Rating: 
Summary: Bujold creates a believable woman to match Miles.
Review: One of Bujold's strengths is her ability to show the consistency of human personalities even in an uncertain, hypothetical future. In "Komarr," she takes a woman caught in an abusive marriage and shows her development into an independent, if wounded, individual. Those readers who think Ekaterine weak are wrong, wrong, wrong. She simply, through no fault of her own, has been caught in a destructive relationship. Admittedly the book focuses less on Miles himself than on Ekaterine and her growing emotional attraction to Miles. But Bujold and Miles both know that Ekaterine must meet challenges and grow on her own in order to find herself. The pace, the plot, are different from prior Vorkosigan books, but in order to remain fresh, the series also must change and grow.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful storytelling!
Review: This isn't the first book. Have you read the first book? If not, you should immediately drop everything and order it. Now. Immediately. Right away. Read the whole series.
Ok, ok. Here's the series: Shards of Honor
Barayar
(these two books are also combined into "Cordelia's Honor")
The Warrior's Apprentice
Short Story: The Mountains of Mourning
(all short stories are contained in "Borders of Infinity")
The Vor Game
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
Short Story: Labyrinth
Short Story: The Borders of Infinity
Brothers in Arms
The Borders of Infinity
Mirror Dance
Memory
Komarr
A Civil Campaign
Diplomatic Immunity Now, go start at the begining and read them all the way through to the end.
Rating:
Summary: "He's not so short. . . . He's just concentrated."
Review: When you're the author of an ongoing series--especially one as beloved by fans as is this one--you're confronted with the problem of character development. You can simply ignore the issue altogether--as Rex Stout famously did for 40 years with the never-aging Nero Wolfe--or you can do as Lois Bujold has done--allow her character to grow.
"Komarr" finishes Miles's transition (which started in "Memory") from youthful adventure to "auditor" (roving troubleshooter) and confidant of Emperor Gregor of Barrayar. In "Memory" he was given a temporary assignment, and now, age 30, his position permanent, he is sent to Komarr (which is still restive about being placed under the Imperial administration) to investigate the sabotage of a terraforming project. During his investigation Miles encounters for the first time Ekaterin Vorsoisson, and falls in love while wrapping up the case.
The book, told both from Miles's and Ekaterin's points of view, is darker, more pensive than previous books. Ekaterin, with a nine-year-old son, is trapped in an unhappy marriage to a mid-level civil servant. The author devotes an entire chapter to Ekaterin's attempts to sexually please a man she can hardly stand any more, and the entire tale is filled with emotional issues. As for Miles, he of course still plunges ahead with his customary elan, but with more maturity, and with a shock of recognition or two along the way.
As always readers need not have read previous books in the series to enjoy this one although (especially considering the time line the author helpfully provides in the appendix) it's hard to imagine many new readers would choose this volume as their point of entry.
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