Rating: 
Summary: Another awesome book
Review: Lois delivers another riveting book in Diplomatic Immunity. Diplomatic Immunity is paced much faster than the previous three books, set in the Barrayaran empire (Memory, Komarr, A Civil Campaign). Warning: the suspense level on this one is almost unbearably high. Luckily, the denouement is every bit as satisfying we've come to expect from Bujold, and the last five chapters had me in tears. For this alone, Diplomatic Immunity deserves five stars. But in addition to all this, DI is also filled with light-hearted humor, powerful musings, and some off-the-cuff insights into Miles' and Ekaterin's marriage which made me sigh in romantic appreciation. In short, DI is another superlative book by Lois. If you haven't read anything by her before, you could pick up the series at this point and not be totally lost. However, you'll end up missing subtext and inside jokes.
Rating: 
Summary: Diplomatic Danger with Miles Vorkosigan
Review: Diplomatic Immunity starts with Miles watching a recording of his son's conception (in vitro -- and you thought people showing their sonograph pictures were weird). He and Ekatarin are on their way home from a delightful galactic honeymoon, and they're eager to get home for the babies' uncorking from their uterine replicators. Needless to say, he is delayed. A Komarran trade fleet is being held at Graf Station after an altercation between Barrayaran MPs and station security. Old friends, aquaintances, and enemies turn up in due course and complicate matters. Will Miles solve the mystery? Will he and Ekatarin make it home in time? Or will Aral and Cordelia have to raise their grandchildren? Bujold did a fine job as usual thinking up bad things for Miles. She didn't use Ekatarin as much as I hoped, but those times she acted independantly were intelligently played. I liked this one about as much as Komarr or Brothers in Arms.
Rating:
Summary: Vintage Vorkosigan!
Review: After what seems like a very long wait, it's wonderful to have Miles back again -- and Miles in Space, no less! Diplomatic Immunity combines some of the best features of Ethan of Athos, Ceteganda, Mirror Dance, and Komarr. It starts graceful and elegant, but soon evolves into a descent into terror that nobody but Miles could ride out. Or can he?
Rating:
Summary: Suspense, History and Anticipation...
Review: Lois McMaster Bujold's first new Vorkosigan novel in two and a half years not only moves the story line to nearly two years after Miles and Ekaterin have been married (a story, presumably, to be chronicled some time in the future), but is the first novel since Mirror Dance to take place primarily outside the Barrayaran Empire. In brief, it is a story of Miles playing troublshooter for a diplomatic incident gone horribly wrong in Quaddiespace - home of the quaddies first introduced in the novel "Falling Free". With tensions between quaddie and the Barrayarans stretched, tensions between Cetaganda and Barrayaer taking a turn for the worse, tensions between the trader Komarrans and the militarstic Barrayarns never far below the surface and a deadline for Miles and Ekaterin to return home for the birth of their first children, and deaths reported on the Quaddies' Graf Station, everything seems stretched to the breaking point even in the first chapter. As Miles investigates the situation, a relatively simple murder mystery rapidly transforms into a very palpable suspense with ties to many aspects of Miles' past. As implied, it helps greatly to be familiar with Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga universe before reading this book. In particular, the events of "Falling Free", "Cetaganda", "Mirror Dance" and "A Civil Campaign" all feature with varying degrees of prominence in the story. While one could take the novel on it's own merits and probably enjoy it very much, it is much more effective when taken within previously established history. While not her singularly finest Vorkosigan book to date, it is nonetheless quite good and is certainly better than the majority of science fiction available today and ranks in quality with most of the rest of her series. It weaves together old strands of plot - perhaps eternally tying up one or two - while leaving other others wide open to, undoubtedly, bedevil Miles in the future. I most certainly recommend this to the Vorkosigan fans eagerly awaiting the next installment of the series, but I would steer first time Lois McMaster Bujold readers back to "Shards of Honor" or, perhaps, if not wishing to go back quite so far, "Komarr".
Rating:
Summary: Delightful Fun!
