Rating: Summary: Out of 10, 15 Review: IMHO, there are no Bujold books that have fallen below the highest rating. On a scale of 10, they're all 15's. From Shards of Honor to the lastest chapter, A Civil Campaign, Bujold has shown a masterly capacity to write comedies of manners within galactic military-political dramas within moving novels about fully developed characters who are adults. Her characters are interesting, imperfect, and therefore the more admirable. Her underlying themes--the comedy of genetic heritage as refracted through the madnesses of human societies, and the irrepressible urge of human beings to attain honor, grace, decency, or any great ideal despite seemingly insuperable obstacles--are worth our attention, and worth the talents of this very gifted writer. I never cease to be amazed at Bujold's ingenuity in developing further adventures worthy of her heroes and heroines, who are all half-crazed with idealism, but trying to pass for normal. The challenge in A civil Campaign was to keep the reader's interest in a plot which could have no recourse to alien invasions or daring raids for its excitement, and I think Bujold brings off her multiple social campaigns and political plots with her accustomed finesse, wit, zest, and heart. If there are people who could find no pleasure in Bujold, they have my deepest sympathy.
Rating: Summary: Great reading! Review: I loved the book! I have read it till 4 a.m. and laughed like crazy. Pure fun!
Rating: Summary: Miles Gets Romantic Review: Miles VorKosigan has always been one of my favorite reads, starting with The Warrior's Apprentice and continuing on to A Civil Campaign. I even made the effort to read all the other works by Lois McMaster Bujold and finally think I understand her time line. The last two Miles books have been fantastic. I hope Ms. Bujold continues with the maturing of this wonderful character and his family, friends, and enemies.
Rating: Summary: Miles we love you anyway Review: Despite the cataclismic changes in his life over the past few years, Miles is still, well, Miles. Miles as a politician is the best thing to ever happen to Barrayar. It's heartbreaking to watch the boy work to gain the affection of a woman he loves for the first time in his life. All this talk of weddings makes me think of guest lists... (Uh, Taura, Elli, Elena, Baz-can he even come back to barrayar?, Tung) Taura at least, seems to have a surefire chance of showing up somehow. Ekaterin is exactly what Miles needs. A keeper. This is by far the best Vorkosigan book I've read, but I think the drain incident could have used a little more illustration, but oh well.
Rating: Summary: Absolutely hilarious new addition to the Miles Saga Review: This book was a wonderful follow-up to Komarr. Miles' character continues to develop, as do the other characters. I was very pleasantly suprised by the humor, and stayed up far later than I should have reading it, trying to muffle my laughter so as not to wake anyone else up.
Rating: Summary: Winner of the 1999 Sapphire Award Review: The readers of the Science Fiction Romance newsletter voted A Civil Campaign the best Science Fiction Romance of 1999. Personally, I'm glad I didn't read it in public, because the disasterous dinner scene, the bug butter fight, and numerous other highlights had me howling with laughter, and many key points had me shouting, "No, Miles! Don't!"
Rating: Summary: I laughed, I cried, I kissed a night's sleep goodbye Review: Let me first explain that I am a great lover of Miles Vorkosigan books. And a great fan of Bujold's, even when she's not writing about him. But I think this is one of the better books in the series, showing more about him than those that spend more time with his point of view. If you have read Komarr (and you really SHOULD), you know what one story thread is going to be. But this hardly prepares you for all the twists and turns of what, to a Barryarran biographer, would be one of the calm, safe, boring parts of Miles' life. As if he was going to have any. It's hard to know what to say about this book; a LOT of people find the person of their dreams, Miles holds down a REAL job, Kareen finds her path in life, Mark is more Mark-like than ever, Aral and Cordelia use their parenting skills, and Barrayar as a whole gets dragged kicking and screaming another step towards enlightenment. There are 3 spots where I cry, 4 spots where I laugh, and I enjoyed the whole thing. This probably isn't a good book to start the series with, but it's a good book. Start with _Warrior's_Apprentice_ or _Brothers_in_Arms_, which are out in paperback.
