
Narrator: Grover Gardner
Running Time: 12 hours 44 minutes

Ekaterin Vorsoisson is married to Tien Vorsoisson who is a bureaucrat in the terraforming project on Komarr. They have been married for a ten years and have one son, Nikolai. Ekaterin is unhappy because her husband mentally abuses her. They also have a secret: Tien and Nikolai suffer from a genetic disease. Tien hates mutants and is afraid that someone else would know about his disease. So, even though Ekaterin pleads him to cure himself and their son, he delays and delays. Also, Tien has trouble keeping his job; he blames his awful supervisors and co-workers, and moves often. Ekaterin doesn’t have any friends anymore and she doesn’t even bother to plant a new garden.

When Komarr’s solar array is damaged by a mysterious accident, Emperor Gregor sends to Imperial Auditors to check it out; Vorthys, who is Ekaterin’s uncle and an Engineer Professor, and the newly minted Auditor Miles Vorkosigan. The more they look into the accident, the weirder it looks. The duo lives with the Vorsoissons during that time, and Miles and Ekaterin grow closer.

Miles Vorkosigan is now the youngest Imperial Auditor ever. He comes to Komarr to study the elder Auditor in action and to help with case. He’s instantly attracted to the lovely Ekaterin but keeps reminding himself that she’s married. He’s also trying to adjust to his new job but his old instincts as a secret agent still take over from time to time. In addition to researching his case, he also manages to snoop in Ekaterin’s computer. He stumbles into her garden designs but also her notes about the disease.

The book is structured as a romance; the point-of-view switches between the hero and the heroine, and their growing attraction is a secondary plot along with the mystery. Thankfully, the story is devoid of the more toxic romance tropes, such as rape is romantic if it’s done by the “right” guy.

Professor Vorthys and the ImpSec people are great new characters. Vorthys has also a wife who is called the Professora and she also a university teacher. Unfortunately, we didn’t see much of her. Ekaterin has trained herself to be still as stone so that she wouldn’t do anything to upset her volatile husband (Unfortunately, her tactic doesn’t work because Tien is the cause of Tien’s anger) so she might come across as a bland character. Apparently, she’s a realistic portrayal of an abuse victim. In the end, she does have fire and passion in her.

Komarr’s cities are inside domes because the planet is still being terraformed. Barrayar conquered the planet about a generation ago. However, while some Komarrans make snide remarks to the Barrayarans, there doesn’t seem to be much active resistance going on. For example, Miles whose father is known as the Butcher of Komarr can move around freely without bodyguards. Komarr feels also more galactic than Barrayar. I can’t imagine that any Komarrans live in as profound poverty as the peasants on Barrayar. So, the difference between the conquered and the conquerors seems to be surprisingly large.

I heartily recommend the book for romance fans.

 

Lois McMaster Bujold: Cryoburn

I’m a big fan of the Vorkosigan series, so when I spotted Cryoburn at Audible I shouted in joy and downloaded it. It was absolutely wonderful that it was available to us non-USAians so quickly! (I’m still waiting for Tongues of Serpents…)

First things first: pretty much all of the elements I most enjoy in this series are present: writing style, humor, and characters. The plot is a bit too convenient in parts, though.

The setting is a planet called Kibou-Daini where the most notable industry is cryotechnology. The wealthiest people freeze themselves when they’re near death or if they have life-threatening diseases.

The book starts with Miles in trouble, as usual (yay!). He’s been drugged and kidnapped (by the way, shouldn’t this be adultnapped?) but the kidnappers used the wrong drug. It made Miles violent and he managed to fight off the kidnappers. Then he promptly got lost in the vast and cold Cryocombs. Tired, hungry, bare-footed, and hallucinating, he manages to find a way out and a street kid Jin kindly agrees to help him. Meanwhile his loyal Armsman Roic has been kidnapped and is trying to escape.

When I realized that Roic is one of the three point-of-view characters, I shouted in joy again (unfortunately, for my neighbors). The long-suffering Armsman is a great character, a sort of Watson to Miles’ hyperactive Holmes. Roic is also the one who reminds Miles to eat, sleep, and keep tabs on his seizures, so he’s almost a nanny.

While we get glimpses of familiar figures, such as Ekaterin, most of the characters here are new. Doctor Raven Durona has apparently been in one of the earlier books but I didn’t remember him. I liked him a lot here; he’s calm and professional and follows Miles’ antics with an ironic view. The rest are new.

The third point-of-view character, in addition to Roic and Miles, is a local street kid Jin Sato who is almost twelve. He has a lots of animals that he takes care of, including rats, chickens, a hawk, and a three-legged cat. He’s passionately interested in all animals and ran away from his foster home in order to keep his creatures. He also has a younger sister Mina.

The long-suffering Consul Vorlynkin led the Barrayaran consulate before Miles showed up and outranked him. Vorlynkin has only been on the planet for two years but knows quite a lot about the local customs. His aide is Lieutenant Johannes (Finnish name, yay!) who is mostly bewildered.

On the surface, the book is a funny adventure tale but underneath Bujold tackles questions about life and death. The people of Kibou-Daini fear death so much that some of them elect to be frozen while young, or youngish, in the hope of getting a better future. Some of the older frozen people have been revived only to realize that they are no longer wanted in the current time. Some also die during the freezing procedure and can die during the revival. This is a grim view which urges people to live now instead of hoping for something better at some other time.

The biggest difference to some of the previous books, such as Mirror Dance and A Civil Campaign, is that Miles has no personal stakes here. He or his family are not in real danger. Of course, that is to be expected; he’s there doing a job and not trying to find himself or woo a wife. He has a family and wants to keep them out of harm’s way.

