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A review by oleksandr
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
3.0
This is the final installment in the Vorkosigan Saga. I’ve read is as a part of the Vorkosigan Challenge in December 2020 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group.
The story made a full circle: the series started with Cordelia Naismith, a thirty-three years old woman, a Betan Astronomical Survey commander is the protagonist in [b:Shards of Honor|531792|Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga #1)|Lois McMaster Bujold|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388212776l/531792._SY75_.jpg|9673658], in later books she is more a minor role while the main character is her son Miles Vorkosigan. Now she is 75, a widow and a Vicereine of Sergyar, and plans to change her life drastically once again. Her counterpart in this novel is 50 years old man, Admiral of Sergyar Fleet, Oliver Jole, who was a secretary, confidant and lover of her late husband – he was mentioned briefly in earlier books, but played a minor role.
The story starts with Cordelia returning to Sergyar with a portable freezer. There her frozen zygotes as well as Earl’s bio-materials and she plans to finally get herself a daughter… or eight. She shares her idea, as well as her eggs with Oliver, pushing him to rethink his childless bachelor status.
I saw several comments suggesting that the story is weaker than previous works and while I agree there is no great plot with unexpected twists, it is a nice return of the initial character and a conclusion to he Saga
The story made a full circle: the series started with Cordelia Naismith, a thirty-three years old woman, a Betan Astronomical Survey commander is the protagonist in [b:Shards of Honor|531792|Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga #1)|Lois McMaster Bujold|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388212776l/531792._SY75_.jpg|9673658], in later books she is more a minor role while the main character is her son Miles Vorkosigan. Now she is 75, a widow and a Vicereine of Sergyar, and plans to change her life drastically once again. Her counterpart in this novel is 50 years old man, Admiral of Sergyar Fleet, Oliver Jole, who was a secretary, confidant and lover of her late husband – he was mentioned briefly in earlier books, but played a minor role.
The story starts with Cordelia returning to Sergyar with a portable freezer. There her frozen zygotes as well as Earl’s bio-materials and she plans to finally get herself a daughter… or eight. She shares her idea, as well as her eggs with Oliver, pushing him to rethink his childless bachelor status.
I saw several comments suggesting that the story is weaker than previous works and while I agree there is no great plot with unexpected twists, it is a nice return of the initial character and a conclusion to he Saga