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Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #3, 5.2 & 9
Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem
Contains:
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
Labyrinth.
Diplomat, soldier, spy - Lieutenant Lord Miles Naismith Vorkosigan of the Barrayarayan Empire, a.k.a. Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii Free Mercenaries, is a young man of many parts.
Miles and his handsome cousin Ivan are called upon to play a simple diplomatic role on the capital world of Barrayar's old enemy until murder and deceit thrust them into Cetagandan internal politics at the highest levels, and Miles discovers the secrets of the haut-women's biological domain to be very complicated indeed.
Commander Elli Quinn, sent by Miles on the trail of those secrets, meets a man who marches to the beat of a very different drummer. Dr. Ethan Urquhart, obstetrician from a planet forbidden to women, is on a quest at cross-purposes to Elli's mission - or is it?
Consequences of Cetagandan bioengineering continue to play out, this time on a Dendrii sortie to the crime planet of Jackson's Whole. When he encounters a genetically altered super-soldier, Miles's routine rescue strike takes a sudden hard turn for the unanticipated.
Contents:
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
Labyrinth.
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
Labyrinth.
Diplomat, soldier, spy - Lieutenant Lord Miles Naismith Vorkosigan of the Barrayarayan Empire, a.k.a. Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii Free Mercenaries, is a young man of many parts.
Miles and his handsome cousin Ivan are called upon to play a simple diplomatic role on the capital world of Barrayar's old enemy until murder and deceit thrust them into Cetagandan internal politics at the highest levels, and Miles discovers the secrets of the haut-women's biological domain to be very complicated indeed.
Commander Elli Quinn, sent by Miles on the trail of those secrets, meets a man who marches to the beat of a very different drummer. Dr. Ethan Urquhart, obstetrician from a planet forbidden to women, is on a quest at cross-purposes to Elli's mission - or is it?
Consequences of Cetagandan bioengineering continue to play out, this time on a Dendrii sortie to the crime planet of Jackson's Whole. When he encounters a genetically altered super-soldier, Miles's routine rescue strike takes a sudden hard turn for the unanticipated.
Contents:
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
Labyrinth.
505 pages, Hardcover
First published November 27, 2001
About the author
Lois McMaster Bujold
195 books38.3k followersLois McMaster Bujold was born in 1949, the daughter of an engineering professor at Ohio State University, from whom she picked up her early interest in science fiction. She now lives in Minneapolis, and has two grown children.
Her fantasy from HarperCollins includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife tetralogy; her science fiction from Baen Books features the perennially bestselling Vorkosigan Saga. Her work has been translated into over twenty languages.
Questions regarding foreign rights, film/tv subrights, and other business matters should be directed to Spectrum Literary Agency, spectrumliteraryagency.com
A listing of her awards and nominations may be seen here:
http://www.sfadb.com/Lois_McMaster_Bu...
A listing of her interviews is here:
http://vorkosigan.wikia.com/wiki/Auth...
An older fan-run site devoted to her work, The Bujold Nexus, is here:
http://www.dendarii.com/
Her fantasy from HarperCollins includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife tetralogy; her science fiction from Baen Books features the perennially bestselling Vorkosigan Saga. Her work has been translated into over twenty languages.
Questions regarding foreign rights, film/tv subrights, and other business matters should be directed to Spectrum Literary Agency, spectrumliteraryagency.com
A listing of her awards and nominations may be seen here:
http://www.sfadb.com/Lois_McMaster_Bu...
A listing of her interviews is here:
http://vorkosigan.wikia.com/wiki/Auth...
An older fan-run site devoted to her work, The Bujold Nexus, is here:
http://www.dendarii.com/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 172 reviews
March 16, 2022
15/3/22 Reread Cetaganda. Ruefully wonderful as Miles is let loose on the unsuspecting gem-lords and haut-ladies. Ivan as always is a wonderful foil.
November 13, 2020
“When fame eludes, notoriety may serve.”
2009 review: 3.5 stars. I wish I could write like Bujold. Miles is such a fun character: "a master of chaos" (both causing and capitalizing on).
“Obviously, it was his clear ImpSec duty to foil the girl and save the villain. Right. My head hurts.”
2020 review: Ditto. While Bujold commits few scientific gaffs so common to science fiction, these stories are written to be enjoyed. Starting with Miles, all the characters are just a few degrees over the top.
"I wish I were normal." "I can't give you what I don't possess myself."
Bujold deals with gender issues better than many contemporary writers. That said, the Ethan of Athos story is has few redeeming qualities and cost the collection a star.
“One maneuvers to the limit, but the golden moment demands action.”
2009 review: 3.5 stars. I wish I could write like Bujold. Miles is such a fun character: "a master of chaos" (both causing and capitalizing on).
“Obviously, it was his clear ImpSec duty to foil the girl and save the villain. Right. My head hurts.”
2020 review: Ditto. While Bujold commits few scientific gaffs so common to science fiction, these stories are written to be enjoyed. Starting with Miles, all the characters are just a few degrees over the top.
"I wish I were normal." "I can't give you what I don't possess myself."
Bujold deals with gender issues better than many contemporary writers. That said, the Ethan of Athos story is has few redeeming qualities and cost the collection a star.
“One maneuvers to the limit, but the golden moment demands action.”
May 12, 2016
Spaaaaaaaace opera!
I've been keeping the Vorkosigan Saga on standby for when I want to dive headfirst into something fun and exciting. Science fiction at its soft best, clever protagonists, funny dialogue. I got all that in this omnibus. I also got plenty of social commentary on gender and sexuality, which is VERY relevant to the gay marriage backlash and all the anti-trans nonsense that's been gong on lately.
So the first story, Ceteganda, I would sum up as "Miles being Miles," and it was awesome. Intrigue, machinations, cleverness, and Miles pushing forward (despite Ivan's best attempts at being a voice of reason) because ... it's what Miles does. He even gets called on it a few times; when he finally gets cornered and has to figure out WHY he's so determined to take charge and do everything himself, it really does come down to that giant chip on his shoulder and nothing else. Entirely in character, and entirely satisfying. I particularly loved what one character said to him (paraphrased) when he was about to get honored at the end: "At first I thought you would love this. Then I thought you might hate it. But either way, you deserve it."
The second story, Ethan of Athos, was every bit as exciting, but much more thought-provoking. Miles himself wasn't in it, though he's there by proxy via Elli Quinn. Athos is an entirely male planet; women are forbidden, and all children are test-tube babies. But their ovarian cultures that are necessary for reproduction are getting old, and the titular Ethan is sent out into the galaxy to procure new ones. Things get really complicated for him when he gets caught up in all sorts of intergalactic intrigue, aided by Quinn. (The first woman he's ever encountered. The fact that she's a particularly attractive woman doesn't make things easier on him.) The story itself was quite exciting, but the real takeaway was the ruminations on sexuality and what gender roles can mean when one takes away the necessity of sexual reproduction. It's take-an-idea-and-run-with-it in the best tradition of science fiction.
The final novella, Labyrinth, is something similar with non-binary genders. Bel Thorne, Miles' hermaphrodite lieutenant, is a prominent character, as is a mutant female that Miles' meets along the way. Fluidity of gender and sexuality both are examined, in an exciting and extremely touching story.
So all in all, a great set of stories.
I've been keeping the Vorkosigan Saga on standby for when I want to dive headfirst into something fun and exciting. Science fiction at its soft best, clever protagonists, funny dialogue. I got all that in this omnibus. I also got plenty of social commentary on gender and sexuality, which is VERY relevant to the gay marriage backlash and all the anti-trans nonsense that's been gong on lately.
So the first story, Ceteganda, I would sum up as "Miles being Miles," and it was awesome. Intrigue, machinations, cleverness, and Miles pushing forward (despite Ivan's best attempts at being a voice of reason) because ... it's what Miles does. He even gets called on it a few times; when he finally gets cornered and has to figure out WHY he's so determined to take charge and do everything himself, it really does come down to that giant chip on his shoulder and nothing else. Entirely in character, and entirely satisfying. I particularly loved what one character said to him (paraphrased) when he was about to get honored at the end: "At first I thought you would love this. Then I thought you might hate it. But either way, you deserve it."
The second story, Ethan of Athos, was every bit as exciting, but much more thought-provoking. Miles himself wasn't in it, though he's there by proxy via Elli Quinn. Athos is an entirely male planet; women are forbidden, and all children are test-tube babies. But their ovarian cultures that are necessary for reproduction are getting old, and the titular Ethan is sent out into the galaxy to procure new ones. Things get really complicated for him when he gets caught up in all sorts of intergalactic intrigue, aided by Quinn. (The first woman he's ever encountered. The fact that she's a particularly attractive woman doesn't make things easier on him.) The story itself was quite exciting, but the real takeaway was the ruminations on sexuality and what gender roles can mean when one takes away the necessity of sexual reproduction. It's take-an-idea-and-run-with-it in the best tradition of science fiction.
The final novella, Labyrinth, is something similar with non-binary genders. Bel Thorne, Miles' hermaphrodite lieutenant, is a prominent character, as is a mutant female that Miles' meets along the way. Fluidity of gender and sexuality both are examined, in an exciting and extremely touching story.
So all in all, a great set of stories.
June 21, 2013
This is the third Vorkosigan omnibus I’ve read, and I’m finally ready to dedicate myself as a series partisan. The books in this collection work wonderfully together, and make for great sci-fi reading.
