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A review by onceandfuturelaura
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
3.0
Continues (completes?) the drift from grand drama to romance/comedy of manners. Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan; the Betan captain who defeated Barrayar’s attempt to conquer one planet; helped execute two crazed noblemen; married into their nobility; won a civil war by bringing back the usurper’s head in a bag; became a countess; became a governor; became a widow and dowager countess; has decided to retire at 76 and have a parcel of children. The only drama is whether and if so to what extent will she do this with an old friend who had an intimate relationship with both her and her late husband.
The prose was a pleasure; the story a bit of a let down. The deep conflict between feudalism and the future is what brings me back to the Vorkosigan saga. There’s a thread of that here. Dowager Countess Captain Naismith Vorkosigan is once again bringing something new to Barrayar, or, at least, to the Barrayan colony world she discovered as a scientist and runs as a foster-son and Emperor’s designee. But that thread just weaves through; it does not lead us down to the little deeper level.
A lot of the humor came from the fact she did once bring back a severed head from a trip to the capitol. Which truly was a wonderful moment. But I was a bit put out that she never spared a thought for the man who did the actual decapitation; poor Bothari, a man who did his absolute best by Barrayar and was turned into monster for it.
Did appreciate she was struggling with infrastructure and the lack of multiple bids for major public projects.
The prose was a pleasure; the story a bit of a let down. The deep conflict between feudalism and the future is what brings me back to the Vorkosigan saga. There’s a thread of that here. Dowager Countess Captain Naismith Vorkosigan is once again bringing something new to Barrayar, or, at least, to the Barrayan colony world she discovered as a scientist and runs as a foster-son and Emperor’s designee. But that thread just weaves through; it does not lead us down to the little deeper level.
A lot of the humor came from the fact she did once bring back a severed head from a trip to the capitol. Which truly was a wonderful moment. But I was a bit put out that she never spared a thought for the man who did the actual decapitation; poor Bothari, a man who did his absolute best by Barrayar and was turned into monster for it.
Did appreciate she was struggling with infrastructure and the lack of multiple bids for major public projects.