Review: Miles is back! And so is Ekatarin! And so are many other characters we've been wondering about. Huzzah! This lovely romp is set during Miles' and Ekatarin's honeymoon trip as they are en route back to Barrayar from Earth (alas, we don't get to "see" the wedding, although Lois has promised to tell of that event in a short story someday). Needless to say, if there are Barrayarans in trouble, and Miles is in the neighborhood, he's going to be called upon to deal with it-- and he is. Much chaos ensues, in typical Miles fashion, with a handful of Old Friends popping up to keep things interesting (One Old Friend says, referring to previous experiences with Miles: "[My new bosses] like me, too. It seems I'm good at handling all sorts of upset [people], without losing my equilibrium. I don't explain to them that after years of trailing around after _you_, my definition of an emergency is seriously divergent from theirs.") Although Ekatarin is present and active, contributing in her own characteristically quiet fashion, it is very much a Miles-focussed book, more so than the last few Vorkosigan novels have been. If you've not read Bujold's books before, it would be better to begin with _Shards of Honor_ (about Miles' parents) or _Warrior's Apprentice_ (Miles' teenage adventures). If you _have_ read Bujold before, well-- you don't need me to tell you-- Buy This Book! You won't be sorry you did. Oh, and watch out for Chekov's Gun Hanging on the Drawing Room Wall-- comments made en passant early on come back to Miles later on. Delightful!
Rating:
Summary: Thank God it's Out!!!
Review: As a longtime fan of LMB, I've been waiting a long time for this book. I was thrilled to find my expectations fulfilled. Without giving away too much, for finding out all of the devious twists is part of the fun, Miles embarks on another Auditorial case, but this time with his lovely wife, Ekaterin. While a number of characters from previous books pop up and bring back many happy memories, it's also completely possible to read this as a stand alone. Part of what I loved was the humor running through it. I was completely entranced by the deft was LMB wove plot elements with characterizations and her own universe. The characters are eminently believable and keep you waiting on every word. This is definately a book I can read again and again. It's worth every penny to go and get this book, as well as her others. Now it's time to wait for the next one.
Rating:
Summary: She's done it again!
Review: Another highly exciting and satisfying episode in the career of Miles Vorkosigan. Probably not the best spot for a reader new to the series to start, but as always a possible place for a new reader to start. (The references, jokes, and back-history are richer and easier to understand if you've read the other books; in this case "Falling Free" and "Cetaganda" would be good ones to read first.) One theme that comes out strongly in this book is the hunger to become a parent. Also, Miles has always been good at developing and promoting his subordinates; watch what happens to anyone who works with him in this book. All this, and many kinds of diplomacy and adventure, with a dizzying descent into increasing, spreading danger for more and more people, finally tied up with a satisfying ending. Oh, she's done it again! (When is the next one?)
Rating:
Summary: For Vorkosigan addicts
Review: If you aren't already a fan of Miles Vorkosigan, please, please, do yourself a favor and start earlier in the series. While I don't doubt any book in the series is self-contained enough to be read independently of the rest, you are risking losing so much by jumping into the latter part of a multiple-novel story. That being said, for the Barrayarra-philes, you already know the background - recent marriage after a memorable courtship now on a galactic honeymoon. As always, Bujold embellishes her universe with familiarity amongst the novel and surprising. You won't be disappointed. Oh, and if you're like me and each book only whets your appetite for more, you're in luck. A novella, Winterfair Gifts, that describes the Vorbarra Sultana wedding of Miles and Ekaterin is amongst the collected stories of Irresistable Forces. Check it out.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a Good Stand Alone Novel
Review: This is the first book of Miss Bujold's that I have read. Frankly, I found it to be an uninteresting read for the most part. Her characters are flat, with obvious nudges towards previous novels, and no explanations for these nudges whatsoever. The plot is thin in many places, the characters are somewhat predictable in their mannerisms. Her writing style is somewhat short, and her plot mechanisms are thread-bare. But I will note, that this is one book in a series. My impressions may have been different if I had started with the first novel.
Rating:
Summary: For Vorkosigan addicts
Review: If you aren't already a fan of Miles Vorkosigan, please, please, do yourself a favor and start earlier in the series. While I don't doubt any book in the series is self-contained enough to be read independently of the rest, you are risking losing so much by jumping into the latter part of a multiple-novel story. That being said, for the Barrayarra-philes, you already know the background - recent marriage after a memorable courtship now on a galactic honeymoon. As always, Bujold embellishes her universe with familiarity amongst the novel and surprising. You won't be disappointed. Oh, and if you're like me and each book only whets your appetite for more, you're in luck. A novella, Winterfair Gifts, that describes the Vorbarra Sultana wedding of Miles and Ekaterin is amongst the collected stories of Irresistable Forces. Check it out.
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