silver (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silverflight8) wrote2025-07-13 06:16 pm
silverflight8) wrote2025-07-13 06:16 pm
Entry tags:
Vorkosigan Saga - Memory - Lois McMaster Bujold
In a series where I love almost every book, it’s usually hard to pick a favourite, but Memory is unquestionably my favourite. It’s just emotionally so satisfying, the culmination the emotional investment as well as character development in the past 10 books. It’s so, so good!
The beginning of the novel is so distressing to read through, because you can see it coming. Miles makes the choice to edit the file and saves two copies. Miles, make good choices! Then there’s that scene with Elena and Baz, then he fights with Elli, and of course, he doesn’t make good choices, he deletes the undoctored one for his trip home. That’s bad enough. And it preys on him. He decides to come clean, and he tries twice to unburden himself, twice to Simon (except Simon is away, and then Simon is waiting for the report from the fleet surgeon), and to Gregor. I think Gregor knows, too, already. On re-read, it’s like watching the iceberg approach slowly, knowing that collision is unavoidable. I notice that Simon even gives him one last chance, paraphrase “you told my secretary you had something to tell me”. But it’s truly inevitable. This is the crash that’s been building up since the very first Miles book, when he’d rather construct an entire mercenary fleet rather than break down and ask for help at any time. Lie first, make it good after. It’s worked so far! His insubordination is central to The Vor Game; his belief he knows better than his superiors is the whole plot of Ceteganda. It’s in pretty much every book. He’s so smart, he’s so determined. Miles has gotten away for so long, always on the knife edge, but the successful knife edge. Except now.
Simon finally calling Miles to task in his office is one of the most painful parts of the book. Simon is one of my favourite characters, and he’s been around since Shards of Honour. At first peripherally, you can see him go from young officer to acerbic chief, but always in the background helping Aral, helping Miles. You know from all these books how much he really cares about Miles, and also how much Miles respects Simon. The scene in Mirror Dance when Elena tells Simon about what happened to Miles alone! It’s all that underlying relationship built up over so many books that really makes this scene hit so hard. And it goes wrong, pretty much as bad as it possibly could. Miles having his seizure right in front of Simon, god. Tearing off the ImpSec eyes, Simon refusing to let him go outside until Miles has had a chance to breathe and use the bathroom to wash his face. It hurts! There’s also the little note where Simon says that it’s not Aral’s name or power saving Miles from further, more public consequences, it’s Miles’s own extraordinary work. One small (big) thing that Miles earns on his own, separate from his father - pale victory, considering, and probably totally overwhelmed in the rush of events, but still.
Like Haroche says, “I didn’t have to do him, he did himself, better than I could”. It’s satisfying in a painful way; it is a destruction that Miles creates for himself, and which he can’t run away from. I really like novels that really think about the context in which characters exist, like how they grow up and the pressures that shape them, their motivations and flaws; it’s part of my liking for setting in general, the question of “how would a world with dragons/spaceships/uterine replicators change the people who live in it?” This is a disaster that Miles makes out of all the forces that have propelled him, and how he’s chosen to respond for thirty years.
I never noticed before but every time Miles has been on Barrayar, his parents have been there, and all his scenes downside have been in company with them, Ivan, Gregor, etc. There’s always people around for Miles, Barrayar is home and people. Having Vorkosigan House echoing and empty, with no staff (except mandatory ImpSec), plus no work to distract him, is awful.
In these books there’s no shortage of awful things that happen to Miles and Mark and other characters, and somehow we don’t seem to run out of horribleness. That chip malfunction on Simon is right up there at the top. The way Simon never gets to forget anything is frankly horrible enough, though at least he had the choice to play-through all the memories if he chose. In his line of work, one can only imagine the amount of distressing images, sounds, and knowledge that entails – plus it’s not just the cold conclusions he remembers, every piece of the visceral evidence is sharp and clear. But the disintegration of the chip’s control is another level. All of the section where he’s tied to that ImpSec infirmary bed, begging for Miles to kill him rather than let him suffer, are awful. The recovery, too, knowing that he’s a shadow of himself, you could write an entire novel just based on that. On re-read, I find Haroche’s callousness – refusing to see Simon, refusing to let Miles see him, practically refusing him medical care, just running the clock on him – to be egregiously cruel.
