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barry_x's review
3.0
Felt a little sad reading this. It's the bookend of the Vorkosigan saga and sadly I think the series has quietly petered out rather than than going with a bang. Perhaps the novels themes are apt and the series ending with a gentle retirement rather than a glorious death is a better way to end things but I am not sure it actually makes a good book.
Sadly, not a whole lot happens in the book, the story is effectively sign posted and concluded in the first chapter, the pace is gentle but there is no real conflict or antagonism in the book. Even the themes which could have required a lot more unpacking by the characters are just quietly and easily accepted.
I felt annoyed at times with the smugness, and privilege of the main characters, at their all around wonderfulness and even, which I never imagined myself saying about this series - a little bored. Furthermore I suspect the humour was so subtle and gentle it just didn't land for me at all.
My relationship with the book was such that events and characters in older novels when referenced gave me quite a warm happy feeling and an opportunity to reminisce. I loved this, but in the absence of not a lot else going on it made the memory of the 'better' books a bigger comparator.
Having read some of the criticisms of the book I think it is important to recognise that the Vorkosigan saga has always been sex and gender positive and furthermore one of key areas of discontent has been canon for roughly 15 years prior to the publication of this book. Where I do have some sympathy with the critics is this canon position amounts to a couple of sentences in a single book. I found it a little jarring and I can certainly understand why others thought so. I suspect it has always been there in the authors head and just needed to come out, but there was never the right time. Maybe this book does that...
I guess, in some ways this book is a love letter to the past both for the reader and the author but it feels like an old conversation between friends and not a final brilliant entry for this wonderful universe.
Sadly, not a whole lot happens in the book, the story is effectively sign posted and concluded in the first chapter, the pace is gentle but there is no real conflict or antagonism in the book. Even the themes which could have required a lot more unpacking by the characters are just quietly and easily accepted.
I felt annoyed at times with the smugness, and privilege of the main characters, at their all around wonderfulness and even, which I never imagined myself saying about this series - a little bored. Furthermore I suspect the humour was so subtle and gentle it just didn't land for me at all.
My relationship with the book was such that events and characters in older novels when referenced gave me quite a warm happy feeling and an opportunity to reminisce. I loved this, but in the absence of not a lot else going on it made the memory of the 'better' books a bigger comparator.
Having read some of the criticisms of the book I think it is important to recognise that the Vorkosigan saga has always been sex and gender positive and furthermore one of key areas of discontent has been canon for roughly 15 years prior to the publication of this book. Where I do have some sympathy with the critics is this canon position amounts to a couple of sentences in a single book. I found it a little jarring and I can certainly understand why others thought so. I suspect it has always been there in the authors head and just needed to come out, but there was never the right time. Maybe this book does that...
I guess, in some ways this book is a love letter to the past both for the reader and the author but it feels like an old conversation between friends and not a final brilliant entry for this wonderful universe.
texile's review
5.0
Glorious as expected. No battles, little life and death intrigue, just quality time with old and new characters. Some mentions of cetagandan worries give me hope that she's got another book in the works; knocking on wood. Only downside is that I now have zero patience for reading anything other than the rest of the Vorkosigan saga, so... time for a marathon reread!
eemms's review
4.0
This is a 350 page epilogue to the Vorkosigan saga, bookending it with Cordelia once again approaching a massive change in her life - but this time of her choosing, with foresight and care. I loved it, even though on some level, not much happens (and the character arc that's there isn't even Cordelia's, though she is a huge part of the book).
tita_noir's review
3.0
Hmm.... what to say...what to say....
I initially had this shelved as Science Fiction, but it is really, truly a romance novel. It is almost a bookend to [b:Shards of Honor|531792|Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga, #1)|Lois McMaster Bujold|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1388212776s/531792.jpg|9673658] in that book took place on what we now know as the planet Sergyar and where Cordelia finds romance with Aral during her discovery and exploration of the planet. This one is similar in that it takes place some 40-ish years later, again on Sergyar which is now an inhabited planet and where Cordelia again finds love, this time with Arals long time protege, Oliver Jole.
I think I would have really loved this book a lot if I hadn't spent the last twenty years of my own following this family through reads, re-reads and even more re-reads. On its own merits it is a lovely romance novel featuring an older woman, a slightly younger man, their long shared history and how they plan to embark on a second phased of their own lives. This is not a cracked-out-bonkers Miles adventure story nor is it even the story of the younger fierce warrior chick Cordelia we were first introduced to. Although a lot of that bonkers and fierce history is alluded to over and over again. No this is a quieter, softer story.
And it is a bit of a retcon, imo. Which is I can't love it as much I should. My history is working against me. I won't go into details but I kinda hate the the new peek inside of Aral and Cordelia we get in the aftermath of his death. It makes me feel like I didn't know them after all. Yeah, it is very plausible. But there are quite a few revelations about Aral and his thoughts and wishes that are being said about him after his death which I think I would have loved to learn while he was still alive. So it almost feels like his character is being reformatted in a way. So even as I read and enjoyed Cordelia's second chance at love and life -- even her ability to reclaim some areas of her life that she hadn't been able to realize fully because of how much Barrayer demanded from her, I couldn't help but feel a bit of a loss of Aral's agency. It is too bad because what we do learn is fascinating and interesting enough to have gotten to learn it earlier.