The first novel, Cetaganda, takes place on the homeworld of the titular empire. The death of the Cetagandan empress has brought mourners and well-wishers from throughout the galaxy, including Miles Vorkosigan and Ivan Vorpatril as official representatives of Barrayar. True to form, Miles unwittingly finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery that promises dire consequences for both Cetaganda and Barrayar if he cannot get to the bottom of it. The second book, Ethan of Athos, is seemingly Miles-free; it begins on a planet where even the mention of women is verboten, and reproduction is handled through cloning viable cultures. Ethan, a reproductive technician, is tasked with leaving the insular planet in order to discover how a crucial shipment of these cultures was sabotaged, and to see if he can find a way to replace them. His foray out into the open galaxy will not only put him squarely in the path of a woman, but a mercenary company that Vorkosigan readers will remember. The third part of the collection is a novella named Labyrinth, and ties directly into the events of Ethan of Athos. We pick back up with Miles in his Admiral Naismith persona, on a seemingly routine job for the Dendarii Mercernaries with Bel Thorne. Routine jobs for Miles are never routine, and Miles ends up neck-deep in the shady hyper-capitalist politics of Jackson’s Whole, where everything, including a sentient person’s genome, has a price.
I’ve read enough of the Vorkosigan Saga to know what I should expect, and I wasn’t let down. The books follow a familiar pattern of a thorny (usually military- or science-based) problem being addressed by an unusually novel solution, which in turn gets caught on an unexpected complication (or simply ends up being too clever for its own good) and spirals completely out of control, requiring finesse and no small bit of heroics to salvage the day. This collection was particularly engaging, however, in the similarities between the three books. Each setting explores an alien culture and consequently challenges the assumptions of both the characters and the reader: humanizing an inscrutable and heretofore faceless bad guy in the first, exploring a monastic society taken to extremes in the second, and inserting mercenaries into a truly amoral, profit-driven world in the third.
Best of all, though, each of these stories are linked by a common theme of sexuality and gender politics. The books range from a deeply matriarchal society disguised as a patriarchy to a patriarchy so extreme that women don’t even exist (and displays the homophobia that members of that society face when confronted with “normal” people from other worlds). Finally, in a place where every conceivable perversion can be indulged with enough money, Miles has multiple opportunities to ruminate on how little physical form really means when it comes to longing for connection and intimacy. I listened to an interview with Bujold where she said that she writes these books individually, rather than consciously trying to link them into a series order. The fact, therefore, that these books connect so well despite being written at wildly different times speaks to her skill as a writer (and offers a glimpse into the issues that matter to her).
I’m sure I could find things to complain about if I wore my reviewer’s cap with any sort of conviction, but I don’t really care to. This was a great collection that offered both space-flavored escapism and some deep themes to chew on. I’m fully converted; this series goes to the top of my sci-fi recommendation list.
The first novel, Cetaganda, takes place on the homeworld of the titular empire. The death of the Cetagandan empress has brought mourners and well-wishers from throughout the galaxy, including Miles Vorkosigan and Ivan Vorpatril as official representatives of Barrayar. True to form, Miles unwittingly finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery that promises dire consequences for both Cetaganda and Barrayar if he cannot get to the bottom of it. The second book, Ethan of Athos, is seemingly Miles-free; it begins on a planet where even the mention of women is verboten, and reproduction is handled through cloning viable cultures. Ethan, a reproductive technician, is tasked with leaving the insular planet in order to discover how a crucial shipment of these cultures was sabotaged, and to see if he can find a way to replace them. His foray out into the open galaxy will not only put him squarely in the path of a woman, but a mercenary company that Vorkosigan readers will remember. The third part of the collection is a novella named Labyrinth, and ties directly into the events of Ethan of Athos. We pick back up with Miles in his Admiral Naismith persona, on a seemingly routine job for the Dendarii Mercernaries with Bel Thorne. Routine jobs for Miles are never routine, and Miles ends up neck-deep in the shady hyper-capitalist politics of Jackson’s Whole, where everything, including a sentient person’s genome, has a price.
I’ve read enough of the Vorkosigan Saga to know what I should expect, and I wasn’t let down. The books follow a familiar pattern of a thorny (usually military- or science-based) problem being addressed by an unusually novel solution, which in turn gets caught on an unexpected complication (or simply ends up being too clever for its own good) and spirals completely out of control, requiring finesse and no small bit of heroics to salvage the day. This collection was particularly engaging, however, in the similarities between the three books. Each setting explores an alien culture and consequently challenges the assumptions of both the characters and the reader: humanizing an inscrutable and heretofore faceless bad guy in the first, exploring a monastic society taken to extremes in the second, and inserting mercenaries into a truly amoral, profit-driven world in the third.
Best of all, though, each of these stories are linked by a common theme of sexuality and gender politics. The books range from a deeply matriarchal society disguised as a patriarchy to a patriarchy so extreme that women don’t even exist (and displays the homophobia that members of that society face when confronted with “normal” people from other worlds). Finally, in a place where every conceivable perversion can be indulged with enough money, Miles has multiple opportunities to ruminate on how little physical form really means when it comes to longing for connection and intimacy. I listened to an interview with Bujold where she said that she writes these books individually, rather than consciously trying to link them into a series order. The fact, therefore, that these books connect so well despite being written at wildly different times speaks to her skill as a writer (and offers a glimpse into the issues that matter to her).
I’m sure I could find things to complain about if I wore my reviewer’s cap with any sort of conviction, but I don’t really care to. This was a great collection that offered both space-flavored escapism and some deep themes to chew on. I’m fully converted; this series goes to the top of my sci-fi recommendation list.
May 6, 2012
This is the third omnibus book containing 3 works in the Vorkosigan Saga by Bujold: two novels, Cetaganda and Ethan of Athos and a short novella, "Labyrinth." This is already quite a few novels into a novel with a complex universe, and so none of these are where I'd start, although Ethan of Athos is a rate standalone--in the same universe, but not featuring any of the Vorkosigan characters. The primary character in these series is Miles. Miles is born with near-crippling physical disabilities, short, brittle-boned and hunchbacked, into a military culture that prizes physical vitality and good looks. That means he has had to work hard for acceptance and respect--and to compensate for his physical drawbacks with a very canny mind. The man can talk his way into and out of almost everything, and that's a lot of what makes him fun to read about.
Cetaganda - This presents an interesting society on the planet Cetaganda--a very hierarchical and tightly controlled society. They're the traditional enemies and rivals of Mile's Barrayar, and Miles and his cousin Ivan are there as part of a diplomatic delegation attending a state funeral. While there Miles is caught up in a murder mystery that could bring war between their two planets and goes up to the highest levels of Cetaganda society. Like all the Vorkosigan stories I've read thus far, this is a fun, entertaining fast-paced read as well as a solidly written mystery.
Ethan of Athos - One of the aspects of Bujold's Vorkosigan universe is that this is an interstellar society with quite advanced reproductive technology including artificial wombs. On Athos, this technology has been used to create an all male society that censors the very existence of females they see as demonic. Ethan is sent out of that world in order to obtain new ovarian material to sustain their society. That makes things tricky in several ways--all the more because this was written in the 1980s. Because first and foremost this is a society with a misogynist basis--and certainly a homosexual one and written in an era when gay marriage and raising of families was unheard of. Yet Bujold manages to make Ethan very sympathetic, and lets him interact with a strong woman character in ways that while it does change how he sees women, doesn't change his basic orientation or that of his society--and doesn't do this in any heavy-handed way. Instead, like the other Vorkosigan books I've read, this is fun, entertaining, fast-paced action adventure. I have to tip my hat to that, even if I did miss Miles.
Labyrinth - This is a novella in the Vorkosigan Saga set between the events in Cetaganda and "The Borders of Infinity." Most of the Vorkosigan stories I've read thus far deal to a great extent on just what it means to be human, to be normal, and to be different. Miles himself is a test of those questions given he was born with physical deformities into a society that prized physical perfection. He's often touchy and bitter about those handicaps as a result. So it was interesting here to see him find a mirror and foil in Taura, an physically strong but emotionally vulnerable girl designed to be a warrior who wishes she was "normal." So when Miles tells her not to try to be normal, but the best she can be, I felt he was certainly speaking as much about and to himself as he was to her. Taura is definitely a character I hope we see again.
Cetaganda - This presents an interesting society on the planet Cetaganda--a very hierarchical and tightly controlled society. They're the traditional enemies and rivals of Mile's Barrayar, and Miles and his cousin Ivan are there as part of a diplomatic delegation attending a state funeral. While there Miles is caught up in a murder mystery that could bring war between their two planets and goes up to the highest levels of Cetaganda society. Like all the Vorkosigan stories I've read thus far, this is a fun, entertaining fast-paced read as well as a solidly written mystery.
Ethan of Athos - One of the aspects of Bujold's Vorkosigan universe is that this is an interstellar society with quite advanced reproductive technology including artificial wombs. On Athos, this technology has been used to create an all male society that censors the very existence of females they see as demonic. Ethan is sent out of that world in order to obtain new ovarian material to sustain their society. That makes things tricky in several ways--all the more because this was written in the 1980s. Because first and foremost this is a society with a misogynist basis--and certainly a homosexual one and written in an era when gay marriage and raising of families was unheard of. Yet Bujold manages to make Ethan very sympathetic, and lets him interact with a strong woman character in ways that while it does change how he sees women, doesn't change his basic orientation or that of his society--and doesn't do this in any heavy-handed way. Instead, like the other Vorkosigan books I've read, this is fun, entertaining, fast-paced action adventure. I have to tip my hat to that, even if I did miss Miles.