I loved all the ties of loyalty/obligation that run through this book. I love that Vorberg decided to go outside his chain of command to confront Miles. I love that Miles’ first priority is Simon himself, and that he thinks very clear-headedly about what exactly the priorities should be. Haroche is stalling because he wants to get Illyan out of the way, so I suppose it’s not fair to compare, but still - Miles breaks down the consequence of chip removal, what it means not just for the Imperium but what it means for the man who’s suffering. That the chip was never meant to make Simon all powerful, it was Simon’s other skills (and his loyalty to Aral!) that made him so successful at his job.
All these awful things happening, though, are frankly overshadowed by my delight reading the book once Bujold started knitting Miles’s two personas, Lord Vorkosigan and Admiral Naismith, together. YES. YES! This is what I’ve been looking forward to for so many books! I think you could write a novel where Miles gives up Barrayar, deciding that his real self is to be a galactic operator or something. That could be an interesting series, and there’s definitely books that do this. But seeded in the previous books are a lot of ties that make it clear how much Miles still loves Barrayar. Mountains of Mourning and Reina Csurik is the biggest one, and I love that he visits both Reina and her parents and their whole community in this novel, but by no means are they the only tie. In so many of the novels Miles has the opportunity to cut ties, being offworld and in circumstances where he could quite well evade plenty of trouble by simply never coming back. He has a Betan grandmother and has visited Beta Colony multiple times before. He could choose to leave Gregor in The Vor Game, he could fly off with the Dendarii at any time, he’s got a fleet under his personal control, but he never does. I mean, sometimes he has reasonable fear and dread over having to report what he’s done/imminent political disaster, but he feels so strongly this obligation to Barrayar, as well as love and this overriding desire to prove himself by Barrayar’s rules. He sees Barrayar changing, too. He says to Quinn, trying to explain, “I was never a mercenary, not ever. Not for one single minute." Quinn takes it for an insult at first, but it’s another expression of that onion metaphor in Brothers in Arms - Lord Vorkosigan encompasses Admiral Naismith. Naismith isn’t the evolution of his identity, it’s a subdivision, which can be reabsorbed without losing himself – eventually. Cordelia and Ivan both think/are afraid Miles will pick the Admiral, but from the interior look at Miles we get from all these books, I think he’d be such a different character. And honestly, as a reader (and not someone who has to live there), I really love Barrayar, and I’d be sad to have that taken away. Barrayar and its social pressures caught between old and new, its politics, Miles’ network of family, are part of what gives the whole series a huge amount of depth and grounding that straightforward mercenaries in space adventures just can’t compete with. It would cut out so much of the loyalty! The complex political history! Family ties!
Jo Walton’s reviews on Reactor are so good, and she has a gift for picking out the perfect lines from the novel as titles. For this one, she picks another perfect one, Miles’ response to Hugh Canaba/Weddell – “This is my old identity, actually.” I absolutely love that Miles finally gets to this point where he is at peace with it and himself.
Miles’ realization that his identity as Miles Vorkosigan doesn’t need proving is also really juicy and satisfying. When he just cuts down his Auditor’s report to plain factual analysis without the spin the Dendarii reports did, because he doesn’t need to prove that ImpSec should keep employing him, what a good moment. I also love the scene when Miles finally decides to put on all his medals. And he picks not his Imperial Service uniform, but his house uniform, for that extra layer of meaning.
Finally, on the subject of Miles’ involuntary retirement. I can’t help but notice that although covert ops in ImpSec gives Miles some of his goals – ship duty! Active service! Heaps and heaps of adrenaline and the ability to use his tactical abilities in fast-paced situations! Opportunities to use his initiative, too far out for detailed order-following! – it is possibly one of the worst positions I could imagine for someone like Miles. He has such visible, un-hidable physical disabilities that everyone can see; he must wear this othering “costume” publicly, every day, and answer strangers’ spoken and unspoken questions about his disabilities as soon as he meets them; his disabilities are particularly unfavourable to army-mad, mutation-hating Barrayar; and all of this is on top of Miles struggling under the shadow of his very prominent and successful father. Having a secret career where his achievements are completely classified is a cruel, awful joke. No matter how hard he tries, and by god, Miles tries, he cannot answer publicly those who look at him and see failure. Aral isn’t wrong about the distinction of public reputation vs private honour, but it’s a hard pill to swallow for Miles specifically. It’d be one thing to have a covert career where you don’t feel you need to prove anything publicly, like Byerly, but for someone like Miles! My god! Sure, when he’s off-planet his military experience is no longer classified, and that’s probably what’s kept him sane, but on-planet, no wonder he does not want to be Lord Vorkosigan properly.
