Gentle Readers, y’all are probably aware that I’m fond of the Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold. My most recent re-read is Memory (Riverdale: Baen 1997). It’s terrific (tho’ my Best Reader discovered an odd inconsistency).
The most impressive thing, to my mind, is how she maneuvers Miles into the position the plot requires. At the beginning of the book he is, essentially, a lieutenant in the military, working as a covert op with a team of mercenaries. By the time the plot begins (two hundred pages later) he has been cashiered, is completely at loose ends, unemployed but more or less rich, and aimless. All of this is accomplished without my having lost sympathy for Miles or (which is important for the plot) for the superior officers who fire him. Oh, and without incapacitating Miles, or giving him more of a long-term disability than we are used to.
Er, for those of y’all who are reading this but don’t know the series, Miles is a brittle-boned hunchback when we first meet him, but over his twenties has most of his bones replaced with synthetics, and other medical fun happens, so that at the time Memory opens, he no longer is vulnerable to broken bones, nor is his spine twisted. I imagine he is just short, and since the shortness is not genetic, has the oversized-appearing head that I associate with people around 3' tall, rather than his—what—4'10". So we are used to a Miles with more medical problems than he was showing, and a new one (seizures) just brings Miles back in line with how we think of him.
Anyway, Lois McMaster Bujold has a gift for plot, for world creation, for character, and for storytelling. They are all somewhat in evidence here. Although the world-creation has mostly been done in previous books, we do actually find out a bit more about Barrayar, and particularly about ImpSec than we knew before, and it’s interesting stuff. The new characters aren’t memorable, but some of the old ones get much better in this one (Simon Illyan, Lady Vorpatril, and that idiot Ivan particularly). The wordsmithery ranges from very good indeed to pretty good, which ain’t bad. The main plot is interesting and surprising, and ties in extremely well with the main two subplots; the timing of the intertwining of those is very good indeed.
In fact, I think the thing Ms. Bujold (Ms. McMaster Bujold?) really shines at is the intertwining of plot and subplot, bringing all the various bits together at the right time without annoying me with the way it’s done. I can’t think of anyone who does that better or even as well as she does. Memory isn’t the best example of that, but it’s pretty darned good; for any other author it would be a great example.
Redintegro Iraq,
-Vardibidian.
Memory is actually one of Bujold’s books that I don’t like to reread unless I’m being a completist. I agree that it’s really well done–but it’s one of those books where I find myself cringing in embarrassment at a character’s behavior, even if I find it believable. For whatever reason, I just have trouble with books and movies like that. Just a personal quirk, I guess.
Have you read her recent fantasy? (Curse of Chalion and sequel?) I’ve really enjoyed them, though I think her two Cordelia books are my favorites.
I think Memory is my favorite in the series (though I’ve only read up through Komarr. It’s painful, but I’ve been there and it’s so painfully accurate.
What was the odd incosistency your Best Reader observed?
I can’t remember, and neither can she.
I might call Memory my favorite of the Miles books, although in a different mood I might call A Civil Campaign my favorite. Of the Vorkosigan books, though, Barrayar is my favorite, which is why I’d prefer Ms. Bujold’s next to be Sergeyar.
Thanks,
-V.