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Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold
Nine out of my thirteen friends on Library Thing own this book. This probably tells you a lot about both the quality of the book and the good taste of my friends.
Komarr is one of the very best books in the Vorkosigan series. Here, Miles is maturing. He's grown out of his younger desperate need to prove himself at every turn. He has a greater understanding of himself and also more understanding of what he wants from life. His maturity matches that of his writer. Bujold was a good writer from the start, but in this book, I found myself reminded of both Jane Austen and Dorothy L Sayers. Her handling of character has become defter and more subtle.
The way Bujold describes Ekaterin Vorsoisson and how she survives in a marriage, where duty long ago took over from love, is beautifully done.
Miles slowly falls in love, while trying to solve the mystery of how a freighter came to collide with the soletta array that is crucial for the long-term terraforming of Komarr.
Mile's problem romance-wise is that Ekaterin is married, principled, and not looking for another relationship.
The book is partly written from Ekaterin's POV. She's very much her own character and one the reader comes to know and to relate to.
Komarr is one of the very best books in the Vorkosigan series. Here, Miles is maturing. He's grown out of his younger desperate need to prove himself at every turn. He has a greater understanding of himself and also more understanding of what he wants from life. His maturity matches that of his writer. Bujold was a good writer from the start, but in this book, I found myself reminded of both Jane Austen and Dorothy L Sayers. Her handling of character has become defter and more subtle.
The way Bujold describes Ekaterin Vorsoisson and how she survives in a marriage, where duty long ago took over from love, is beautifully done.
Miles slowly falls in love, while trying to solve the mystery of how a freighter came to collide with the soletta array that is crucial for the long-term terraforming of Komarr.
Mile's problem romance-wise is that Ekaterin is married, principled, and not looking for another relationship.
The book is partly written from Ekaterin's POV. She's very much her own character and one the reader comes to know and to relate to.
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The one after ("A Civil Campaign") makes me cringe in parts, because Miles behaves so foolishly. On the other hand, he doesn't compound his foolishness.
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In the afterword to that LMB tells how someone told her the way to move a plot forward is to think "What is the wordt thing I could do to this character?" and so she put Cordelia and Aral on opposite sides in the war.
In Komarr we finally Miles growing up and confronting problems he can't just bluff his way through.
"Brothers in Arms" is cool too because Miles visits the Thames barrier - just a couple of miles from here.
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I think it's probably the best book in the entire series, but I still have two left to re-read, so I'll be certain in a few week's time.
Do you like Dorothy Sayers? Ekaterin reminded me a little of Harriet Vane.
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Interesting. To me, Cordelia is always there, even when she isn't. Her presence is so strong an influence on Miles, Gregor, Mark, the Koudelka girls and so many others, that she is always present in the novels.
I also like the sense of the strong continuing relationship between her and Aral. The fact that she isn't in many of the adventures helps the feeling that a deep love can continue quietly over time without needing stresses and strains and action to keep it going.
The other one that had a lot of actual Cordelia (Barrayar) I felt was weaker overall as the scenes humping the replicator all over the place just got too implausible)
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No surprise; the icon is based on a cover-image of that exact book. One day I was trying to find as many different Lois McMaster Bujold covers on the net as I could, and that one really struck me, so I turned it into an icon. I think it suits as a general SF icon; one doesn't need to know where it comes from.
Do you like Dorothy Sayers? Ekaterin reminded me a little of Harriet Vane.
I do like Dorothy Sayers and Harriet Vane, but I didn't make any connection between her and Ekaterin. Though when I think about it, they do have in common that they were betrayed by the person who was supposed to love them, and that they endure quietly.
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I only realised later on that Ekaterin is another Kat. Was that one of the reasons you chose her as an icon?
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No, I just liked the image.