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A review by lindzey
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
4.0
Eh. I liked this book, but it's one of my least favorites in the Vorkosigan saga. It's missing the intensity that I associate with the others. It's quieter, more contemplative, without Mile's usual driving urgency.
Like Memory, I think this book is about identity, and how the choices people make shape their identities. However, it didn't have the same intensity or urgency - the people involved are already more centered and self-assured than Miles was. There is no existential panic, only an awareness of the onward march of time at a crossroads where both futures are good, just different. As LMB said on her blog, this is a book about grownups. Moreover, these are grownups that are good at their jobs, helping to keep the related crises small. And the book wasn't about reacting to external events -
it was about internal change. Another reviewer commented that LMB usually "does the worst thing possible" to her characters, then watches them react. In this book, the "worst thing" was Aral's death in Cryoburn, and Admiral Jole & Vicereine Cordelia are still reacting to that. Almost the biggest crisis in the book is when Miles pays them a visit =)
Like Memory, I think this book is about identity, and how the choices people make shape their identities. However, it didn't have the same intensity or urgency - the people involved are already more centered and self-assured than Miles was. There is no existential panic, only an awareness of the onward march of time at a crossroads where both futures are good, just different. As LMB said on her blog, this is a book about grownups. Moreover, these are grownups that are good at their jobs, helping to keep the related crises small. And the book wasn't about reacting to external events -
it was about internal change. Another reviewer commented that LMB usually "does the worst thing possible" to her characters, then watches them react. In this book, the "worst thing" was Aral's death in Cryoburn, and Admiral Jole & Vicereine Cordelia are still reacting to that. Almost the biggest crisis in the book is when Miles pays them a visit =)