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Summary: Go Miles!!!!
Review: This will be a short and sweet review: This is a wonderful SF novel, and definitely one of the best in this series. Buy it! Read it! Love it!
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Summary: Outstanding Series
Review: This particular installment is a well developed story that is exceptionally amusing. It develops the characters and is told from multple POV's giving insight into several of the characters. Unlike many series this one seems to get better with time, the energy of the characters and their development is very well handled over this multi-generational tale. This particular book may be my favorite in the series to date.
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Summary: Oh my wallet...
Review: After reading this book, which is an emotional roller coaster that will have you grinding your teeth, laughing, screaming, wincing in sympathy and just counting the seconds before you get to watch the charaters realize they've walked off the cliff with out noticing. It will leave you thoroughly glad Lois (delightfully evil woman that she is) isn't in charge of your love life. And then you like me, will wonder where you are going to find the money to give copies to all your friends and family.
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Summary: Great Fun!
Review: Bujold continues to deliver in this fun filled story! It is great the way the characters have deleloped since the first Miles books while still maintaining a sense of humor. Would recomend the series to anyone!
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Summary: Damn funny stuff
Review: Here I am reading a romance novel, and laughing.Miles is in love with young Vor widow from the novel Komarr. As Miles continues his hyperactive charge at courtship, Ivan Vorpatril get's involved with Barrayaran politics and an old flame (I still laugh at that). Next there is Miles' clone brother Mark, as he returns from Beta Colony. He is madly in love with one of the Koudelka girls (Team Koudelka, as Miles would call them), has a damn ingenius scheme to make loads of money, while he is trying to settle things with his girl. The entire novel is a laugh riot, with some damn funny moments meant to kill the reader from stomach cramps. None of those moments in any novel I have read compare to the dinner party. Reading the entire series just so you can read that chapter is worth it alone. If read Vorkosigan, then you need this book now. If you are tired of those big tough, super perfect heroes in other sci-fi novels (Honor Harrington anyone) read this series and enjoy.
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Summary: READ ME!
Review: I was sitting on the couch at about 2 in the morning, after two weeks of straight reading this series. I was trying to finish a paragraph... and I couldn't, because I was laughing so hard that every time I finished the first sentence of the paragraph I would start crying and fall off the couch. This woke up my husband, who came and stood staring blearily from the doorway at me then went back to bed (and closed the door very hard). After about 5 minuites of this, I had to blow my nose and wipe my eyes, and I finaly finished the paragraph. Then, a few minuites later, I started all over again with the laughing... I havn't laughed so hard in YEARS. The rest of the series is excelent and I recommend reading all the books, in order. At once.
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Summary: A Comedy of Manners and of the Heart
Review: This review contains a minor spoiler for the previous book in the Miles series, "Komarr." "Dear me. I think I'm beginning to like this Ekaterin. And I haven't even finished being properly introduced to her yet. 'I'd like you to meet...she's getting away!' seemed a little...truncated." Cordelia Vorkosigan This book has everything you could want. It has romantic tangles, political intrigue, a little bit of action, and some of the most wonderful characters that I've ever read about. Anybody who's been following my reviews knows that I think Miles is one of the best characters in science fiction today. He approaches most things in a military point of view, including his love life. He hatches tactical plans, strategic withdrawals and schemes in order to win Ekaterin. Unfortunately for him, these tend to blow up in your face when they're applied to the dating game. The plan culminates in a dinner party of huge comedic proportions. First, Mark's business plan ends up interfering in it, then a misplaced word here and there creates chaos. I was literally laughing out loud for four straight pages. The other plots are winners too. Bujold effortlessly weaves her tale among five narrators. This is the first time she's done that, as she usually just uses one. It's nice to get other people's viewpoints finally, especially the outsider's view of Miles. This is the first book where we've seen Ivan's point of view, and it's a classic. In previous books, we've only seen Miles and his exasperation at Ivan's