Labyrinth - This is a novella in the Vorkosigan Saga set between the events in Cetaganda and "The Borders of Infinity." Most of the Vorkosigan stories I've read thus far deal to a great extent on just what it means to be human, to be normal, and to be different. Miles himself is a test of those questions given he was born with physical deformities into a society that prized physical perfection. He's often touchy and bitter about those handicaps as a result. So it was interesting here to see him find a mirror and foil in Taura, an physically strong but emotionally vulnerable girl designed to be a warrior who wishes she was "normal." So when Miles tells her not to try to be normal, but the best she can be, I felt he was certainly speaking as much about and to himself as he was to her. Taura is definitely a character I hope we see again.
December 17, 2009
Review from Badelynge
These three installments in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga are something of a mixed bag. Although they follow on from each other in the general chronology the publication order was quite different and were published over the span of a decade or so. They all use the field of genetics to fuel the plot and themes.
In Cetaganda Miles tries his hand at another bit of detective work. He's on a diplomatic mission to Cetaganda with his 'a bit thick but handsome' cousin. He's not even off the shuttle before he's knee deep in intrigue, and murder, dodging potentially fatal traps as he goes. Spending time in Miles head is always enjoyable and fun. I also enjoyed trying to imagine how beautiful the Cetagandan Haut women were. Probably similar to trying to imagine what Galadriel looked like - an enjoyable exercise but ultimately a futile one.
Don't start Ethan of Athos thinking Miles is in it. You'll only be disappointed. The little guy is mentioned quite a bit though and one of the major characters is Elli Quinn, some might remember her from The Warrior's Apprentice. The main protagonist is this chap Ethan. He lives on a male only planet inhabited by blokes who live in superstitious dread of women (otherwise known as uterine replicators with legs). The fun starts when he has to leave his home planet in search of a replacement supply of ovarian cultures to replace the failing existing cultures, without which his society can't reproduce. Massive culture shock ensues (women everywhere). Ethan soon gets up to his neck in problems he's not really equipped to deal with, problems that he's going to have to rely on a woman to overcome. Enter Elli Quinn. It's all quite light hearted but very amusing.
Labyrinth is a novella which features Miles back at the helm of the Dendarii cruiser Ariel. Before too long everything goes pear-shaped and Miles finds himself in big trouble. And if being trapped in a dungeon with a sex mad teenage werewolf doesn't qualify as big trouble I don't know what does. As fun as ever but still finds time to ask a few questions about what it is to be different.
These three installments in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga are something of a mixed bag. Although they follow on from each other in the general chronology the publication order was quite different and were published over the span of a decade or so. They all use the field of genetics to fuel the plot and themes.
In Cetaganda Miles tries his hand at another bit of detective work. He's on a diplomatic mission to Cetaganda with his 'a bit thick but handsome' cousin. He's not even off the shuttle before he's knee deep in intrigue, and murder, dodging potentially fatal traps as he goes. Spending time in Miles head is always enjoyable and fun. I also enjoyed trying to imagine how beautiful the Cetagandan Haut women were. Probably similar to trying to imagine what Galadriel looked like - an enjoyable exercise but ultimately a futile one.
Don't start Ethan of Athos thinking Miles is in it. You'll only be disappointed. The little guy is mentioned quite a bit though and one of the major characters is Elli Quinn, some might remember her from The Warrior's Apprentice. The main protagonist is this chap Ethan. He lives on a male only planet inhabited by blokes who live in superstitious dread of women (otherwise known as uterine replicators with legs). The fun starts when he has to leave his home planet in search of a replacement supply of ovarian cultures to replace the failing existing cultures, without which his society can't reproduce. Massive culture shock ensues (women everywhere). Ethan soon gets up to his neck in problems he's not really equipped to deal with, problems that he's going to have to rely on a woman to overcome. Enter Elli Quinn. It's all quite light hearted but very amusing.
Labyrinth is a novella which features Miles back at the helm of the Dendarii cruiser Ariel. Before too long everything goes pear-shaped and Miles finds himself in big trouble. And if being trapped in a dungeon with a sex mad teenage werewolf doesn't qualify as big trouble I don't know what does. As fun as ever but still finds time to ask a few questions about what it is to be different.
May 9, 2011
4 stars straight down the line. None of it mind-blowingly astonishing, which Bujold is capable of. But at the same time she continues her unbroken streak of 4 stars or better. Thus she is also incapable of writing 'merely good' (3 stars). It is only a question of whether her books are excellent, as in this case, or mind-blowingly astonishing, as was the case with the Vor Game and the first 2 in her fantasy Chalion series.
Individual reviews of 'Cetaganda', 'Ethan of Athos', and 'Labyrinth' are found under their book entries, even though I first read them here in the Omnibus #3.
Individual reviews of 'Cetaganda', 'Ethan of Athos', and 'Labyrinth' are found under their book entries, even though I first read them here in the Omnibus #3.
July 5, 2011
Tehani and I continue our very enjoyable review series of the Miles Vorkosigan saga with the first story from the third Miles omnibus - the novel Cetaganda.
ALEX:
I really enjoyed this story! Miles - and Ivan - are sent on what ought to be a relatively boring diplomatic mission to bear witness to the Cetagandan Empress' funeral, and of course things go haywire from the first moment. Mischief certainly seems to dog Miles' footsteps. There's an attempt to frame him as part of a conspiracy against Cetaganda (Barrayar's longstanding rival) and several attempts to wound and/or assassinate him - as a result of which Miles ends up investigating a potentially enormous Cetagandan conspiracy, involving the genetic inheritance of that race. Miles falls in love (well, in lust), goes to parties, gets hurt, and meets the Emperor... pretty much a standard fortnight, as far as I can tell, for him. There were a goodly number of twists and mysteries and surprises to keep me guessing and intrigued - it was much more a detective story than a space opera. It just happens to be set on an alien planet with a whole lot of genetic engineering going on (those kitteh plants are just weird). I allowed myself to be carried away by the story and didn't spend too much time trying to outthink Miles (or Bujold), so the ultimate revelation - that it was a haut woman married to a ghem man, conspiring with a planetary governor - was a surprise, albeit one that made perfect sense.
TEHANI:
I was certain I remembered this as one of my least favourite Miles books, but on rereading, I found it really enjoyable. I think I know the source of my mistaken assumption though - it is very much, as you say, a detective story, with barely any space opera-ish events! Nothing wrong with that, but when read in the wrong order (ie: after a bunch of action-packed Miles adventures), it was a little tamer by comparison…
ALEX:
I can understand that coming at it from a more adventurous story would be weird. For me, it worked - The Vor Game isn't exactly packed with space battles.
On the gender politics: I though the revelation and discussion of the intricate power balances within Cetagandan society were really interesting from a gender point of view. Miles' surprise at the power that the haut women had, and the way in which it manifested, was perfectly appropriate: he wasn't surprised they had it, but the way they had it, I think. The very idea that they have power over the development of the ghem and haut genetic development is a neat twist on the idea of maternal responsibility for children, I think. I'm not sure what to make of the ending, in light of this - the Emperor 'marrying' the Handmaiden, attempting to gain control over it? Will Rian give up control, or is the power structure too embedded?
TEHANI:
That's a good point and I hadn't really picked it up! I think that Miles, for all that he has grown up in a male dominated society, is pretty damn accepting of women in powerful roles (mainly thanks to his mother, no doubt). So you're right, that was expressed well here, and it was mostly Miles trying to adjust his own notions of what an imperial society looks like, and who has the power.
To me, it seemed that Rian cemented her power base by "marrying" the Emperor, and I really couldn't see how it would benefit him more than her. However, it was a smart move by the Emperor, at the same time!
ALEX:
hmm, perhaps you are right about Rian. Perhaps it's both being pragmatic about how best to deal with a dangerous situation, and do what is best for the haut, which seems to be the overriding concern for both anyway.
On Cetagandan society: there have been references to the ghem and haut in other novels, if briefly, so it was good to get some greater understanding about what the heck is going on in this society. I still can't say that I entirely understand it! It's a fascinating way of thinking about genetic engineering as a way for society to express itself, and as a way of bettering itself too. Miles has some interesting insights into their collective attitude towards expansion which I still need to think about; there's certainly an assumption - on Miles' part as well as the Cetagandans - that expansion must happen, but quite why this is so imperative is opaque to me. One of the unfortunate things about the name choices is Bujold's habit of saying "the haut Rian," because I couldn't help but read that as "the hawwwt Rian"...
TEHANI:
It is a really interesting way to consider genetic engineering. Expansion I think is a theme right from the beginning of the saga though - after all, Cetaganda invaded Barrayar when it was rediscovered; Cordelia and Aral met on opposites sides of a planetary claiming of Sergyar. It's almost like the Wild West - who can claim the most planets, even when (like Komarr and the Betan colony), they are barely livable! But expansion is the reason Earth went a-colonising in the first place I guess, and despite all other advancements, humans are STILL overpopulating their habitats.
We need to talk more about the portrayal of the Cetagandan society when we look at Ethan of Athos - this book was written nine years AFTER Ethan, even though it precedes it in the internal chronology, and I think it's one of the few places where Bujold mucks up her consistency with all the popping around. I like what she does with Cetaganda here better, for the record.
ALEX:
Ethan of Athos, up next!
On the characters: I so knew Maz was going to end up with the ambassador. Saw it a mile off. I enjoyed Lord Yenaro immensely - the idea of scent-work being a worthy art to pursue is delightful. Rian was... I was going to say impenetrable, but that gives all sorts of nasty implications. She was appropriately hard to fathom, I guess. I liked that she was mysterious and that it made sense for her character. Having Miles fall in love/lust with her makes sense, because of her great beauty and her untouchability. Miles continues to develop here, although it was hard to remember how young he was supposed to be - so much has happened to him! And Ivan isn't nearly so annoying as he threatened to be in earlier books.
