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lsparrow's review against another edition
3.0
although part of a series - this is a stand alone novel - I enjoyed this story that looks at the age old themes of personhood, freedom and how society can choose to define who is the "other" - perhaps a bit of a simplified/idealized story.
amlibera's review against another edition
3.0
Proto Vorkosigan space opera. Engaging story with terrific characters like everything from Bujold.
kitsuneheart's review against another edition
4.0
A love story to engineers. Bujold gives us the clever space opera we've come to expect, but this time throws so much science and engineering at us that I had to double-check her biography to see if she had some degrees of which I was unaware! She does not, but Bujold has done such great research that I'd be half-tempted to let her build me a starship!
This prequel (of sorts) to the main Vorkosigan Saga looks at the origins of the Quaddies. Created in labs from many different DNA sources, they're considered property, even if they are well-trained by their owners. But when the experiment is suddenly proven unprofitable, losses have to be kept to a minimum, which means nothing good for these human tools. Coming to the rescue is Leo Graf, engineer, who is determined to give the Quaddies their chance to stay in space and gain what has been their human right all alone: freedom.
Not quite so clever and frantic as a Miles book, but satisfying. I wouldn't hand this over as an initial Vorkosigan book to read, but if you've started the series, you need to finish it! ALL of it!
This prequel (of sorts) to the main Vorkosigan Saga looks at the origins of the Quaddies. Created in labs from many different DNA sources, they're considered property, even if they are well-trained by their owners. But when the experiment is suddenly proven unprofitable, losses have to be kept to a minimum, which means nothing good for these human tools. Coming to the rescue is Leo Graf, engineer, who is determined to give the Quaddies their chance to stay in space and gain what has been their human right all alone: freedom.
Not quite so clever and frantic as a Miles book, but satisfying. I wouldn't hand this over as an initial Vorkosigan book to read, but if you've started the series, you need to finish it! ALL of it!
jnichols's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
joellenroberts's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
hneuhaus's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
duffypratt's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
It's a prequel to the Vorkosigan novels, which deals with the founding of the quaddies. Quaddies, for those not in the know, are genetically modified people who have had their body chemistry altered to make them thrive in a zero-g environment. Also, to make them more useful, their legs have been modified to be an extra set of arms. Thus, they have four arms, but no legs. Great for zero-g; a bit cumbersome on any planet with significant gravity.
In this book, an engineer has been brought to the quaddie station. They are all basically kids or young adults, and the engineer is going to train them in space age welding. The station itself seems to be outside any system of law, and thus is governed by the law of the company, which views the quaddies as their property. The managers of the station for the most part are only interested in promoting their own careers, and care little or nothing about the modified people under their control. Moreover, the company has gone to great lengths to indoctrinate the quaddies into believing that their goal in life is to serve the company and to cooperate with each other.
This is all, more or less, fine with a few glitches. There's one quaddie who has found the joy of casual sex with two-legged shuttle pilots. And in exchange for her favors, he gives her videos and books of stuff which would not have been approved by the company. Thus, the quaddies are learning something about individuality, love and chivalry. Another pair have had their own child, and have committed the sin of becoming too attached to him, and to each other. And as a group, they have established a secret hang-out in the station where they can enjoy the little contraband they have obtained.
Despite these little problems, things seem to be going well for them. Then, it is learned that Beta Colony has invented a gravity drive which makes it possible for spaceships to create artificial gravity. This effectively tanks the quaddie project for the company, who, to cut their losses, decide to terminate the project and all the quaddies in the process. The engineer decides to try to save them, and the last third of the book describes how it happens.
Overall, I enjoyed this, but I had a few problems. First, the suspense wasn't that suspenseful. I knew going in that this was a prequel, and I knew from my other reading that quaddies were around in Miles generation. Thus, without knowing the details, I knew how this was going to end. That didn't particularly spoil it for me, and Bujold's writing was as fluid as ever. But it did remove the suspense from a book that felt like it was trying to build up the suspense.
Second, the characters, particularly the villainous ones, were decidedly flat. The book simply riffs on the cliché of the evil bureaucrat, with little or nothing behind it. The engineer was slightly more developed, and one or two of the quaddies were actually interesting. However, I'm used to fairly rich characters from the Vorkosigan books, and this book simply didn't have them. Maybe Bujold needs more space to develop her people -- I probably had the same reaction about her characters after the first of the Vorkosigan series, and I'm now judging them by the standards of how they appear in, say, Memory or A Civil Campaign.
Finally, I didn't buy the main plot mover here. The gravity drive would certainly make it more practical to send two legged people into space. So it eliminates some of the advantage that the quaddies would bring. But however it works, the gravity drive would be an energy/resource drain. The quaddies could accomplish the same work for less than a gravity driven ship. Also, people with legs are used to being on planets. The natural habitat for quaddies is in space. Thus, I don't think it's entirely clear that the quaddie project would have become an instant failure. The start up costs for it have already been expended, and the project of raising new quaddies through birth did not seem to be inordinately expensive. Thus, in the middle of the book, I was asked to swallow a big plot mover that simply didn't make that much sense to me.
Then, as the book reaches the end, it fails to address a couple of fairly obvious points. The quaddies are heading to an asteroid belt, where they can start their own society. They've been saved by a handful of two legged humans how are still with them. What will happen to them? The engineer is not adapted for the long term zero g environment that he has consigned himself to. And yet the book never even addresses this. In addition, the real challenges for this group are just beginning, and how they go about establishing their new society would be fascinating, but it's something Bujold simply never bothers to take up. Thus, as the book ends, I felt like I was wanting more, which is typically a good thing. But here, I know that there simply isn't going to be any more, and I felt a little bit like I was left hanging. The book's ending is satisfying, since they get their freedom, but there's more to life than that.