antics. This time, we see it from the inside, and his view of Miles is just great. Ivan's always getting trapped in Miles' schemes, and it's great fun watching him try to avoid it, only to get trapped in his own. The best character in the book, though, is Cordelia. Miles' mother has always been wonderful (so wonderful that Bujold went back and told the story of how she and Aral Vorkosigan met and fell in love). She is smart, sarcastic, always able to hit the problem on the head. She looks on knowingly, but she never butts in until she's either asked, or she realizes she has to. Personally, I think she's the best character Bujold has created, and I always want to see more of her. Don't worry if you're turned off by mushy romance dialogue and situations. Bujold handles them all so they don't become sickeningly sweet or cloying. Believe me, I don't really care for romances that much, but I would read anything on the subject by Bujold. She has a way of making it palatable. Instead, you get to revel in the fun of watching these events unfold, watching all of the mistakes get made, and wondering if the situations are going to turn out for the best. She's not afraid to take her characters in different directions, unlike most series writers. I won't say whether or not things turn out all right in the end, but the good thing about Bujold is that you don't know. This is definitely not a book you want to start with in the Vorkosigan series, though. While it is perfectly understandable without reading anything else, you will miss out on a lot. At the very least, read the previous book, Komarr. That book is where Miles first meets Ekaterin. If you do read this book first and get entranced with the characters, read the rest of the series and then read this one again. But, that being said, this is definitely a book you want to read if you like to be entertained.
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Summary: The funniest book of the Vorkossigan series
Review: Having read the book a second time I have to admit that my first impression two years ago was wrong. Then I felt somewhat let down, because it was not so strong a book as "Komarr" or "Memory". Well, that may still be so but now I discovered what a brilliant book this is. It's subject is not only the campaign Miles wages to capture Ekaterine's heart and hand, there is much more: sub-plots and stories about Mark, Ivan, a count's succession struggle, the Imperial wedding ... It's just a great panorama of Barrayar: colorful, full of suspense and romance. Oh, and then this is probably the funniest Vorkossigan book of them all. Some of the scenes are just hilarious! Some are almost too much: the scene when Miles gets his Ekaterin could be from a Frank-Capra-movie. My advice: buy it, read it, enjoy it!
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Summary: Best Bujold Yet
Review: I've read each of the Bujold books several times and I think that this is the best one so far. Bujold manages to create fascinating, tense and often hilarious storylines. More importantly, her characters have a depth and complexity that is rare in science fiction. I think that this is why Bujold appeals to people who would normally avoid science fiction. I've introduced Bujold's books to two ex-girlfriends, my fiance and my fiance's grandmother. Each has eventually bought copies of the entire series for themselves, yet none of them normally even read science fiction. A previous reviewer accused Bujold of misandry (hatred of men) in her writings because males were supposedly incompetent without their wise, ultracompetent women. I am left completely befuddled by this accusation. Yes, Bujold's female characters are often quite remarkable, whether heroes (ie Cordelia) or villains (ie Cavilo), but who are these foolish men? The Vorkosigan men are three generations of the most brilliant political and military minds of their world. Yes, Cordelia rescues Aral, but never has to save him from his own incompetence. Aral without Cordelia may be a washed up drunk (at least for a while), but Cordelia without Aral is in Betan therapy. For someone who supposedly has a grudge against men, bujold certainly writes amazingly sympathetic characters. When Miles Vorkosigan is cut, you bleed for him. (to paraphrase Cordelia). OK, enough of my ranting. Read the Vorkosigan series. Start with Shards of Honor, because you really want to experience the evolution of these characters and the later books have so many inside jokes that you don't want to miss.
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Summary: WARNING!!!
Review: DO NOT READ CHAPTER NINE WHILE EATING OR DRINKING ANYTHING!! I almost died of laughter. I love her books. One of the things I love about them is her amazing sense of continuity. An ... incident that occurred during Barrayar (the book) comes back to bite some people on the ... um ... rear. And such. Needless to say, it's hands-down the funniest SF book I've ever read, and an excellent - nay, superb! last-published-so-far book she's done in the series.
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