A review by mjfmjfmjf
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold

4.0

A re-read. And it is kind of like I'm reading a different book. The book is the same so I'm presumably the difference. I'm older though strangely enough I was 50 when I read this last time, just like Jole. It's been 10 years since my dad died pretty much simultaneously with Aral so I like the characters have a little bit more distance from that. And I now at least have a date and plan for retirement - still years off. I've just finished re-reading this series all the way through. And I could appreciate a Cordelia sequel quite a bit more. And the side characters aren't strangers. Yes the first part of this is a bit slow. But the parts with Miles were definitely not my favorite bits - except for a conversation between Miles and Jole near the end which absolutely was. And Aral and Jole were a lot easier to accept and believe upon a re-read - though it's still not clear to me whether their relationship existed when the earlier books were being written. Aral being bisexual and Cordelia being Betan were both truths from the very beginning and throughout these books. I'm pretty sure Aral and Jole's relationship was known by the author at the end of Cryoburn. A bad place to start this series but a good enough place to end it.

Always good to have another Vorkosigan book. This one is a bit slow and draggy. And its another one not about Miles, though he does eventually appear and his parts are my favorite bits. This one is actually about Cordelia. And Jole who I am sure was in the earlier books, but I don't remember him. This definitely has the feel of an old person's book written for old people. And not much happens, except for a certain amount of life. 3.5 of 5.