Also, on that topic, Miles, I must say, no one can stay in an active-duty role forever. Even the most fit, athletic person ages out of the front line (hopefully). Inherent in moving up the ranks, especially tactically, is to no longer be the first person through the door. Even his father, whose achievements Miles wants to one-up, would have stopped being front line by becoming an admiral, or rather, long before then. Except I guess where it’s unavoidable, like the mutiny on General Vorkraft, but that’s an exception. So I don’t feel like Miles’ forcible retirement is all that awful. Everyone’s got to graduate to a desk job eventually, or at least, non-commando roles. And – I do think Miles deserved the captain promotion.
The fishing scene at Vorkosigan Surleau is so, so good. I love it. The rest of the novel is fantastic, too, but that scene alone is worth the price of admission, that’s how much I love it. (This is how I feel about the cricket scene in Murder Must Advertise, too.) It’s a heart-to-heart between Simon and Miles, with just the right level of openness that fits with their characters, interspersed with comments on their total failure at fishing the traditional way. It’s perfect. Plus Simon’s recollection of the ambassador who wanted an elephant, so Barrayar got him an elephant. “It expanded my worldview, ever after. Money, power, sex…and elephants.” I’m glad he got to remember that. I also love the phrasing:
I love Ivan and Miles here – well, always. Ivan getting promoted because he doesn’t twist up all his orders into little origami puzzles, and Miles feeling both sickly jealous and angry that he can’t be happy for Ivan. Ivan coming over to save Miles from himself, and knowing an ice bath is the best because of Camp Permafrost (this is why fighting with the people who know you well is the worst). Ivan keeping deathwatch/escapewatch/researching medical facilities and delicately suggesting them to Miles, and then threatening to go after him if Miles doesn’t make an appointment, that’s honestly both kind and tactful, considering. Ivan calling himself Miles’s donkey facetiously and prepared to make fun of Miles calling him up, and then sobering immediately when he’s told they’re going to look into Simon’s collapse. And Simon seeing Ivan and the relief of, “Ivan, you idiot! What are you doing here?” Phew, that coming in the middle of Simon’s breakdown was such a relief and made me want to cry. More to come on Ivan for my review of Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance but Ivan has such a good growing-up arc throughout the series, even though we mostly see it in pieces. It’s so much good build up over the whole series, what Walton calls the spearpoint that makes it all so effective.
In re-reading I notice that Haroche actually initially says to Miles that Simon was too easy on Miles, the first time Miles tries to get into ImpSec to see Simon. Haroche says on page that he’d have court-martialled Miles for it. I didn’t even notice the first time around, Haroche sells the “Miles you were so good as Naismith, I think Simon overdid it, a written censure would have been enough” so well. Miles wants it so bad I don’t think he notices, either. He just scrambles out of the room as fast as he can.
I love the little Zap the Cat subplot, that she’s gotten everyone in the household under her paw, and having kittens in the most inconvenient place, of course the clothes Miles needs that particular day. I love that Cordelia is delighted, I hope she takes a kitten to Sergyar. (Though maybe as an indoor cat, please, Cordelia.)
For a relationship that I think Bujold only really started to develop in this one book, I really like Simon/Alys. The other romances are OK but not particularly exciting for me - Duv/Delia are okay, Laisa/Gregor I’m just happy for Gregor I think – but this one I somehow really love. Simon’s first trigger upon seeing Lady Alys is guilt about not knowing she’d been in the city and not getting her and Padma out, aw. It’s also very funny to me that Ivan is slow on the uptake here, I suppose it was just something that never crossed his mind. It takes ages for Miles to notice, too, even though it’s literally happening in his house. And – Simon, how long exactly have you had this thing for Alys?!