Rating: Summary: Funny but misanthropic Review: This latest journey through the byzantine politics and mores of the developing planet Barrayar is liberally spiked with Bujold zingers and other jokes and is good for more than a few laughs. It is also an important entry in the continuing saga of Miles Vorkosigan. Its dominant theme is "bumbling men chase superfantastic women." That is carried to unnecessary extremes and enters the realm of male-bashing.
Rating: Summary: Love and Bug Butter on Barrayar Review: Miles Vorkosigan has got to be one of the most brilliant characters ever unleashed on the unsuspecting reading public. Dwarfed before birth by an assassination attempt upon his pregnant mother, Miles has every reason to shun public life and duty; instead he drives his crippled body mercilessly through a career as a military secret agent. Medically discharged before thirty due to seizures, Miles has become a special Auditor for his cousin the Emperor, prying into suspicious cases and hunting trouble. This brought him into the life of lovely Vor widow Ekaterina in the last book, KOMARR. Miles at war is an unstoppable force, or almost. Miles in love is a different story. Perhaps someone should have advised him that laying siege to a woman's heart is only a figure of speech? Bujold is always amusing, but seldom comical; thus it slipped up on me. Add in the continuing saga of Miles' clone Mark, always on the lookout for a money-making scheme, and his bioengineered butter bugs, which make a sort of yogurt instead of honey. Mark's in love, too, and her parents aren't thrilled. Add in Lady Donna's scheme to inherit her brother's title and you have the guest list for a dinner party of apocalyptic proportions. I laughed like hell, but there's a serious side to this foolishness: Miles really loves the girl. If he blows this one it's going to be a long lonely life. Mark's no better off with his dilemma, since few women can really relate to his dwarfed body and unstable mind. And fans of Ivan Vorpatril will find him in top form, casually drifting along ogling the women and ducking responsibility. Tangled political maneuvering, strong characters, and a complicated emotional situation; just what I expected from Bujold, who also gives us men a look at how the fair sex see our foibles. Lucky Miles and Mark; mother Cordelia is still a force to be reckoned with in this universe, and after the bug butter is all mopped up and everyone's had their share of humiliation there's still a good chance of a happy ending. Not many authors can keep a character like Miles alive and growing through this many sequels; Bujold's done a great job of making him plausible, one broken bone at the time.
Rating: Summary: Frabulous Joy for Bujold and the Vorkosigan Series! Review: Bujold does it again, absoluotly priceless. Haveing read Warrior's Apprentice when first published I have to say that Bujold is one of three authors I would reccomend as must read SF. (Harry Harrison's Stailess Steel Rat series and C J Cherryh's Company , Chanur, and Foriegner series are the others). I loved Warrior's Apprentice. I fell in love with the series at the epilouge of Shards of Honor. (made me cry, no BS... and me a { now former}soldier ). Fans of swashbuckling space opera may be a bit put off by the lack of violence but it's a nice change of pace from so much of the tripe that is out there. The dinner scene was priceless. "should prove popular with the...Miles, WHAT has that animal got in it's mouth..." had me in tears. I should have known better than to take a Bujold book to work. How does Bujold do it? How does a mom of two in MN write so damn convincinyly in the mind of not only a certain pint sized Imperial Auditor but all the other charactors in this book and the past ones? (Mark on Jackson's Whole..) To the detractors of this book: All I can say is please go out immediately and buy up Cordelia's Honor (Shards of Honor and Barrayar all in one) and Young Miles (first three Miles books) and get back to me. Better yet, finish up with Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance, ( how did she get the multiple personality part so right?) Memory and Komarr. Then get back to me. This book is so rich with bits from the past books I could have died. "Her parents looked nothing so much like, hmmm... like two teenagers caught screwing on the living room couch." Priceless. One worrysome note, I hope Bujold doesn't end the Vorkosigan series here. One thing I'd like to see is stories of the "history" of Barrayar. these teasing bits of history in the story like "Lord Midnight, who always voted Neigh..." are soooo tempting. Might we see a young Count General Piotyr during the Cetagadan Occupation or possibly Young Aral during Mad Emperor Yuri's rein? Vorkosigans of the time of Isolation? Dorca the Just? It all beggs for futher detail. A few volumes of short stoies from leading Authors would be welcome. Something on the line of the Bolo short story series first created then edited by Laumer. Please, Ms Bujold. Don't leave me hanging for my fix...
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