Scan barcode
A review by thecanary
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
2.0
An incredibly and unexpectedly pastel read. The beginning had me giddy with the potential as romantic hints, mysterious genetics, and potential conflicts flirted with the narrative. I told my friend, "I love this about Bujold. I can never predict where she's going to go!"
It's kinda true. I didn't predict that the story wouldn't go anywhere. It circled around Cordelia and Jole as they built (rediscovered, recovered, reinterpreted) their old relationship, thought about family and children, struggled over whether to disclose it to the public, and hung out.
Each time a possible subplot reared its head, I got excited (a concrete company cheating Cordelia, the municipal government resisting the move of the capital, a possible Cetan spy, storm on the horizon, wilderness dangers while visiting a grave) and each time, they would be gently, casually dismissed by the book.
The relationship issues themselves were resolved with a magical epiphany - or several. A boat ride, a life-death experience, and voila, the character who's on the fence suddenly knows what he has to do. Family trumps career, peace trumps action, love trumps duty.
I found myself stretching for meaning throughout - maybe this is the launch story for a new cast of characters. Joel's grown children, never knowing who their relations are, go off to have adventures and then discover their links to the empire...a far fetched rationalization for the story that was debunked by the end of the book.
This is a soft, pastel-shade, epilogue-style story about a character (and characters) whose arcs have run their course. It feels like the Superman dilemma. When a character is so truly and fully leveled up, what true challenge could you throw at them? With Superman's powers, it's only the emotional dilemmas that an make an impact, and there's only so much of "Let's save Lois Lane" that you can do before it too becomes monotonous.
Similar here. What sort of enemy could you throw at Cordelia that couldn't be solved by her competence (and the fact that she can call on any resources in Gregor's empire, Mark's science conglomerate, and Mile and his clever mercenary detective contacts)? And any emotional or moral lapses would be incongruous for a character whose emotional compass has never wavered in more than fifty years.
Crafting a story for Cordelia would have been a real challenge and that challenge was what excited me about this book. I wanted to see it met.
My favorite bits of the story were the couple truly surprising bits - the revelation of Jole's and Cordelia's past relationship (though the subsequent way it was handled and its unevenness felt like a cop out), and the revelations about the truth behind the Cetegandan invasion and subsequent retreat.
All in all, it's very much a book for the fans.
It's kinda true. I didn't predict that the story wouldn't go anywhere. It circled around Cordelia and Jole as they built (rediscovered, recovered, reinterpreted) their old relationship, thought about family and children, struggled over whether to disclose it to the public, and hung out.
Each time a possible subplot reared its head, I got excited (a concrete company cheating Cordelia, the municipal government resisting the move of the capital, a possible Cetan spy, storm on the horizon, wilderness dangers while visiting a grave) and each time, they would be gently, casually dismissed by the book
Spoiler
(Mark helps out by sending his own concrete company, the governor never reappears again, the Cetagandan was just a guy wanting to do an art show, the storm passed, the wildlife stayed in the background.)The relationship issues themselves were resolved with a magical epiphany - or several. A boat ride, a life-death experience, and voila, the character who's on the fence suddenly knows what he has to do. Family trumps career, peace trumps action, love trumps duty.
I found myself stretching for meaning throughout - maybe this is the launch story for a new cast of characters. Joel's grown children, never knowing who their relations are, go off to have adventures and then discover their links to the empire...a far fetched rationalization for the story that was debunked by the end of the book.
This is a soft, pastel-shade, epilogue-style story about a character (and characters) whose arcs have run their course. It feels like the Superman dilemma. When a character is so truly and fully leveled up, what true challenge could you throw at them? With Superman's powers, it's only the emotional dilemmas that an make an impact, and there's only so much of "Let's save Lois Lane" that you can do before it too becomes monotonous.
Similar here. What sort of enemy could you throw at Cordelia that couldn't be solved by her competence (and the fact that she can call on any resources in Gregor's empire, Mark's science conglomerate, and Mile and his clever mercenary detective contacts)? And any emotional or moral lapses would be incongruous for a character whose emotional compass has never wavered in more than fifty years.
Crafting a story for Cordelia would have been a real challenge and that challenge was what excited me about this book. I wanted to see it met.
My favorite bits of the story were the couple truly surprising bits - the revelation of Jole's and Cordelia's past relationship (though the subsequent way it was handled and its unevenness felt like a cop out), and the revelations about the truth behind the Cetegandan invasion and subsequent retreat.
All in all, it's very much a book for the fans.