TEHANI:
I loved Maz! And I loved that the Ambassador loved Maz. I think it's a very clever thing Bujold does with her minor characters - it's very subtle and I wonder if you'll notice it. Frequently there's some little side story or a throwaway characterisation that shows about how some Barrayaran person or other has taken a step outside the old-fashioned, quite restrictive societal norms of the planet. Look out for these! They are showing the progression and modernisation of the planet from a sideways view!
I also loved Ivan in this. You need to watch Ivan closely too, as the series progresses. I want to talk more about him, but I won't, til you've read some more books :)
ALEX:
ooooh you are giving me such teasers! I did wonder whether she was going to keep Ivan in a cute-Obelisk kinda role, or whether he would develop greater diplomatic insights as time went on. On Maz etc, t's so nice to see secondary characters actually having a life outside of their interactions with the principal cast.
Questions: will Miles indeed have more to do with the Emperor Giaja? Will Miles ever be allowed to leave the planet again? What are Elena Bothari and the Dendarii Mercs up to??
TEHANI:
You know, I can't remember if Miles runs across the Emperor (or Rian) again! Could they really STOP Miles from going space-side? :) As for the Dendarii, just wait... :)
ALEX:
ARGH. Mooooore Miles to come!
Ethan of Athos
ALEX:
This novel started enjoyably enough, if weirdly, what with the discussion of uterine replicators - it is an unusual enough thing to encounter in SF that imagining a roomful of the things with an attending physician is weirder for me than reading about FTL! Anyway, things then got even weirder, and for me way harder to read, when it's revealed that these replicators are being used because Athos is a world populated entirely by men.
TEHANI:
It's really clever, the way it starts out. We know about uterine replicators because of Cordelia's story (and Elena's too, in fact), and so we naturally assume these are simply gestating children for some parents of the "usual" type. It's quite a shock when we find out differently! It was a good introduction to the world though, setting us up to be fond of the main character.
ALEX:
The opening few chapters, those set on Athos, were quite a trial for me to read. The misogyny was so believably portrayed that, were this my first encounter with Bujold and/or I thought it was written by a man, I would probably have given up in disgust and never touched the series again. I swallowed my bile and continued because I figured a) Bujold deserved some trust after the characters of Cordelia and Elena, and b) neither Tehani and Tansy would have put up with that sort of crap. Turns out, thankfully, that this was a fair decision. Of course.
TEHANI:
Of course! Would we steer you wrong? I think (our friend) Alisa might have stumbled into that problem though - have a feeling it may be the books she tried to start with, which really isn't a good idea. Readers, be warned! Ethan of Athos is NOT the place to start reading this series!
ALEX:
Whoa, I cannot imagine starting with this book.
TEHANI:
Having said that, I didn't have the same reaction as you. For some reason, I wasn't offended that this was a lifestyle choice made by a group of men a couple of centuries earlier. I guess I read it as that while yes, some of the men making up the colony originally might have been women haters, others would have joined for different reasons. And many years later, there is that whole whisper game that's gone on about what women are like, causing both inaccuracies and naivity in the current generation. Ethan's own reaction probably demonstrates that best, when he reads the scientific journal and can't tell which articles are by men and by women! (Hilarious, by the way, in light of recent discussions on just that!). I was more cross that the children growing up on Athos weren't educated about the outside world, and women, in any sort of way other than to dismiss or demonise them. Hmm, maybe that's what you mean!
ALEX:
I think I find the very idea of men wanting to escape from women in this permanent way - since that's what the planet is all about - irrational and offensive, when they also want to ensure continuity of their genes. They're not giving their sons the chance to make the choice for themselves. There are some lines that really struck me - the "revolted silence" that greets the idea of growing female fetuses to harvest their ovaries, for example. It is a revolting idea, but the men are revolted by the idea of women being present in any real way on their planet. The way that some of the characters spoke of genetic choice I also found uncomfortable.
Anyway, the ovaries that Athos has been using for 200 years to develop their foetuses from are coming to the end of their productive lives. Ethan is an... obstetrician, I guess... who discovers that the replacements they've purchased are not what they thought. In turn, he gets sent on a mission off-world, to get some more. This of course means that he has to deal with that sin-inducing entity, Woman. His first encounter on the station where he disembarks is with just such a personage... who turns out to be Elli Quinn! Tehani, she is back in my life, just as you promised! Ethan ends up getting involved in a Cetagandan mess concerning genetic experiments with telepathy. He learns that women are not (necessarily) the enemy - although he does end up going home, to Athos, and mostly happily.
TEHANI:
Yep, it's an overdose of Elli! She's so awesome, and I think this book is fantastic because it really sets her up as an intelligent and resourceful person all on her own, not just as a sidekick to Miles. Well played Bujold!
ALEX:
Yeh, I am definitely an Elli fan.
Athos as a planet is a really interesting place. I'm very interested to hear, Tehani, what you think of it coming from a mother's perspective. Like I said I found the misogyny hard to deal with. As a society, though, I was fascinated. The idea of earning social credits so that you can become a Designated Alternate - and the idea that being a parent is actually, hugely, valued in society. Ethan's shock and horror that parenthood should be treated as unpaid labour was quite welcome coming from a male character! The idea also that celibacy is an accepted part of society was nice to see, as was the genuine love for children and Ethan's desire to have a large, connected family.
TEHANI:
I think the actual societal model is brilliant! There are some people who really shouldn't have kids, and parenthood is definitely undervalued in our society - to have both issues dealt with (in what I think is actually a very smart and sensible model) was a delight. Somebody make that world with women and I'll be there! :)
ALEX:
Cetaganda does not come off well in this story at all. Their genetic experiments are shown as just that, experiments, and the idea that they might just possibly be serving an admittedly somewhat dubious greater purpose - as demonstrated in Cetaganda - is barely alluded to. This is one of the disparities between the two stories.
TEHANI:
See, this is where it fell apart a bit for me. Terrence and his background simply don't fit the Cetagandan societal mould set up in Cetaganda! Here's a quote (from p 319 in the paperback omnibus) to demonstrate:
"Is Cetaganda - controlled by women or something?"
A laugh escaped her [Elli]. "Hardly. I'd call it a typical male-dominated totalitarian state, only slightly mitigated by their rather artistic cultural peculiarities…"
It goes on to talk about genetics projects headed by men, sponsored by the Cetagandan military. In Cetaganda though, genetics is the sole province of women, right? And telepathy is NEVER hinted at!
Later (p 373), this conversation takes place:
There was no talk at all of ever admitting him to the ghem-comrades, the tightly-knit society of men who controlled the officer corps and the military junta that in turn controlled the planet of Cetaganda, its conquests, and its client outposts.
It all just feels WRONG given what we know from Miles' adventures on Cetaganda - which surely Elli knows too!
Ethan of Athos was published about ten years before Cetaganda though, and therein lies the problem. Bujold obviously changed her mind about how she wanted Cetaganda to work between the two books, but reading them in close proximity makes the continuity issues very apparent. I like the Cetaganda version better (as I mentioned in the last review) and I think comparing the two, it's pretty easy to see why Bujold changed track there. Terrence's Cetaganda, what we see of it, seems just another male-dominated society, whereas the exploration of the society we see in the novel Cetaganda gives us a very different norm.
Bujold's afterword in the Miles, Mystery and Mayhem omnibus which contains these stories is interesting for her discussion on the way she let the Cetagandans evolve in their own book, rather than just being the "rather all-purpose bad guys" they started out in the earliest stories. She also talks there about extra-uterine replication and genetic engineering, themes in all three books to one extent or another, making it a great wrap up to the sequence!
To be fair, I think the Cetagandan glitch one of the very few continuity problems with the Vorkosigan saga as a whole, so maybe I'll simmer down and just let it slide now :)
ALEX:
It is indeed an interesting look at lack of continuity. I'd be interested to know what sort of notes Bujold kept!
Miles does not feature in this story personally. He does get several mentions, though, as Quinn reflects on her ?love/admiration? for him, and the role that she is playing within the Dendarii Mercenaries as an information agent. It's a curious part of the Miles universe in that sense, and I can't help but wonder whether Bujold considered a series featuring Quinn in her own right....
TEHANI:
OOOH!! What a GREAT IDEA!! Let's write to her and ask her for that :)
I liked the ending of this book - I think Ethan shows tremendous but believable growth throughout the story, and his admiration of Elli is expressed in the most important way he can. Perhaps taking Terrence back with him and the little hopeful romance projected are a bit trite, but overall, it works pretty well.
ALEX:
I was shocked at first by Ethan's request/suggestion that he take one of Elli's ovaries, but came around to your point very quickly - that it's an expression of immense respect, actually. Terrence is the character we haven't spoken of much yet - he's quite the enigma, since Elli and Ethan have slightly different takes on him and the Cetagandan has a very different view. I actually wondered, towards the end, whether the Cetagandan was telling the truth and that Terrence would actually end up betraying Ethan, so I was pleased to discover that he was on the up and up. And I didn't think the romance was that trite, in the end.
"Labyrinth"
The Omnibus is complemented by the novella "Labyrinth" which rounds out quite nicely, I think, a discussion of genetic engineering in the Vorkosigan universe. Miles gets employed to pick up a disaffected geneticist from Jackson's Whole. Things (of course) go somewhat awry, and Miles ends up having to retrieve a genetic package... which is secreted in the leg of a genetic experiment... which is locked in a dungeon at the bottom of a very nasty man's research facility. The genetic experiment turns out to be a fanged, clawed and 8-foot-tall 16 year old girl.
TEHANI:
And isn't it fun how Miles' adventures ALWAYS go awry? One of my favourite things about the books.
ALEX:
SO MANY DISASTERS.
