Reviews

After a major battle, Miles and his Dendarii Mercenaries dock at Earth for personnel and ships to get a little repair. After checking in with the Barryaran embassy, Miles proceeds to hurry up and wait for payment from the Imperium, taking every stopgap measure he can to avoid bankrupting his little army.

But the money never comes, and little hints of old revolution from the takeover of Komarr begin to surface about the son of the Butcher of Komarr. Miles has to figure out where his cash has gone, and whether he can trust the embassy in the first place. Jumping between the persona of Miles Vorkosigan and Admiral Naismith is hard enough when he's got a long space journey to adjust, but now he must do so between one room and another, and on a planet where there are people looking to get one over on him in BOTH his personas.

It's times like these Miles wishes there were two of him to take up the slack. Sigh...if only....

I feel like this book is the one that begins the golden age of the Vorkosigan Saga, for me. Our second-to-last major character has arrived, and two of the biggest conflicts of the series are presented: Komarr and Mark. Miles begins to face down some of the legacy made by his father, forging his own place in history books.

Continually fantastic as the series is, you're going to enjoy this book just a bit more than average, so get ready to devour this in one sitting!

ricksilva's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Mercenary admiral Naismith, AKA Barrayaran noble and intelligence agent Miles Vorkosigan brings his mercenary fleet to Earth for some repairs and recuperation, only to find themselves short on finds. Placed in the unusual position of having to function as both of his identities in the same city, Miles invents a story of having a clone. Then an actual clone shows up. Cue the mayhem.

This started a bit slow, although the glimpse of Earth (the origin of the human species, and now primarily a tourist destination), and the surprisingly interesting details of the finances behind the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet were some nice details to keep my interest.

The character who will become Mark Vorkosigan is fairly rough here, and will wait for Mirror Dance to really get a true spotlight, but the character work on Miles more than makes up for that.

The wackiness of the climactic battle is loads of fun, and the story has an absolutely great ending line.

eve_prime's review against another edition

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4.25

This one's set almost entirely in London (although our characters don't actually get to see much of London). Miles acquires a surprising new relative, and we also meet one of my favorite secondary characters, Duv Galeni. It's not quite as fast-paced as some, and I like that we get to see Miles adapting to new information and making solid choices.

stevenyenzer's review against another edition

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3.0

Fun, if a little rote. The twist is certainly shocking!

dwhito's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-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? Yes

ktaylor1164's review against another edition

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4.0

Ah, back to Miles. Phew. I was ready after reading Ethan of Athos, which I didn't love. This book shows us a more adult (though in many ways far from grown up) Miles who must grapple with family and duty and destiny. At first I thought I was going to really dislike the idea of Mark, but Bujold does a really great job setting him up as more than he originally seems.

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