I will say I liked Jole. He was always a background hovering character in the earlier books. But he came to life a lot in this one and I liked him as his own full fleshed character.
I initially had this shelved as Science Fiction, but it is really, truly a romance novel. It is almost a bookend to [b:Shards of Honor|531792|Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga, #1)|Lois McMaster Bujold|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1388212776s/531792.jpg|9673658] in that book took place on what we now know as the planet Sergyar and where Cordelia finds romance with Aral during her discovery and exploration of the planet. This one is similar in that it takes place some 40-ish years later, again on Sergyar which is now an inhabited planet and where Cordelia again finds love, this time with Arals long time protege, Oliver Jole.
I think I would have really loved this book a lot if I hadn't spent the last twenty years of my own following this family through reads, re-reads and even more re-reads. On its own merits it is a lovely romance novel featuring an older woman, a slightly younger man, their long shared history and how they plan to embark on a second phased of their own lives. This is not a cracked-out-bonkers Miles adventure story nor is it even the story of the younger fierce warrior chick Cordelia we were first introduced to. Although a lot of that bonkers and fierce history is alluded to over and over again. No this is a quieter, softer story.
And it is a bit of a retcon, imo. Which is I can't love it as much I should. My history is working against me. I won't go into details but I kinda hate the the new peek inside of Aral and Cordelia we get in the aftermath of his death. It makes me feel like I didn't know them after all. Yeah, it is very plausible. But there are quite a few revelations about Aral and his thoughts and wishes that are being said about him after his death which I think I would have loved to learn while he was still alive. So it almost feels like his character is being reformatted in a way. So even as I read and enjoyed Cordelia's second chance at love and life -- even her ability to reclaim some areas of her life that she hadn't been able to realize fully because of how much Barrayer demanded from her, I couldn't help but feel a bit of a loss of Aral's agency. It is too bad because what we do learn is fascinating and interesting enough to have gotten to learn it earlier.
I will say I liked Jole. He was always a background hovering character in the earlier books. But he came to life a lot in this one and I liked him as his own full fleshed character.
diffyqgirl's review
4.0
This book is really very different from the rest of the series. Bujold was right to describe it as a book about adults. It explores grief, loss, aging, what it means to be a parent, and what it means to be a spouse. These elements are fantastic. I hesitate to say that the plot falls short because that would imply that Bujold attempted a plot. This novel doesn't even have the skeleton plot that the character-based antics of the Ivan book hung on, and I feel it suffers for that. It certainly isn't a page turner the way the rest of the Miles books are, but I don't think it tries to be. It tries to make you think about very hard, complicated aspects of the adult world.
elzirm's review
4.5
I understand why many fans of the series dislike this book — but I savored it.
I’d seen some spoilers ahead of time so perhaps I had a chance to get used to the most surprising aspects of it. But I disagree with those who say Cordelia is out of character here. I felt like her development over the 40-some year span of the series made a lot of sense, and I loved that we got to see an older woman who hadn’t stopped growing and living. She’s not frozen in time by any means, but she’s still the Cordelia we know and love.
AndI didn’t feel like the revelations about Jole made her relationship with Aral any less romantic or strong. And I say that as a strongly monogamous bisexual myself. :-) I usually don’t go for poly romances, but this story absolutely worked for me.
I’d seen some spoilers ahead of time so perhaps I had a chance to get used to the most surprising aspects of it. But I disagree with those who say Cordelia is out of character here. I felt like her development over the 40-some year span of the series made a lot of sense, and I loved that we got to see an older woman who hadn’t stopped growing and living. She’s not frozen in time by any means, but she’s still the Cordelia we know and love.
And
secre's review
2.0
So when i first read this I marked it as three stars. On my second read, it skimmed four stars. I'm on my third read now and this is the first Vorkosigan novel I've marked as low as two stars. Why? Because to put it quite simply, I found it rather boring. It was a struggle to push through it and that's a first for this universe. It's a nice book, a warm and fuzzy book... and it has nothing that really hooks me and draws me through a novel. Oh, it builds on some characters and gives a little more backstory to snippets of the timeline that we have missed whilst we have been chasing after Miles on his manic travels. But that's all it does really. It's almost as though this is a retirement novel and it just doesn't have the fizz or the sparkle or the wow factor that I have come to anticipate from this series... and indeed this author.
In reality, this is a romance novel in a sci-fi universe and it just doesn't do it for me. It takes the characters and the setting from this magnificent universe and drops them into a fluffy family focussed romantic entity concerned with completing some happily ever stories that got missed first time round. There are some nostalgic references to science fiction aspects like the Prince Serg, but even those were mothballing references. Its just a very different genre of book I suppose and not one that excites me.
In reality, this is a romance novel in a sci-fi universe and it just doesn't do it for me. It takes the characters and the setting from this magnificent universe and drops them into a fluffy family focussed romantic entity concerned with completing some happily ever stories that got missed first time round. There are some nostalgic references to science fiction aspects like the Prince Serg, but even those were mothballing references. Its just a very different genre of book I suppose and not one that excites me.
ladydamonayde's review against another edition
5.0
finally finished this series! This last book makes me want to go back to the beginning!
jmartindf's review against another edition
4.0
Different from the typical Miles fare, and quite enjoyable for it. I can definitely see myself rereading this.