I enjoyed this story, and it was nice to get back to Miles relying on his wits to get things done - and, this time, actually finding that his lack of height is af advantage, when having to crawl through ducts. I will admit to being a bit uncomfortable about Miles' sexual encounter with Taura - no matter that she's huge, she's still young! And I'm not comfortable with the idea that sex can be used quite so (ahem) mercenarily - not and have both parties apparently enjoy it. Yes yes, perhaps I am confused in my attitude towards this bit; I'll be the first to admit it!
TEHANI:
Yep, I struggled with that too. So many reasons this is not cool. From one angle, if you squint, it could be said that Bujold is using Miles like women are often used in books - as a sacrifice on the altar of sex in order to get to a higher goal. But yeah, Taura is so young, and naive, and unsophisticated, that it's just icky. It also makes me wonder why, exactly, the character had to be this age? Miles is 23 in this story, and it's something that bothers me a lot - if there's no real reason the character couldn't be a year or two (or three) older, why not make them that? I mean, Taura has a shortened life span, so making her 16 means Bujold can get more years out of her I guess, but really? It's her own world building she's dealing with! And while we aren't going to read Falling Free in the reread (it's not a Vorkosigan book, it doesn't count I tell ya!), Bujold does the same thing with a character there too, which also squicked me (and is one of two main reasons I don't really like the book - the other being, it's not MILES!). So yeah, not cool, especially when it's avoidable. If Bujold ge
ALEX:
I really enjoyed this story! Miles - and Ivan - are sent on what ought to be a relatively boring diplomatic mission to bear witness to the Cetagandan Empress' funeral, and of course things go haywire from the first moment. Mischief certainly seems to dog Miles' footsteps. There's an attempt to frame him as part of a conspiracy against Cetaganda (Barrayar's longstanding rival) and several attempts to wound and/or assassinate him - as a result of which Miles ends up investigating a potentially enormous Cetagandan conspiracy, involving the genetic inheritance of that race. Miles falls in love (well, in lust), goes to parties, gets hurt, and meets the Emperor... pretty much a standard fortnight, as far as I can tell, for him. There were a goodly number of twists and mysteries and surprises to keep me guessing and intrigued - it was much more a detective story than a space opera. It just happens to be set on an alien planet with a whole lot of genetic engineering going on (those kitteh plants are just weird). I allowed myself to be carried away by the story and didn't spend too much time trying to outthink Miles (or Bujold), so the ultimate revelation - that it was a haut woman married to a ghem man, conspiring with a planetary governor - was a surprise, albeit one that made perfect sense.
TEHANI:
I was certain I remembered this as one of my least favourite Miles books, but on rereading, I found it really enjoyable. I think I know the source of my mistaken assumption though - it is very much, as you say, a detective story, with barely any space opera-ish events! Nothing wrong with that, but when read in the wrong order (ie: after a bunch of action-packed Miles adventures), it was a little tamer by comparison…
ALEX:
I can understand that coming at it from a more adventurous story would be weird. For me, it worked - The Vor Game isn't exactly packed with space battles.
On the gender politics: I though the revelation and discussion of the intricate power balances within Cetagandan society were really interesting from a gender point of view. Miles' surprise at the power that the haut women had, and the way in which it manifested, was perfectly appropriate: he wasn't surprised they had it, but the way they had it, I think. The very idea that they have power over the development of the ghem and haut genetic development is a neat twist on the idea of maternal responsibility for children, I think. I'm not sure what to make of the ending, in light of this - the Emperor 'marrying' the Handmaiden, attempting to gain control over it? Will Rian give up control, or is the power structure too embedded?
TEHANI:
That's a good point and I hadn't really picked it up! I think that Miles, for all that he has grown up in a male dominated society, is pretty damn accepting of women in powerful roles (mainly thanks to his mother, no doubt). So you're right, that was expressed well here, and it was mostly Miles trying to adjust his own notions of what an imperial society looks like, and who has the power.
To me, it seemed that Rian cemented her power base by "marrying" the Emperor, and I really couldn't see how it would benefit him more than her. However, it was a smart move by the Emperor, at the same time!
ALEX:
hmm, perhaps you are right about Rian. Perhaps it's both being pragmatic about how best to deal with a dangerous situation, and do what is best for the haut, which seems to be the overriding concern for both anyway.
On Cetagandan society: there have been references to the ghem and haut in other novels, if briefly, so it was good to get some greater understanding about what the heck is going on in this society. I still can't say that I entirely understand it! It's a fascinating way of thinking about genetic engineering as a way for society to express itself, and as a way of bettering itself too. Miles has some interesting insights into their collective attitude towards expansion which I still need to think about; there's certainly an assumption - on Miles' part as well as the Cetagandans - that expansion must happen, but quite why this is so imperative is opaque to me. One of the unfortunate things about the name choices is Bujold's habit of saying "the haut Rian," because I couldn't help but read that as "the hawwwt Rian"...
TEHANI:
It is a really interesting way to consider genetic engineering. Expansion I think is a theme right from the beginning of the saga though - after all, Cetaganda invaded Barrayar when it was rediscovered; Cordelia and Aral met on opposites sides of a planetary claiming of Sergyar. It's almost like the Wild West - who can claim the most planets, even when (like Komarr and the Betan colony), they are barely livable! But expansion is the reason Earth went a-colonising in the first place I guess, and despite all other advancements, humans are STILL overpopulating their habitats.
We need to talk more about the portrayal of the Cetagandan society when we look at Ethan of Athos - this book was written nine years AFTER Ethan, even though it precedes it in the internal chronology, and I think it's one of the few places where Bujold mucks up her consistency with all the popping around. I like what she does with Cetaganda here better, for the record.
ALEX:
Ethan of Athos, up next!
On the characters: I so knew Maz was going to end up with the ambassador. Saw it a mile off. I enjoyed Lord Yenaro immensely - the idea of scent-work being a worthy art to pursue is delightful. Rian was... I was going to say impenetrable, but that gives all sorts of nasty implications. She was appropriately hard to fathom, I guess. I liked that she was mysterious and that it made sense for her character. Having Miles fall in love/lust with her makes sense, because of her great beauty and her untouchability. Miles continues to develop here, although it was hard to remember how young he was supposed to be - so much has happened to him! And Ivan isn't nearly so annoying as he threatened to be in earlier books.
TEHANI:
I loved Maz! And I loved that the Ambassador loved Maz. I think it's a very clever thing Bujold does with her minor characters - it's very subtle and I wonder if you'll notice it. Frequently there's some little side story or a throwaway characterisation that shows about how some Barrayaran person or other has taken a step outside the old-fashioned, quite restrictive societal norms of the planet. Look out for these! They are showing the progression and modernisation of the planet from a sideways view!
I also loved Ivan in this. You need to watch Ivan closely too, as the series progresses. I want to talk more about him, but I won't, til you've read some more books :)
ALEX:
ooooh you are giving me such teasers! I did wonder whether she was going to keep Ivan in a cute-Obelisk kinda role, or whether he would develop greater diplomatic insights as time went on. On Maz etc, t's so nice to see secondary characters actually having a life outside of their interactions with the principal cast.
Questions: will Miles indeed have more to do with the Emperor Giaja? Will Miles ever be allowed to leave the planet again? What are Elena Bothari and the Dendarii Mercs up to??
TEHANI:
You know, I can't remember if Miles runs across the Emperor (or Rian) again! Could they really STOP Miles from going space-side? :) As for the Dendarii, just wait... :)
ALEX:
ARGH. Mooooore Miles to come!
Ethan of Athos
ALEX:
This novel started enjoyably enough, if weirdly, what with the discussion of uterine replicators - it is an unusual enough thing to encounter in SF that imagining a roomful of the things with an attending physician is weirder for me than reading about FTL! Anyway, things then got even weirder, and for me way harder to read, when it's revealed that these replicators are being used because Athos is a world populated entirely by men.
TEHANI:
It's really clever, the way it starts out. We know about uterine replicators because of Cordelia's story (and Elena's too, in fact), and so we naturally assume these are simply gestating children for some parents of the "usual" type. It's quite a shock when we find out differently! It was a good introduction to the world though, setting us up to be fond of the main character.
ALEX:
The opening few chapters, those set on Athos, were quite a trial for me to read. The misogyny was so believably portrayed that, were this my first encounter with Bujold and/or I thought it was written by a man, I would probably have given up in disgust and never touched the series again. I swallowed my bile and continued because I figured a) Bujold deserved some trust after the characters of Cordelia and Elena, and b) neither Tehani and Tansy would have put up with that sort of crap. Turns out, thankfully, that this was a fair decision. Of course.
TEHANI:
Of course! Would we steer you wrong? I think (our friend) Alisa might have stumbled into that problem though - have a feeling it may be the books she tried to start with, which really isn't a good idea. Readers, be warned! Ethan of Athos is NOT the place to start reading this series!
ALEX:
Whoa, I cannot imagine starting with this book.
TEHANI:
Having said that, I didn't have the same reaction as you. For some reason, I wasn't offended that this was a lifestyle choice made by a group of men a couple of centuries earlier. I guess I read it as that while yes, some of the men making up the colony originally might have been women haters, others would have joined for different reasons. And many years later, there is that whole whisper game that's gone on about what women are like, causing both inaccuracies and naivity in the current generation. Ethan's own reaction probably demonstrates that best, when he reads the scientific journal and can't tell which articles are by men and by women! (Hilarious, by the way, in light of recent discussions on just that!). I was more cross that the children growing up on Athos weren't educated about the outside world, and women, in any sort of way other than to dismiss or demonise them. Hmm, maybe that's what you mean!