On the previous subject of Barrayar, it makes perfect sense that Miles goes after all these galactic women – his propensity for tall Valkyries is incredible – but also completely understandable that they don’t want anything to do with Barrayar. It’s a fundamental incompatibility, because he loves Barrayar too much. Anyone who married him would need to love Barrayar, too, and space-born Quinn is the worst candidate ever in that regard.
Poor Duv gets the short end of the stick here – not only does Laisa not choose him, but he gets arrested in the worst most public way – but I’m so glad he’s here. I really enjoy Bujold’s ability to build up minor characters across the series. He was initially somewhat antagonistic (can’t blame him) but eventually allies with Miles in Brothers In Arms. By this point, I love he decides to call Miles immediately to let off steam when Laisa and Gregor announce their engagement. They’re now well on the way to being friends! Miles is totally right about the phone call being, basically, a weird affirmation of the trust between the two of them, as little as Duv might realize in the moment. But also…I think Duv is right to not want Miles to do him any more romantic favours, lol.
All the Gregor moments are so good here too. His suggestion of ancient General Vorparadijs, when Miles is trying to figure out which Auditor would be helpful if Vorhovis isn’t available, is hilarious in his own quiet way. It’s taken Gregor some time and some painful lessons, but he has gotten very good at assessing people. Gregor is one of Miles’s important ties to Barrayar. All their conversations look backwards and forwards to the roles they’ve played in each other’s lives and the roles that they will continue to play in the future. (Gregor gleefully assigning Miles as Auditor to the committee about How Should Barrayar Change Its Laws About Replicators, because Miles is half-Betan, lol).
Plot-wise I also enjoy the mystery aspect. In retrospect Haroche is so obvious, because we know the other characters, but it’s still fun to watch it come together. I love the whole ending sequence with the careful analysis of the air vents, and the precision with which the janitorial staff talk about what they know and what they don’t – the air filters aren’t numbered but it seems to have accumulated a normal amount of dust for the time period in question, and it would not be replaced by us until X date, implication that it’s most likely not meddled with but they wouldn’t have evidence to prove it, it’s very careful indeed. I think the solution to overly ambitious juniors assassinating their seniors is best solved through things like term limits, though.
It’s such a great book. I love everything in it. I think I could write another three thousand words about it. Ahhh!!!
The beginning of the novel is so distressing to read through, because you can see it coming. Miles makes the choice to edit the file and saves two copies. Miles, make good choices! Then there’s that scene with Elena and Baz, then he fights with Elli, and of course, he doesn’t make good choices, he deletes the undoctored one for his trip home. That’s bad enough. And it preys on him. He decides to come clean, and he tries twice to unburden himself, twice to Simon (except Simon is away, and then Simon is waiting for the report from the fleet surgeon), and to Gregor. I think Gregor knows, too, already. On re-read, it’s like watching the iceberg approach slowly, knowing that collision is unavoidable. I notice that Simon even gives him one last chance, paraphrase “you told my secretary you had something to tell me”. But it’s truly inevitable. This is the crash that’s been building up since the very first Miles book, when he’d rather construct an entire mercenary fleet rather than break down and ask for help at any time. Lie first, make it good after. It’s worked so far! His insubordination is central to The Vor Game; his belief he knows better than his superiors is the whole plot of Ceteganda. It’s in pretty much every book. He’s so smart, he’s so determined. Miles has gotten away for so long, always on the knife edge, but the successful knife edge. Except now.
Simon finally calling Miles to task in his office is one of the most painful parts of the book. Simon is one of my favourite characters, and he’s been around since Shards of Honour. At first peripherally, you can see him go from young officer to acerbic chief, but always in the background helping Aral, helping Miles. You know from all these books how much he really cares about Miles, and also how much Miles respects Simon. The scene in Mirror Dance when Elena tells Simon about what happened to Miles alone! It’s all that underlying relationship built up over so many books that really makes this scene hit so hard. And it goes wrong, pretty much as bad as it possibly could. Miles having his seizure right in front of Simon, god. Tearing off the ImpSec eyes, Simon refusing to let him go outside until Miles has had a chance to breathe and use the bathroom to wash his face. It hurts! There’s also the little note where Simon says that it’s not Aral’s name or power saving Miles from further, more public consequences, it’s Miles’s own extraordinary work. One small (big) thing that Miles earns on his own, separate from his father - pale victory, considering, and probably totally overwhelmed in the rush of events, but still.
