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A review by pickett22
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
4.0
I think that if I had been spoiled for the big plot reveal I would have done like Andre and Jasmine and not read this book, so I'm really glad I wasn't spoiled for it. It's hard to put into words how I feel about this book. I had to do a lot of mental gymnastics to keep myself from feeling cheated, which was unpleasant, but it's done now. However, the fact that I had to do that still makes me feel somewhat cheated.
Basically this book isn't anything I wanted. It is, however, what I have, and I'd like to think I'm a big enough person to deal with what I'm given up to a point. I've decided that this book doesn't cross that "up to a point," but I completely understand that for a lot of people it will.
The book is very light on plot, being intensely character driven. I'm 100% fine with that. That does mean, however, that when you get to the end it does feel very... short, I guess. A light snack, rather than a meal. It spends so much time unraveling all these threads from the past that it never gets to explore much of depth. I suppose my complaint is that it's character driven without much by way of character growth. Jole grows, to a certain extent, because he has to figure out what he really wants in life, but that's about all.
But the book isn't about character growth, it's about untangling the past, which is what it does, so I guess my complaint comes back to it not being what I wanted. It does what it sets out to do, and it does it very well. It's funny, though not as funny as some of the other books, and it's sweet, though not as sweet at some of the other books, and I could go on like that.
It was fine, is what it all rounds down to. Good, even. I'm willing to go with it, but I don't want any more like it. It doesn't spoil the rest of the series for me, I don't think, and I did enjoy the read. So yes. It was fine.
Edit, two years later:
Here's a funny thing: when I need something comfortable and sweet and painless and lovely, I go to this book. I've never re-read the entire thing cover-to-cover, but this been something to comfort myself with in dark times, even though when I first closed this book I thought I would never open it again.
Isn't it strange how we become something different? How we change? How we need different things at different times? And when I have needed to remember that life goes on after heartache, and when I needed to remember how my parents live an entire life apart from me, and when I needed to see an example of a complex adult relationship, there was this book that shook me so unpleasantly at first giving me all of that and asking nothing in return. Is not that strange?
Basically this book isn't anything I wanted. It is, however, what I have, and I'd like to think I'm a big enough person to deal with what I'm given up to a point. I've decided that this book doesn't cross that "up to a point," but I completely understand that for a lot of people it will.
The book is very light on plot, being intensely character driven. I'm 100% fine with that. That does mean, however, that when you get to the end it does feel very... short, I guess. A light snack, rather than a meal. It spends so much time unraveling all these threads from the past that it never gets to explore much of depth. I suppose my complaint is that it's character driven without much by way of character growth. Jole grows, to a certain extent, because he has to figure out what he really wants in life, but that's about all.
But the book isn't about character growth, it's about untangling the past, which is what it does, so I guess my complaint comes back to it not being what I wanted. It does what it sets out to do, and it does it very well. It's funny, though not as funny as some of the other books, and it's sweet, though not as sweet at some of the other books, and I could go on like that.
It was fine, is what it all rounds down to. Good, even. I'm willing to go with it, but I don't want any more like it. It doesn't spoil the rest of the series for me, I don't think, and I did enjoy the read. So yes. It was fine.
Edit, two years later:
Here's a funny thing: when I need something comfortable and sweet and painless and lovely, I go to this book. I've never re-read the entire thing cover-to-cover, but this been something to comfort myself with in dark times, even though when I first closed this book I thought I would never open it again.
Isn't it strange how we become something different? How we change? How we need different things at different times? And when I have needed to remember that life goes on after heartache, and when I needed to remember how my parents live an entire life apart from me, and when I needed to see an example of a complex adult relationship, there was this book that shook me so unpleasantly at first giving me all of that and asking nothing in return. Is not that strange?