ALEX:
I think I find the very idea of men wanting to escape from women in this permanent way - since that's what the planet is all about - irrational and offensive, when they also want to ensure continuity of their genes. They're not giving their sons the chance to make the choice for themselves. There are some lines that really struck me - the "revolted silence" that greets the idea of growing female fetuses to harvest their ovaries, for example. It is a revolting idea, but the men are revolted by the idea of women being present in any real way on their planet. The way that some of the characters spoke of genetic choice I also found uncomfortable.
Anyway, the ovaries that Athos has been using for 200 years to develop their foetuses from are coming to the end of their productive lives. Ethan is an... obstetrician, I guess... who discovers that the replacements they've purchased are not what they thought. In turn, he gets sent on a mission off-world, to get some more. This of course means that he has to deal with that sin-inducing entity, Woman. His first encounter on the station where he disembarks is with just such a personage... who turns out to be Elli Quinn! Tehani, she is back in my life, just as you promised! Ethan ends up getting involved in a Cetagandan mess concerning genetic experiments with telepathy. He learns that women are not (necessarily) the enemy - although he does end up going home, to Athos, and mostly happily.
TEHANI:
Yep, it's an overdose of Elli! She's so awesome, and I think this book is fantastic because it really sets her up as an intelligent and resourceful person all on her own, not just as a sidekick to Miles. Well played Bujold!
ALEX:
Yeh, I am definitely an Elli fan.
Athos as a planet is a really interesting place. I'm very interested to hear, Tehani, what you think of it coming from a mother's perspective. Like I said I found the misogyny hard to deal with. As a society, though, I was fascinated. The idea of earning social credits so that you can become a Designated Alternate - and the idea that being a parent is actually, hugely, valued in society. Ethan's shock and horror that parenthood should be treated as unpaid labour was quite welcome coming from a male character! The idea also that celibacy is an accepted part of society was nice to see, as was the genuine love for children and Ethan's desire to have a large, connected family.
TEHANI:
I think the actual societal model is brilliant! There are some people who really shouldn't have kids, and parenthood is definitely undervalued in our society - to have both issues dealt with (in what I think is actually a very smart and sensible model) was a delight. Somebody make that world with women and I'll be there! :)
ALEX:
Cetaganda does not come off well in this story at all. Their genetic experiments are shown as just that, experiments, and the idea that they might just possibly be serving an admittedly somewhat dubious greater purpose - as demonstrated in Cetaganda - is barely alluded to. This is one of the disparities between the two stories.
TEHANI:
See, this is where it fell apart a bit for me. Terrence and his background simply don't fit the Cetagandan societal mould set up in Cetaganda! Here's a quote (from p 319 in the paperback omnibus) to demonstrate:
"Is Cetaganda - controlled by women or something?"
A laugh escaped her [Elli]. "Hardly. I'd call it a typical male-dominated totalitarian state, only slightly mitigated by their rather artistic cultural peculiarities…"
It goes on to talk about genetics projects headed by men, sponsored by the Cetagandan military. In Cetaganda though, genetics is the sole province of women, right? And telepathy is NEVER hinted at!
Later (p 373), this conversation takes place:
There was no talk at all of ever admitting him to the ghem-comrades, the tightly-knit society of men who controlled the officer corps and the military junta that in turn controlled the planet of Cetaganda, its conquests, and its client outposts.
It all just feels WRONG given what we know from Miles' adventures on Cetaganda - which surely Elli knows too!
Ethan of Athos was published about ten years before Cetaganda though, and therein lies the problem. Bujold obviously changed her mind about how she wanted Cetaganda to work between the two books, but reading them in close proximity makes the continuity issues very apparent. I like the Cetaganda version better (as I mentioned in the last review) and I think comparing the two, it's pretty easy to see why Bujold changed track there. Terrence's Cetaganda, what we see of it, seems just another male-dominated society, whereas the exploration of the society we see in the novel Cetaganda gives us a very different norm.
Bujold's afterword in the Miles, Mystery and Mayhem omnibus which contains these stories is interesting for her discussion on the way she let the Cetagandans evolve in their own book, rather than just being the "rather all-purpose bad guys" they started out in the earliest stories. She also talks there about extra-uterine replication and genetic engineering, themes in all three books to one extent or another, making it a great wrap up to the sequence!
To be fair, I think the Cetagandan glitch one of the very few continuity problems with the Vorkosigan saga as a whole, so maybe I'll simmer down and just let it slide now :)
ALEX:
It is indeed an interesting look at lack of continuity. I'd be interested to know what sort of notes Bujold kept!
Miles does not feature in this story personally. He does get several mentions, though, as Quinn reflects on her ?love/admiration? for him, and the role that she is playing within the Dendarii Mercenaries as an information agent. It's a curious part of the Miles universe in that sense, and I can't help but wonder whether Bujold considered a series featuring Quinn in her own right....
TEHANI:
OOOH!! What a GREAT IDEA!! Let's write to her and ask her for that :)
I liked the ending of this book - I think Ethan shows tremendous but believable growth throughout the story, and his admiration of Elli is expressed in the most important way he can. Perhaps taking Terrence back with him and the little hopeful romance projected are a bit trite, but overall, it works pretty well.
ALEX:
I was shocked at first by Ethan's request/suggestion that he take one of Elli's ovaries, but came around to your point very quickly - that it's an expression of immense respect, actually. Terrence is the character we haven't spoken of much yet - he's quite the enigma, since Elli and Ethan have slightly different takes on him and the Cetagandan has a very different view. I actually wondered, towards the end, whether the Cetagandan was telling the truth and that Terrence would actually end up betraying Ethan, so I was pleased to discover that he was on the up and up. And I didn't think the romance was that trite, in the end.
"Labyrinth"
The Omnibus is complemented by the novella "Labyrinth" which rounds out quite nicely, I think, a discussion of genetic engineering in the Vorkosigan universe. Miles gets employed to pick up a disaffected geneticist from Jackson's Whole. Things (of course) go somewhat awry, and Miles ends up having to retrieve a genetic package... which is secreted in the leg of a genetic experiment... which is locked in a dungeon at the bottom of a very nasty man's research facility. The genetic experiment turns out to be a fanged, clawed and 8-foot-tall 16 year old girl.
TEHANI:
And isn't it fun how Miles' adventures ALWAYS go awry? One of my favourite things about the books.
ALEX:
SO MANY DISASTERS.
I enjoyed this story, and it was nice to get back to Miles relying on his wits to get things done - and, this time, actually finding that his lack of height is af advantage, when having to crawl through ducts. I will admit to being a bit uncomfortable about Miles' sexual encounter with Taura - no matter that she's huge, she's still young! And I'm not comfortable with the idea that sex can be used quite so (ahem) mercenarily - not and have both parties apparently enjoy it. Yes yes, perhaps I am confused in my attitude towards this bit; I'll be the first to admit it!
TEHANI:
Yep, I struggled with that too. So many reasons this is not cool. From one angle, if you squint, it could be said that Bujold is using Miles like women are often used in books - as a sacrifice on the altar of sex in order to get to a higher goal. But yeah, Taura is so young, and naive, and unsophisticated, that it's just icky. It also makes me wonder why, exactly, the character had to be this age? Miles is 23 in this story, and it's something that bothers me a lot - if there's no real reason the character couldn't be a year or two (or three) older, why not make them that? I mean, Taura has a shortened life span, so making her 16 means Bujold can get more years out of her I guess, but really? It's her own world building she's dealing with! And while we aren't going to read Falling Free in the reread (it's not a Vorkosigan book, it doesn't count I tell ya!), Bujold does the same thing with a character there too, which also squicked me (and is one of two main reasons I don't really like the book - the other being, it's not MILES!). So yeah, not cool, especially when it's avoidable. If Bujold ge
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2013
Early Miles Vorkosigan adventures aren't exactly hard to find but these omnibuses are useful not only by bundling a chunk of these stories together but by helping you figure out which order these stories go in, especially when you start counting the various short stories that ol' Miles has starred in as well (the next volume technically in the sequence "Borders of Infinity" takes a big step toward that, to the point of repeating one of the stories in this volume . . . coordinate your omnibi, people!). This one goes the extra mile by also reeling in one of the stories that are set in this universe but doesn't directly star everyone's favorite man of spongy bone, helping link some of the more lesser known but still entertaining material.
It's a meaty volume we have here, consisting of "Cetaganda", "Ethan of Athos", and short story "Labyrinth", none of which have anything to do with each other except that two of them star Miles in his early career. "Cetaganda" is probably the initial draw in this collection but it probably isn't the best one here, oddly enough. Miles and hapless cousin Ivan travel on what's supposed to be a simple diplomatic mission to Cetaganda merely to witness the funeral of an empress. Before long the two of them are caught up in a behind the scenes power struggle that involves multiple attempts at murder and lots of face painting. And hermaphrodites.
It sounds like it could be a an episode of "Twin Peaks" but it doesn't go quite that weird. Readers who had been following along with the saga were probably pleased to finally get a look at the Cetagandan people, who thus far has pretty much taken on the role of generic bad guys, always up to no good. Given a chance to let Miles get shoulder deep into the culture itself, Bujold crafts a society based around several layers of people being better than other people, along with genetic engineering, women who can't be seen by men and seemingly forty-five different contradictory ways to violate tactful protocol. Needless to say, this is exactly the place where Miles wants to be and some of the entertainment from this novel comes with trying to find the exact moment when the Barrayar ambassador gives in and starts chugging down antacid tablets off-screen as Miles once again goes off and does something he's not supposed to do.