Like Haroche says, “I didn’t have to do him, he did himself, better than I could”. It’s satisfying in a painful way; it is a destruction that Miles creates for himself, and which he can’t run away from. I really like novels that really think about the context in which characters exist, like how they grow up and the pressures that shape them, their motivations and flaws; it’s part of my liking for setting in general, the question of “how would a world with dragons/spaceships/uterine replicators change the people who live in it?” This is a disaster that Miles makes out of all the forces that have propelled him, and how he’s chosen to respond for thirty years.
I never noticed before but every time Miles has been on Barrayar, his parents have been there, and all his scenes downside have been in company with them, Ivan, Gregor, etc. There’s always people around for Miles, Barrayar is home and people. Having Vorkosigan House echoing and empty, with no staff (except mandatory ImpSec), plus no work to distract him, is awful.
In these books there’s no shortage of awful things that happen to Miles and Mark and other characters, and somehow we don’t seem to run out of horribleness. That chip malfunction on Simon is right up there at the top. The way Simon never gets to forget anything is frankly horrible enough, though at least he had the choice to play-through all the memories if he chose. In his line of work, one can only imagine the amount of distressing images, sounds, and knowledge that entails – plus it’s not just the cold conclusions he remembers, every piece of the visceral evidence is sharp and clear. But the disintegration of the chip’s control is another level. All of the section where he’s tied to that ImpSec infirmary bed, begging for Miles to kill him rather than let him suffer, are awful. The recovery, too, knowing that he’s a shadow of himself, you could write an entire novel just based on that. On re-read, I find Haroche’s callousness – refusing to see Simon, refusing to let Miles see him, practically refusing him medical care, just running the clock on him – to be egregiously cruel.
I loved all the ties of loyalty/obligation that run through this book. I love that Vorberg decided to go outside his chain of command to confront Miles. I love that Miles’ first priority is Simon himself, and that he thinks very clear-headedly about what exactly the priorities should be. Haroche is stalling because he wants to get Illyan out of the way, so I suppose it’s not fair to compare, but still - Miles breaks down the consequence of chip removal, what it means not just for the Imperium but what it means for the man who’s suffering. That the chip was never meant to make Simon all powerful, it was Simon’s other skills (and his loyalty to Aral!) that made him so successful at his job.
All these awful things happening, though, are frankly overshadowed by my delight reading the book once Bujold started knitting Miles’s two personas, Lord Vorkosigan and Admiral Naismith, together. YES. YES! This is what I’ve been looking forward to for so many books! I think you could write a novel where Miles gives up Barrayar, deciding that his real self is to be a galactic operator or something. That could be an interesting series, and there’s definitely books that do this. But seeded in the previous books are a lot of ties that make it clear how much Miles still loves Barrayar. Mountains of Mourning and Reina Csurik is the biggest one, and I love that he visits both Reina and her parents and their whole community in this novel, but by no means are they the only tie. In so many of the novels Miles has the opportunity to cut ties, being offworld and in circumstances where he could quite well evade plenty of trouble by simply never coming back. He has a Betan grandmother and has visited Beta Colony multiple times before. He could choose to leave Gregor in The Vor Game, he could fly off with the Dendarii at any time, he’s got a fleet under his personal control, but he never does. I mean, sometimes he has reasonable fear and dread over having to report what he’s done/imminent political disaster, but he feels so strongly this obligation to Barrayar, as well as love and this overriding desire to prove himself by Barrayar’s rules. He sees Barrayar changing, too. He says to Quinn, trying to explain, “I was never a mercenary, not ever. Not for one single minute." Quinn takes it for an insult at first, but it’s another expression of that onion metaphor in Brothers in Arms - Lord Vorkosigan encompasses Admiral Naismith. Naismith isn’t the evolution of his identity, it’s a subdivision, which can be reabsorbed without losing himself – eventually. Cordelia and Ivan both think/are afraid Miles will pick the Admiral, but from the interior look at Miles we get from all these books, I think he’d be such a different character. And honestly, as a reader (and not someone who has to live there), I really love Barrayar, and I’d be sad to have that taken away. Barrayar and its social pressures caught between old and new, its politics, Miles’ network of family, are part of what gives the whole series a huge amount of depth and grounding that straightforward mercenaries in space adventures just can’t compete with. It would cut out so much of the loyalty! The complex political history! Family ties!
