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rhuI got Cryoburn from the library this week. A few observations.
Overall, a fun book; I laughed at the right places. But I'd analogize it to "Unnatural Death" from the Peter Wimsey mysteries. There are other books in this series that I will reread over and over again; this isn't one of them.
Aside from the first scene, and probably not even then, Miles was never in unbearable personal (or career) danger. Nor was anyone else we really care about. What ever happened to "What's the worst thing I can do to this character?" Putting Miles in a situation where his Lord Auditor status won't help him, and then not using that to turn the thumbscrews? Why wasn't he ever picked up by the local police, perhaps once they traced the "drug money"? Who could have been suborned by the true bad guys?
It feels odd to say this, but I was even hoping that in the final battle, Jin's throat would be slit --- they had a cryo facility right there; Roic was thinking earlier in the book "Hey, now that I know what's involved in a revival, I'll be better at the prep" which seemed like classic Bujold foreshadowing. And that would have been the worst thing that could have happened at that point.
I found the mixture of three semiomniscient perspectives disturbing. The difference between the sections that called him Miles, Miles-san, and m'lord made me too aware of the form. Perhaps Lois's relationship with Miles is somewhat like Miles's relationship with Sasha, I mean Xander, I mean Alex. ("She can't even remember her own brainchild's name?")
This bothered me in "Midwinter Gifts" when it was only from --- well, not Roic's perspective exactly, but from an omniscient narrator who can see inside Roic's head. To have it happening here from a jumble of Roic's, Jin's, and Lois's perspectives threw me off. But I do appreciate it as a technique.
Another thing that disturbed me a bit was the degree to which this book acknowledged that it was part of a series by echoing favorite lines from previous volumes. "Hyperactive git", etc. Although that did set up the last line, which of course referenced the line from one of the earlier books in which Miles dreads the day an Armsman will awaken him with "Count Vorkosigan, sir?" So in that sense it felt like a wrapping-up.
Which leads me to wonder if, now that Aral's story is over, and Ivan is missing the "old Miles" (as are we all, I fear), and now that Miles is comfortably ensconced at a level where he "can scarcely go higher without risking a nosebleed", if this is the end of the story of this generation. Perhaps it's time for the stories to start being about the kids who have to prove themselves against Miles as a father, rather than Miles proving himself against Aral to Piotr's ghost.
I will say, though, that the line from the drabble about Gregor --- "He carried me my whole life, it is time for me to carry him." --- made me weep. Because in the end, that's what this whole series of books has been about. People giving their all to support other people in whom they believe. Aral died of old age, and "in my business, that's considered success."
I haven't had a chance to look at the accompanying CD-ROM yet, but I am very impressed that the copyright notice on the CD-ROM permits copying and sharing for non-commercial use.
So, overall, a mostly successful revival of a franchise that had been in cryosleep for a few years, but not quite fully recovered yet.
Overall, a fun book; I laughed at the right places. But I'd analogize it to "Unnatural Death" from the Peter Wimsey mysteries. There are other books in this series that I will reread over and over again; this isn't one of them.
Aside from the first scene, and probably not even then, Miles was never in unbearable personal (or career) danger. Nor was anyone else we really care about. What ever happened to "What's the worst thing I can do to this character?" Putting Miles in a situation where his Lord Auditor status won't help him, and then not using that to turn the thumbscrews? Why wasn't he ever picked up by the local police, perhaps once they traced the "drug money"? Who could have been suborned by the true bad guys?
It feels odd to say this, but I was even hoping that in the final battle, Jin's throat would be slit --- they had a cryo facility right there; Roic was thinking earlier in the book "Hey, now that I know what's involved in a revival, I'll be better at the prep" which seemed like classic Bujold foreshadowing. And that would have been the worst thing that could have happened at that point.
I found the mixture of three semiomniscient perspectives disturbing. The difference between the sections that called him Miles, Miles-san, and m'lord made me too aware of the form. Perhaps Lois's relationship with Miles is somewhat like Miles's relationship with Sasha, I mean Xander, I mean Alex. ("She can't even remember her own brainchild's name?")
This bothered me in "Midwinter Gifts" when it was only from --- well, not Roic's perspective exactly, but from an omniscient narrator who can see inside Roic's head. To have it happening here from a jumble of Roic's, Jin's, and Lois's perspectives threw me off. But I do appreciate it as a technique.
Another thing that disturbed me a bit was the degree to which this book acknowledged that it was part of a series by echoing favorite lines from previous volumes. "Hyperactive git", etc. Although that did set up the last line, which of course referenced the line from one of the earlier books in which Miles dreads the day an Armsman will awaken him with "Count Vorkosigan, sir?" So in that sense it felt like a wrapping-up.
Which leads me to wonder if, now that Aral's story is over, and Ivan is missing the "old Miles" (as are we all, I fear), and now that Miles is comfortably ensconced at a level where he "can scarcely go higher without risking a nosebleed", if this is the end of the story of this generation. Perhaps it's time for the stories to start being about the kids who have to prove themselves against Miles as a father, rather than Miles proving himself against Aral to Piotr's ghost.
I will say, though, that the line from the drabble about Gregor --- "He carried me my whole life, it is time for me to carry him." --- made me weep. Because in the end, that's what this whole series of books has been about. People giving their all to support other people in whom they believe. Aral died of old age, and "in my business, that's considered success."
I haven't had a chance to look at the accompanying CD-ROM yet, but I am very impressed that the copyright notice on the CD-ROM permits copying and sharing for non-commercial use.
So, overall, a mostly successful revival of a franchise that had been in cryosleep for a few years, but not quite fully recovered yet.