The danger is pretty specific to Cetaganda but if the novel lacks the one thing that other Miles stories seem to do effortlessly, which is find that emotional hook to reel you in. This time Bujold seems to be coasting on "See lovely Cetaganda finally!" and she's not entirely up to the task. The rigid yet groaning structures of Barrayar society seem to come easily to her and the tensions that result from those structures have made for some fascinating drama but when trying to repeat the trick with the Cetagandans it doesn't quite work. Maybe it's because they don't seem as odd as they should be . . . given the outward nature and how different it is from what Miles knows, it should come across as some bizarre ritualized alien species and yet never seems to grab hold that way. It doesn't help that the plot is rather similar to "Barrayar", which also featured an outsider to the society dealing with a threat that seem poised to take down that society . . . but having dialed the action down quite a bit also manages to excise some of the tension. It's not that I don't find the proceedings fun, but wondering if the women in the bubbles will manage to retrieve their genetic legacy isn't quite the same as watching Miles' mom race through a collapsing Barrayar society to save her pre-infant child.
But anything with Miles will be at the very least entertaining, even as I still wonder how he's so adept even in the early novels (does he have a learning curve at all?), managing to hold off both his own intelligence officers and the diplomatic corps while he tries to figure out what the heck is going on. Having Ivan to play off of helps and does display the contrast between a genius and someone who is merely competent but you're pretty much reading this one for Miles and the scenery.
Things shift gears for "Ethan of Athos", both forward and back. This one stars, not Miles, but the titular Ethan of the Athos colony, where everyone leaves the toilet seat up and is looking for someone tall. dark and handsome. For one reason or another, the Athos colony is set up to be entirely male and deliberately isolated for that fact. The only trading they really do is for ova so they can make more babies eventually but otherwise mostly keep to themselves. When the story picks up the original ovum that their cultures were working from have finally degraded to the point where they need more and after they get screwed out of some decent stock, they send Ethan out on a shopping trip. Where he meets (gasp!) girls.
This one keeps the pattern of "outsider injecting himself into strange society" with the twist that instead of having a genius like Miles involved, Ethan has no idea what the heck he's doing and winds up being terrified of just about everything. Then people start trying to kill him. Fortunately for him we get a Miles stand-in, ElI Quinn from "The Warrior's Apprentice", who we last saw getting her face blown off. Back with a better face, she's there as part of her mercenary group on a special mission that may or may not involve Ethan but probably does.
From there on it's space station shenanigans as people try to kill Ethan, only for Eli to rescue him while the two of them attempt to figure out what's going on and he wants to distrust her because she has breasts. The charm in this one mostly comes from watching the people involve go about their business and the lethal comedy that results from Ethan being a fish out of water. The Cetagandans make an appearance but after spending an entire novel proving how they aren't a society of generic villains, go back to being basically generic evil villains. The best parts for me are watching Ethan get his footing and overcome his own societal prejudices (as I noted, with Miles arriving fully-formed, it's nice to see some on-the-job training) and Eli actually make mistakes and be unsure of herself, which wouldn't have happened if Miles was in charge. She's still fairly effective but you wind up having Miles' personality essentially chopped into pieces and scattered amongst the different characters.
As a whole it holds up well enough together . . . there's more action and intrigue here, or at least in a more visceral digestible form. But there are some parts that feel like Bujold is just throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks, and she rarely sticks with an idea long enough to really follow it through (gay colonies! embryos! telepaths!) which means the scenario always seems to be on constantly shifting ground. The climax turns on a bit of a left-field coincidence that stretches plausibility a tad and it's really only Bujold's talent that manages to wallpaper over all this and make it into a smooth experience. It's a shame we don't get to see more of the Athos colony (probably for the best ultimately, as I don't know how actively workable it is) but what I find interesting is she doesn't call attention to the fact that they're a colony of homosexuals (which wouldn't seem odd to Ethan, being he's from there) and doesn't try to delve further into the complications that would result from everyone being the same gender (imagine that one scene from Haldeman's "The Forever War" where a future Earth goes same-sex to keep the population down, but expanded to a whole novel). She tends to keep sexuality at arm's length as it is and just because they're all guys doesn't mean we should expect Big Statements from her on that topic, but it's interesting how she doesn't take the opportunity. But it was only like her second novel.
She finally discovers the emotional heart of things in "Labyrinth", where Miles hits Jackson's Whole in his guise of mercenary admiral to make some purchases and help smuggle a scientist off the planet. Problems arise when the scientist refuses to leave with samples that he hid on one of his experiments that were meant for a super-soldier project, forcing Miles to break into the baron's fortress to at first kill the experiment and retrieve the samples. When he realizes that the super-soldier is a killing machine but also a young woman he has to somehow make a break for it without blowing their cover and keeping everyone intact.
Bujold seems to do better in the shorter format with these types of stories because this manages to encompass all the themes that make her stories interesting, the contrast between old school values and shiny SF (while everyone has spaceships and genetic splicing, people also call themselves "barons"), Miles being just enough out of his depth so he's never completely in control and a huge dose of humanity that trumpets compassion over expedience and perseverance over taking the easy way out. Because the story is so much shorter Bujold doesn't have much time for exposition and instead dives right into things once the setup is clear but with the focus off of showing us the future with a side dish of future and instead centering on what becomes a rescue mission, it's a lot easier to win our hearts. Miles comes across as the decent man with a lot to prove instead of a very gifted intelligence officer and his interactions with the super-soldier showcase Bujold's inherent decency. As I've said before, you wind up wanting these people to win because they're nice.
Bujold's handsoff treatment of sexuality does appear again, however, with an odd scene that could be construed as either very good-natured pity-six or sleeping with a minor (though the concept of "minor" is debatable here) and a conclusion that imagines his spacecraft as the center of a G-rated orgy. Bujold seems quite okay with romance, and no one is asking this to turn into a Harlequin novel, but she does seem to shy away from the stickier parts of things.
But with three Miles stories (even if one is tangential) the sheer accumulation of stories winds up making it essential. It'd be nice if we could chart some kind of growth of Miles with these instead of "Here he is at age 24" but there's a whole lot of novels left and plenty of time to make that judgement.
It's a meaty volume we have here, consisting of "Cetaganda", "Ethan of Athos", and short story "Labyrinth", none of which have anything to do with each other except that two of them star Miles in his early career. "Cetaganda" is probably the initial draw in this collection but it probably isn't the best one here, oddly enough. Miles and hapless cousin Ivan travel on what's supposed to be a simple diplomatic mission to Cetaganda merely to witness the funeral of an empress. Before long the two of them are caught up in a behind the scenes power struggle that involves multiple attempts at murder and lots of face painting. And hermaphrodites.
It sounds like it could be a an episode of "Twin Peaks" but it doesn't go quite that weird. Readers who had been following along with the saga were probably pleased to finally get a look at the Cetagandan people, who thus far has pretty much taken on the role of generic bad guys, always up to no good. Given a chance to let Miles get shoulder deep into the culture itself, Bujold crafts a society based around several layers of people being better than other people, along with genetic engineering, women who can't be seen by men and seemingly forty-five different contradictory ways to violate tactful protocol. Needless to say, this is exactly the place where Miles wants to be and some of the entertainment from this novel comes with trying to find the exact moment when the Barrayar ambassador gives in and starts chugging down antacid tablets off-screen as Miles once again goes off and does something he's not supposed to do.
The danger is pretty specific to Cetaganda but if the novel lacks the one thing that other Miles stories seem to do effortlessly, which is find that emotional hook to reel you in. This time Bujold seems to be coasting on "See lovely Cetaganda finally!" and she's not entirely up to the task. The rigid yet groaning structures of Barrayar society seem to come easily to her and the tensions that result from those structures have made for some fascinating drama but when trying to repeat the trick with the Cetagandans it doesn't quite work. Maybe it's because they don't seem as odd as they should be . . . given the outward nature and how different it is from what Miles knows, it should come across as some bizarre ritualized alien species and yet never seems to grab hold that way. It doesn't help that the plot is rather similar to "Barrayar", which also featured an outsider to the society dealing with a threat that seem poised to take down that society . . . but having dialed the action down quite a bit also manages to excise some of the tension. It's not that I don't find the proceedings fun, but wondering if the women in the bubbles will manage to retrieve their genetic legacy isn't quite the same as watching Miles' mom race through a collapsing Barrayar society to save her pre-infant child.
But anything with Miles will be at the very least entertaining, even as I still wonder how he's so adept even in the early novels (does he have a learning curve at all?), managing to hold off both his own intelligence officers and the diplomatic corps while he tries to figure out what the heck is going on. Having Ivan to play off of helps and does display the contrast between a genius and someone who is merely competent but you're pretty much reading this one for Miles and the scenery.
Things shift gears for "Ethan of Athos", both forward and back. This one stars, not Miles, but the titular Ethan of the Athos colony, where everyone leaves the toilet seat up and is looking for someone tall. dark and handsome. For one reason or another, the Athos colony is set up to be entirely male and deliberately isolated for that fact. The only trading they really do is for ova so they can make more babies eventually but otherwise mostly keep to themselves. When the story picks up the original ovum that their cultures were working from have finally degraded to the point where they need more and after they get screwed out of some decent stock, they send Ethan out on a shopping trip. Where he meets (gasp!) girls.
This one keeps the pattern of "outsider injecting himself into strange society" with the twist that instead of having a genius like Miles involved, Ethan has no idea what the heck he's doing and winds up being terrified of just about everything. Then people start trying to kill him. Fortunately for him we get a Miles stand-in, ElI Quinn from "The Warrior's Apprentice", who we last saw getting her face blown off. Back with a better face, she's there as part of her mercenary group on a special mission that may or may not involve Ethan but probably does.