Jo Walton’s reviews on Reactor are so good, and she has a gift for picking out the perfect lines from the novel as titles. For this one, she picks another perfect one, Miles’ response to Hugh Canaba/Weddell – “This is my old identity, actually.” I absolutely love that Miles finally gets to this point where he is at peace with it and himself.
Miles’ realization that his identity as Miles Vorkosigan doesn’t need proving is also really juicy and satisfying. When he just cuts down his Auditor’s report to plain factual analysis without the spin the Dendarii reports did, because he doesn’t need to prove that ImpSec should keep employing him, what a good moment. I also love the scene when Miles finally decides to put on all his medals. And he picks not his Imperial Service uniform, but his house uniform, for that extra layer of meaning.
Finally, on the subject of Miles’ involuntary retirement. I can’t help but notice that although covert ops in ImpSec gives Miles some of his goals – ship duty! Active service! Heaps and heaps of adrenaline and the ability to use his tactical abilities in fast-paced situations! Opportunities to use his initiative, too far out for detailed order-following! – it is possibly one of the worst positions I could imagine for someone like Miles. He has such visible, un-hidable physical disabilities that everyone can see; he must wear this othering “costume” publicly, every day, and answer strangers’ spoken and unspoken questions about his disabilities as soon as he meets them; his disabilities are particularly unfavourable to army-mad, mutation-hating Barrayar; and all of this is on top of Miles struggling under the shadow of his very prominent and successful father. Having a secret career where his achievements are completely classified is a cruel, awful joke. No matter how hard he tries, and by god, Miles tries, he cannot answer publicly those who look at him and see failure. Aral isn’t wrong about the distinction of public reputation vs private honour, but it’s a hard pill to swallow for Miles specifically. It’d be one thing to have a covert career where you don’t feel you need to prove anything publicly, like Byerly, but for someone like Miles! My god! Sure, when he’s off-planet his military experience is no longer classified, and that’s probably what’s kept him sane, but on-planet, no wonder he does not want to be Lord Vorkosigan properly.
Also, on that topic, Miles, I must say, no one can stay in an active-duty role forever. Even the most fit, athletic person ages out of the front line (hopefully). Inherent in moving up the ranks, especially tactically, is to no longer be the first person through the door. Even his father, whose achievements Miles wants to one-up, would have stopped being front line by becoming an admiral, or rather, long before then. Except I guess where it’s unavoidable, like the mutiny on General Vorkraft, but that’s an exception. So I don’t feel like Miles’ forcible retirement is all that awful. Everyone’s got to graduate to a desk job eventually, or at least, non-commando roles. And – I do think Miles deserved the captain promotion.
The fishing scene at Vorkosigan Surleau is so, so good. I love it. The rest of the novel is fantastic, too, but that scene alone is worth the price of admission, that’s how much I love it. (This is how I feel about the cricket scene in Murder Must Advertise, too.) It’s a heart-to-heart between Simon and Miles, with just the right level of openness that fits with their characters, interspersed with comments on their total failure at fishing the traditional way. It’s perfect. Plus Simon’s recollection of the ambassador who wanted an elephant, so Barrayar got him an elephant. “It expanded my worldview, ever after. Money, power, sex…and elephants.” I’m glad he got to remember that. I also love the phrasing:
"This would be more like a stakeout," Illyan remarked after a while, "if the fish were armed and could fire back. If fish fished for men, what kind of bait would they use?"
Miles pictured a line tossed onto the shore, tipped with a spiced peach tart. "'Let's go manning?' I dunno. What kind of bait did you used to use?"
