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A review by anna_hepworth
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
For those who already love the Vorkosigan series, particularly the later ones which focus more on relationships and people rather than politics and war, then this is probably worth your while. I wouldn't recommend it to people who are not familiar with the series, because it relies a lot on already knowing the characters, setting (physical), and context (political).
It focuses on Cordelia, who I remember quite clearly from previous books, and Oliver Jole, who I have no memory of at all -- I have a feeling that they were a background character where they were seen at all. It does a really good job of following them as they start to recover from the grief of Aral's passing (in one of the previous books, although I've forgotten which one) and start planning for the future.
I'm a little amused at the plans that Cordelia chooses, although the relatively long lifespan they anticipate puts them at a different life stage than I attribute to at 70. Bujold does a really good job of making Cordelia's motivations understandable, and comprehensible even while I boggled at them.
And as a personal bit of entertainment -- reading the story of the organisation of Jole's 50th birthday bash, and the way that it pans out, in the week in which my own 50th happened (sans birthday bash, because covid is just starting to ramp up in my home state in a way that the rest of the world has been living with for rather a long time) made parts of this story, and the decisions that Jole is making, very surreal.
This book is a much better romance than previous of the Vorkosigan saga. I think this might be one of the few romances in the series so far that I found truly believable.
It focuses on Cordelia, who I remember quite clearly from previous books, and Oliver Jole, who I have no memory of at all -- I have a feeling that they were a background character where they were seen at all. It does a really good job of following them as they start to recover from the grief of Aral's passing (in one of the previous books, although I've forgotten which one) and start planning for the future.
I'm a little amused at the plans that Cordelia chooses, although the relatively long lifespan they anticipate puts them at a different life stage than I attribute to at 70. Bujold does a really good job of making Cordelia's motivations understandable, and comprehensible even while I boggled at them.
And as a personal bit of entertainment -- reading the story of the organisation of Jole's 50th birthday bash, and the way that it pans out, in the week in which my own 50th happened (sans birthday bash, because covid is just starting to ramp up in my home state in a way that the rest of the world has been living with for rather a long time) made parts of this story, and the decisions that Jole is making, very surreal.
This book is a much better romance than previous of the Vorkosigan saga. I think this might be one of the few romances in the series so far that I found truly believable.