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A review by anuragsahay
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
5.0
This review has some heavy spoilers for the series (if you've read anything about this book, or if you've reach the first three chapters completely then it's probably spoiler safe)
I have complicated feelings about this book. Here's the short of it: I liked it, unlike what seems to be the reaction of like 90% of the internet.
The long of it is the following: this book has no plot to speak of, no conflict to resolve, and no real stakes whatsoever. It also has very little Miles, and no perspective from Miles at all, so it's completely understandable why this would cause whiplash to a lot of people. In that sense, this is not really a Vorkosigan novel.
However, one of my favourite books from this series, and one that I anticipate I'll reread the most also has very little plot (I speak of "Memory"), so it's not as if plot is essential if the characterisation is good.
There are three levels on which this books operates:
1. The story of Cordelia and Oliver dating and everyone's response to that
2. The story of Cordelia and Oliver grieving for, and moving on from Aral's death
3. An exploration of their polyamourous marriage
In some sense, there's also the politics of Sergyar itself, but they're more dressing for the above than anything else.
As an exploration of Cordelia and Oliver falling in love, this book fails. After the greatness that is Shards of Honor and A Civil Campaign, I don't buy the romance in this story in and of itself. As an exploration of the relationship between Oliver, Aral and Cordelia... well, damn, it seems like it comes out of nowhere. I really, really wish that there was more of a hint of this than the fact that Aral is bisexual before. I wish that there was Aral's perspective in all of this. I wish that this book didn't deal with the aftermath of their marriage but it's beginning or middle. Having not had those wishes, once you commit yourself to the idea that Aral would go from his monogamy in "Barrayar" to this, this book works, but the lack of explication of that process is a huge gap for this book.
However, once you manage to buy into the idea of this 3-way relationship, and get past the first chapters babies ever after shock, the book works very, very well as an exploration of the impact of Aral on the lives of these characters and their relationship to each other. This book is about bereavement and dealing with it, and it works very well for that.
Overall, I hope this isn't the end of the series. While I don't really want more stories from Miles' perspective, Mark's life is left mostly untouched after the "Brothers in Arms"-"Mirror Dance" doublet, with a small amount in "A Civil Campaign", and so much of Aral and Cordelia's life (especially the time between "Barrayar" and "The Warrior's Apprentice") is largely or completely unexplored. I would also not mind a few more Ekaterin or Ivan stories.
To conclude: the Vorkosigan saga is amazing. There are some downs, but they are far, far outweighed by the ups. I imagine that the sequence of books from "Mirror Dance" to "A Civil Campaign" will be re-read by me a large number of times. I strongly recommend the saga.
I still hate you Shashwat. ;_;
I have complicated feelings about this book. Here's the short of it: I liked it, unlike what seems to be the reaction of like 90% of the internet.
The long of it is the following: this book has no plot to speak of, no conflict to resolve, and no real stakes whatsoever. It also has very little Miles, and no perspective from Miles at all, so it's completely understandable why this would cause whiplash to a lot of people. In that sense, this is not really a Vorkosigan novel.
However, one of my favourite books from this series, and one that I anticipate I'll reread the most also has very little plot (I speak of "Memory"), so it's not as if plot is essential if the characterisation is good.
There are three levels on which this books operates:
1. The story of Cordelia and Oliver dating and everyone's response to that
2. The story of Cordelia and Oliver grieving for, and moving on from Aral's death
3. An exploration of their polyamourous marriage
In some sense, there's also the politics of Sergyar itself, but they're more dressing for the above than anything else.
As an exploration of Cordelia and Oliver falling in love, this book fails. After the greatness that is Shards of Honor and A Civil Campaign, I don't buy the romance in this story in and of itself. As an exploration of the relationship between Oliver, Aral and Cordelia... well, damn, it seems like it comes out of nowhere. I really, really wish that there was more of a hint of this than the fact that Aral is bisexual before. I wish that there was Aral's perspective in all of this. I wish that this book didn't deal with the aftermath of their marriage but it's beginning or middle. Having not had those wishes, once you commit yourself to the idea that Aral would go from his monogamy in "Barrayar" to this, this book works, but the lack of explication of that process is a huge gap for this book.
However, once you manage to buy into the idea of this 3-way relationship, and get past the first chapters babies ever after shock, the book works very, very well as an exploration of the impact of Aral on the lives of these characters and their relationship to each other. This book is about bereavement and dealing with it, and it works very well for that.
Overall, I hope this isn't the end of the series. While I don't really want more stories from Miles' perspective, Mark's life is left mostly untouched after the "Brothers in Arms"-"Mirror Dance" doublet, with a small amount in "A Civil Campaign", and so much of Aral and Cordelia's life (especially the time between "Barrayar" and "The Warrior's Apprentice") is largely or completely unexplored. I would also not mind a few more Ekaterin or Ivan stories.
To conclude: the Vorkosigan saga is amazing. There are some downs, but they are far, far outweighed by the ups. I imagine that the sequence of books from "Mirror Dance" to "A Civil Campaign" will be re-read by me a large number of times. I strongly recommend the saga.
I still hate you Shashwat. ;_;