I love Ivan and Miles here – well, always. Ivan getting promoted because he doesn’t twist up all his orders into little origami puzzles, and Miles feeling both sickly jealous and angry that he can’t be happy for Ivan. Ivan coming over to save Miles from himself, and knowing an ice bath is the best because of Camp Permafrost (this is why fighting with the people who know you well is the worst). Ivan keeping deathwatch/escapewatch/researching medical facilities and delicately suggesting them to Miles, and then threatening to go after him if Miles doesn’t make an appointment, that’s honestly both kind and tactful, considering. Ivan calling himself Miles’s donkey facetiously and prepared to make fun of Miles calling him up, and then sobering immediately when he’s told they’re going to look into Simon’s collapse. And Simon seeing Ivan and the relief of, “Ivan, you idiot! What are you doing here?” Phew, that coming in the middle of Simon’s breakdown was such a relief and made me want to cry. More to come on Ivan for my review of Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance but Ivan has such a good growing-up arc throughout the series, even though we mostly see it in pieces. It’s so much good build up over the whole series, what Walton calls the spearpoint that makes it all so effective.
In re-reading I notice that Haroche actually initially says to Miles that Simon was too easy on Miles, the first time Miles tries to get into ImpSec to see Simon. Haroche says on page that he’d have court-martialled Miles for it. I didn’t even notice the first time around, Haroche sells the “Miles you were so good as Naismith, I think Simon overdid it, a written censure would have been enough” so well. Miles wants it so bad I don’t think he notices, either. He just scrambles out of the room as fast as he can.
I love the little Zap the Cat subplot, that she’s gotten everyone in the household under her paw, and having kittens in the most inconvenient place, of course the clothes Miles needs that particular day. I love that Cordelia is delighted, I hope she takes a kitten to Sergyar. (Though maybe as an indoor cat, please, Cordelia.)
For a relationship that I think Bujold only really started to develop in this one book, I really like Simon/Alys. The other romances are OK but not particularly exciting for me - Duv/Delia are okay, Laisa/Gregor I’m just happy for Gregor I think – but this one I somehow really love. Simon’s first trigger upon seeing Lady Alys is guilt about not knowing she’d been in the city and not getting her and Padma out, aw. It’s also very funny to me that Ivan is slow on the uptake here, I suppose it was just something that never crossed his mind. It takes ages for Miles to notice, too, even though it’s literally happening in his house. And – Simon, how long exactly have you had this thing for Alys?!
On the previous subject of Barrayar, it makes perfect sense that Miles goes after all these galactic women – his propensity for tall Valkyries is incredible – but also completely understandable that they don’t want anything to do with Barrayar. It’s a fundamental incompatibility, because he loves Barrayar too much. Anyone who married him would need to love Barrayar, too, and space-born Quinn is the worst candidate ever in that regard.
Poor Duv gets the short end of the stick here – not only does Laisa not choose him, but he gets arrested in the worst most public way – but I’m so glad he’s here. I really enjoy Bujold’s ability to build up minor characters across the series. He was initially somewhat antagonistic (can’t blame him) but eventually allies with Miles in Brothers In Arms. By this point, I love he decides to call Miles immediately to let off steam when Laisa and Gregor announce their engagement. They’re now well on the way to being friends! Miles is totally right about the phone call being, basically, a weird affirmation of the trust between the two of them, as little as Duv might realize in the moment. But also…I think Duv is right to not want Miles to do him any more romantic favours, lol.
All the Gregor moments are so good here too. His suggestion of ancient General Vorparadijs, when Miles is trying to figure out which Auditor would be helpful if Vorhovis isn’t available, is hilarious in his own quiet way. It’s taken Gregor some time and some painful lessons, but he has gotten very good at assessing people. Gregor is one of Miles’s important ties to Barrayar. All their conversations look backwards and forwards to the roles they’ve played in each other’s lives and the roles that they will continue to play in the future. (Gregor gleefully assigning Miles as Auditor to the committee about How Should Barrayar Change Its Laws About Replicators, because Miles is half-Betan, lol).
Plot-wise I also enjoy the mystery aspect. In retrospect Haroche is so obvious, because we know the other characters, but it’s still fun to watch it come together. I love the whole ending sequence with the careful analysis of the air vents, and the precision with which the janitorial staff talk about what they know and what they don’t – the air filters aren’t numbered but it seems to have accumulated a normal amount of dust for the time period in question, and it would not be replaced by us until X date, implication that it’s most likely not meddled with but they wouldn’t have evidence to prove it, it’s very careful indeed. I think the solution to overly ambitious juniors assassinating their seniors is best solved through things like term limits, though.
It’s such a great book. I love everything in it. I think I could write another three thousand words about it. Ahhh!!!
no subject