Unfortunately, I found some plot elements to be very, very convenient, including Jin’s place in the larger plot. I also wasn’t convinced that Miles had any legal right to investigate matters in another government. However, it seemed to me that Miles realized this, too.

Overall I’m still happy with the story and it’s been a long time since a book has made me cry.

 

CryoBurn ARC!

Lois McMaster Bujold’s next Miles Vorkosigan book is available as an electronic Advanced Reader’s Copy:

http://www.webscription.net/p-1289-cryoburn-arc.aspx

The first five chapters are posted as free samples.

 

Lois McMaster Bujold: the Curse of Chalion

I’m relistening this book and realized that I haven’t written a review of it yet. However, the Curse of Chalion is difficult book to review because anything I say won’t do justice to it. It’s a very good book; go and read it.

Even though CoC is often said to be epic fantasy, it doesn’t really feel like that to me: it centers on political intrigue, it doesn’t have violence porn, and it has only one viewpoint character who is in his mid-thirties. The magic is also quite understated. Oh and it doesn’t have a map. The last one seems to really irritate many fantasy readers.

The main character of the book is Cazaril; a former nobleman and soldier who is finally coming back to Chalion. He was a commander of a fortress in a war that Chalion lost and later a galley slave. Now he’s looking for some peace and quite and perhaps employment in the house of a Dowager Provincara. When Caz was a boy, he was one the pages in the castle but he doesn’t really expect anyone to remember him. However, the Provincara does remember and welcomes him into her home.

The Provincara’s household has quite high-born people: the Dowager Royina (queen) Ista and her two children: Teidez, who is the heir to Chalion’s throne, and his older sister Iselle. They are the grandchildren of the Provincara. Shortly, the Provincara makes Caz Iselle’s secretary-tutor. He teaches Iselle and her companion Beatriz languages and geography as well as some common sense. Iselle herself is brave, strong willed, and willing to do almost anything for the good of Chalion.

However, it becomes apparent that someone had betrayed Caz into servitude. His name should have been on the list of officers to be ransomed after the fall of the fortress but someone had deliberately left it off. Caz is content to be alive and unnoticed, however. Summer goes by lazily and Caz recovers slowly. But then the Roya (the king) of Chalion sends a summons for Teidez and Iselle to come to the court. Caz will have to follow Iselle and enter the world of dangerous politics. Many powerful lords will want Iselle as their own pawn in power games and Caz will also have his own enemies to deal with.

Cazaril is very much an atypical fantasy hero. He’s suffered terribly and as a consequence he’s very humble and loyal to people who are kind to him. He has also a lot of common sense which younger characters tend to lack. I found his attitude towards soldering to be very refreshing; he doesn’t view it as a noble profession but pretty much butchering. Because of the punishment he endured as a slave, he has problems with his back.

I also liked a lot many of the secondary characters. Caz’s best friend Palliard is, ironically, a character who would have been the main character in a more standard fantasy book (and married Iselle at the end). He’s the handsome, athletic nobleman-soldier although he’s not in his teens anymore. He’s fiercely loyal to Caz.

Umegat is also a great character. He appears first as the groom of the Roya’s menagerie but turns out to be quite a bit more. He has a great sense of humor.

Chalion is loosely based on medieval Spain but the gods and the religion make is quite different from history. This world has five gods: the Father, the Mother, the Sister, the Brother, and the Bastard. They all have their own priesthoods, feast days, holy days, and even colors. However, they can’t usually affect people directly even though they can affect animals and send dreams. Different cultures also view the gods a bit differently.

The characters discuss some of Chalion’s history but that’s directly relevant to the story and it’s not long-ago history, which is so common in fantasy, but the events of previous generation. This is also a refreshing change.

The book is a stand alone. The next book, the Paladin of Souls, takes place in Chalion but with different characters. Paladin’s main character, Ista, is a minor character in CoC.

For some reason quite a few Amazon reviewers feel compelled to compare CoC (unfavorably) with Martin’s series. I have no clue why because the only thing common to them is that they are set in a medieval fantasy setting. CoC is neither gritty nor military non-stop violence nor rape fantasy.

 

Lois McMaster Bujold: Memory

This time Miles Vorkosigan is in deep trouble. After the events in the previous book, Mirror Dance, he has seizures which is not good when you’re in the military no matter if that military is the space mercenaries or a planet-bound Barrayaran military. Miles is also afraid that if his boss Illyan finds out about the seizures, he is going to be pulled off his space duties and into a desk job in Barrayar. This would end his career as the mercenary admiral Miles Naismith and also his relationship with Commander Elli Quinn. He doesn’t want to give up either. But when he’s in combat again, a seizure starts and he accidentally shoots one of his own men. Fortunately, the man doesn’t die but Miles is left with dark choices. In the end, he decides to lie in his report about the combat and blame space suit malfunction. So, now he has lied to his superiors about his condition.

His chief surgeon isn’t convinced that the seizures could be cured but Miles clings to that desperate hope. Until Illyan calls him back to Barrayar, tells him about the falsified report, and gives him a chance to resign. Miles has no chance but to accept the offer. He returns to his family house and broods. All he has even wanted was to be in the military and now his life and his dreams have been crushed.

Memory is the model of character-centered fiction. Miles has to face up to what he has done.

Unfortunately, the first part of the book is quite slow with Miles feeling sorry for himself and seeing some of the old stomping grounds and old acquaintances. On the other hand, by this time most of the characters are familiar and it very nice to visit Gregor, Ivan, Aunt Alys, Duv Galeni, and even the folk at Silvy Vale so long-time readers probably won’t mind the slowness. I didn’t the first few times but it starts to be a bit much on rereads.

When the mystery part starts, the plot starts to move much faster but the mystery isn’t the main thing in this book. The main thing is to face the consequences to you actions and growing up.