In this book, an engineer has been brought to the quaddie station. They are all basically kids or young adults, and the engineer is going to train them in space age welding. The station itself seems to be outside any system of law, and thus is governed by the law of the company, which views the quaddies as their property. The managers of the station for the most part are only interested in promoting their own careers, and care little or nothing about the modified people under their control. Moreover, the company has gone to great lengths to indoctrinate the quaddies into believing that their goal in life is to serve the company and to cooperate with each other.
This is all, more or less, fine with a few glitches. There's one quaddie who has found the joy of casual sex with two-legged shuttle pilots. And in exchange for her favors, he gives her videos and books of stuff which would not have been approved by the company. Thus, the quaddies are learning something about individuality, love and chivalry. Another pair have had their own child, and have committed the sin of becoming too attached to him, and to each other. And as a group, they have established a secret hang-out in the station where they can enjoy the little contraband they have obtained.
Despite these little problems, things seem to be going well for them. Then, it is learned that Beta Colony has invented a gravity drive which makes it possible for spaceships to create artificial gravity. This effectively tanks the quaddie project for the company, who, to cut their losses, decide to terminate the project and all the quaddies in the process. The engineer decides to try to save them, and the last third of the book describes how it happens.
Overall, I enjoyed this, but I had a few problems. First, the suspense wasn't that suspenseful. I knew going in that this was a prequel, and I knew from my other reading that quaddies were around in Miles generation. Thus, without knowing the details, I knew how this was going to end. That didn't particularly spoil it for me, and Bujold's writing was as fluid as ever. But it did remove the suspense from a book that felt like it was trying to build up the suspense.
Second, the characters, particularly the villainous ones, were decidedly flat. The book simply riffs on the cliché of the evil bureaucrat, with little or nothing behind it. The engineer was slightly more developed, and one or two of the quaddies were actually interesting. However, I'm used to fairly rich characters from the Vorkosigan books, and this book simply didn't have them. Maybe Bujold needs more space to develop her people -- I probably had the same reaction about her characters after the first of the Vorkosigan series, and I'm now judging them by the standards of how they appear in, say, Memory or A Civil Campaign.
Finally, I didn't buy the main plot mover here. The gravity drive would certainly make it more practical to send two legged people into space. So it eliminates some of the advantage that the quaddies would bring. But however it works, the gravity drive would be an energy/resource drain. The quaddies could accomplish the same work for less than a gravity driven ship. Also, people with legs are used to being on planets. The natural habitat for quaddies is in space. Thus, I don't think it's entirely clear that the quaddie project would have become an instant failure. The start up costs for it have already been expended, and the project of raising new quaddies through birth did not seem to be inordinately expensive. Thus, in the middle of the book, I was asked to swallow a big plot mover that simply didn't make that much sense to me.
Then, as the book reaches the end, it fails to address a couple of fairly obvious points. The quaddies are heading to an asteroid belt, where they can start their own society. They've been saved by a handful of two legged humans how are still with them. What will happen to them? The engineer is not adapted for the long term zero g environment that he has consigned himself to. And yet the book never even addresses this. In addition, the real challenges for this group are just beginning, and how they go about establishing their new society would be fascinating, but it's something Bujold simply never bothers to take up. Thus, as the book ends, I felt like I was wanting more, which is typically a good thing. But here, I know that there simply isn't going to be any more, and I felt a little bit like I was left hanging. The book's ending is satisfying, since they get their freedom, but there's more to life than that.
rampaginglibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book~made me want to Bujold's other books in this series (started one but wasn't too fond of it~wasn't a continuation of the "species/race" i wanted to hear more about).
I know those books are really popular but i couldn't so much get into them.
Anyway~this was a great one~a really quick read in the sci-fi (tho not too heavy) range with both a good message and an involving story.
I know those books are really popular but i couldn't so much get into them.
Anyway~this was a great one~a really quick read in the sci-fi (tho not too heavy) range with both a good message and an involving story.
eve_prime's review against another edition
3.5
This is a Vorkosigan Saga prequel, which introduces a sub-species of humans called the “quaddies.” An acceptably evil corporation has genetically engineered a thousand children with two sets of arms, the lower set replacing the legs, which they are treating as a labor source that they own, because they’re great at doing work at zero-G. An engineer, Leo Graf, arrives to train the teenagers among them in his specialty, welding, and is appalled to learn that they’ve just been rendered obsolete. The corporation plans to confine them to a barracks (with gravity, which will seriously handicap them), but there are other forces at work that would like to get rid of them entirely. How can Graf help the young people solve their problem? We readers know that 200 years later, they’re still around – Miles Vorkosigan has met at least one, a musician, and in the next full-length book he’ll be working with their whole colony – so we expect he will succeed somehow.
This book is more “engineering fiction” than science fiction – it turns out Bujold’s father was a world expert in this type of engineering, and she’d picked up enough of it that she could write a convincing novel when she didn’t have the time to research something new. I expect that Graf was also based on her father.
This book is more “engineering fiction” than science fiction – it turns out Bujold’s father was a world expert in this type of engineering, and she’d picked up enough of it that she could write a convincing novel when she didn’t have the time to research something new. I expect that Graf was also based on her father.
flagstaff's review against another edition
Started the series with this book. Good start will continue with the series. Some interesting concepts.