From there on it's space station shenanigans as people try to kill Ethan, only for Eli to rescue him while the two of them attempt to figure out what's going on and he wants to distrust her because she has breasts. The charm in this one mostly comes from watching the people involve go about their business and the lethal comedy that results from Ethan being a fish out of water. The Cetagandans make an appearance but after spending an entire novel proving how they aren't a society of generic villains, go back to being basically generic evil villains. The best parts for me are watching Ethan get his footing and overcome his own societal prejudices (as I noted, with Miles arriving fully-formed, it's nice to see some on-the-job training) and Eli actually make mistakes and be unsure of herself, which wouldn't have happened if Miles was in charge. She's still fairly effective but you wind up having Miles' personality essentially chopped into pieces and scattered amongst the different characters.
As a whole it holds up well enough together . . . there's more action and intrigue here, or at least in a more visceral digestible form. But there are some parts that feel like Bujold is just throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks, and she rarely sticks with an idea long enough to really follow it through (gay colonies! embryos! telepaths!) which means the scenario always seems to be on constantly shifting ground. The climax turns on a bit of a left-field coincidence that stretches plausibility a tad and it's really only Bujold's talent that manages to wallpaper over all this and make it into a smooth experience. It's a shame we don't get to see more of the Athos colony (probably for the best ultimately, as I don't know how actively workable it is) but what I find interesting is she doesn't call attention to the fact that they're a colony of homosexuals (which wouldn't seem odd to Ethan, being he's from there) and doesn't try to delve further into the complications that would result from everyone being the same gender (imagine that one scene from Haldeman's "The Forever War" where a future Earth goes same-sex to keep the population down, but expanded to a whole novel). She tends to keep sexuality at arm's length as it is and just because they're all guys doesn't mean we should expect Big Statements from her on that topic, but it's interesting how she doesn't take the opportunity. But it was only like her second novel.
She finally discovers the emotional heart of things in "Labyrinth", where Miles hits Jackson's Whole in his guise of mercenary admiral to make some purchases and help smuggle a scientist off the planet. Problems arise when the scientist refuses to leave with samples that he hid on one of his experiments that were meant for a super-soldier project, forcing Miles to break into the baron's fortress to at first kill the experiment and retrieve the samples. When he realizes that the super-soldier is a killing machine but also a young woman he has to somehow make a break for it without blowing their cover and keeping everyone intact.
Bujold seems to do better in the shorter format with these types of stories because this manages to encompass all the themes that make her stories interesting, the contrast between old school values and shiny SF (while everyone has spaceships and genetic splicing, people also call themselves "barons"), Miles being just enough out of his depth so he's never completely in control and a huge dose of humanity that trumpets compassion over expedience and perseverance over taking the easy way out. Because the story is so much shorter Bujold doesn't have much time for exposition and instead dives right into things once the setup is clear but with the focus off of showing us the future with a side dish of future and instead centering on what becomes a rescue mission, it's a lot easier to win our hearts. Miles comes across as the decent man with a lot to prove instead of a very gifted intelligence officer and his interactions with the super-soldier showcase Bujold's inherent decency. As I've said before, you wind up wanting these people to win because they're nice.
Bujold's handsoff treatment of sexuality does appear again, however, with an odd scene that could be construed as either very good-natured pity-six or sleeping with a minor (though the concept of "minor" is debatable here) and a conclusion that imagines his spacecraft as the center of a G-rated orgy. Bujold seems quite okay with romance, and no one is asking this to turn into a Harlequin novel, but she does seem to shy away from the stickier parts of things.
But with three Miles stories (even if one is tangential) the sheer accumulation of stories winds up making it essential. It'd be nice if we could chart some kind of growth of Miles with these instead of "Here he is at age 24" but there's a whole lot of novels left and plenty of time to make that judgement.
July 8, 2018
Yes! Finally finished this today. I found all three pieces were terribly interesting reading! Crazy societal explorations and fun reads to boot! As a whole they really complement each other as parts of this omnibus edition! I also appreciated reading Mdm Bujold's thoughts on the two novels & one novella at the end of the book - quite interesting considering how Cetaganda and Ethan were a decade apart in publication order! I hope she continues to churn out more tales in the Vorkosigan-verse - glad to see I may have to squeeze in the latest one (Vashnoi) in my ongoing read of the series. (I am trying to catch up in time for Komarr with the FBR peeps atm, which means two omnibuses by August, Brothers In Arms & Miles Errant - oh dear).
Finished: 8jul2018
Source: Book Depository (bought new)
Finished: 8jul2018
Source: Book Depository (bought new)
September 20, 2017
Really enjoyed this book. The characters are fun and so are the storylines
August 8, 2022
Cetaganda 9/10
Ethan of Athos 7/10
Labyrinth 6/10
Ethan of Athos 7/10
Labyrinth 6/10
January 5, 2014
Can this really be the author of the wonderful "Sharing Knife"? I was only stopped from giving this 2 stars by the story "Labyrinth", and I hate short stories. It was all coloured for me by Miles's disgusting behaviour in Chapter 3 of "Ctegandans".
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Seems I'm wasting my time or at least I can't make spoilers work
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Seems I'm wasting my time or at least I can't make spoilers work
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Firstly, there is the way he addresses the woman he knows must be a high-up: who are you apart from a pretty soap bubble? Then his charging through the guard of honour at the funeral. I don't know whether they have lying in state in the USA, but imagine what would happen if, at an important State funeral in America, a low-ranked Russian serviceman jumped through the cordon of honour guards - he'd either be full of bullets or quietly disappeared, beaten up and never seen again. My suspension of belief was blown and by the end of that particular story I was seeing Miles as a brat who deserved to die very soon.
"Ethan of Athos" was a bit better, although I find the love interests of a homosexual about as relevant to me as the love of a 13 year old girl for her horse. The idea of a lesbian and a straight man has been treated enough times in soft porn, but Bujold did manage to avoid that here with the gay man and sexy woman - just. Generally, I find role-reversal stories fascinating, but this one was on the edge of uncomfortable.
"Labyrinth" was great space opera stuff with all the magic of working wormholes, tractor beams and monsters. Most enjoyable.
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Seems I'm wasting my time or at least I can't make spoilers work
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Spoilers
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Seems I'm wasting my time or at least I can't make spoilers work
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Firstly, there is the way he addresses the woman he knows must be a high-up: who are you apart from a pretty soap bubble? Then his charging through the guard of honour at the funeral. I don't know whether they have lying in state in the USA, but imagine what would happen if, at an important State funeral in America, a low-ranked Russian serviceman jumped through the cordon of honour guards - he'd either be full of bullets or quietly disappeared, beaten up and never seen again. My suspension of belief was blown and by the end of that particular story I was seeing Miles as a brat who deserved to die very soon.
"Ethan of Athos" was a bit better, although I find the love interests of a homosexual about as relevant to me as the love of a 13 year old girl for her horse. The idea of a lesbian and a straight man has been treated enough times in soft porn, but Bujold did manage to avoid that here with the gay man and sexy woman - just. Generally, I find role-reversal stories fascinating, but this one was on the edge of uncomfortable.
"Labyrinth" was great space opera stuff with all the magic of working wormholes, tractor beams and monsters. Most enjoyable.
June 13, 2017
I enjoyed this, as I did the previous omnibus I read. It is comprised of two novels, Cetaganda and Ethan of Athos, and a shorter tale, Labyrinth. All three are enjoyable, but Ethan of Athos is notable due to its complete lack of Miles Vorkosigan, and probably the one I enjoyed the least as a result. It's clear from the way in which Cetaganda feels more like CryoBurn than the stories in the previous omnibus (Young Miles) that it was written later than the other stories, and indeed this proves to be the case. The stories are linked by the theme of genetics, with different societies and planets providing different backdrops to explore that. The two novels also share the Cetagandans, in the first one providing the setting and in the second one providing the antagonists.
All in all, I didn't enjoy this quite as much as its predecessor but I still liked reading it and look forward to getting to the next omnibus in the series.
All in all, I didn't enjoy this quite as much as its predecessor but I still liked reading it and look forward to getting to the next omnibus in the series.
November 25, 2009
3.75 stars
Miles, Mystery & Mayhem is an omnibus edition containing the following three stories:
Cetaganda (click here for my review)
Ethan of Athos (click here for my review)
Labyrinth (click here for my review)
Of the three, Cetaganda was my favorite. Ethan of Athos was a good story, but introduced a new character and re-used a minor character for a previous adventure, completely excluding Miles.
The omnibus included an informative Vorkosigan timeline.
Miles, Mystery & Mayhem is an omnibus edition containing the following three stories:
Cetaganda (click here for my review)
Ethan of Athos (click here for my review)
Labyrinth (click here for my review)
Of the three, Cetaganda was my favorite. Ethan of Athos was a good story, but introduced a new character and re-used a minor character for a previous adventure, completely excluding Miles.
The omnibus included an informative Vorkosigan timeline.
February 24, 2013
I read the first two books in this omnibus separately and ordered this from the library so that I could read the next in the series Labyrinth. Loved, loved, loved this short story. It's wonderful how someone can appreciate Miles for everything he can give to a person. I saw that somewhat in the appreciation and awe of his crew, but this was more fully explored even in such a short story. Great series!
August 7, 2014
I give Cetaganda 4 stars and Labyrinth 5 stars. Ethan of Athos, however, was about a 2. No Miles at all unless you count Quinn mentioning him a bit more than natural. And no other Dendarii or Barrayarans in this either. Just Quinn. So far, Ms. Bujold has not disappointed me completely, but this one came VERY close. I will not read Ethan of Athos again. I will keep this book though, because of the other two stories.
September 7, 2013
This collection was fun. I think the first novel Centagandan was the most interesting. The different worlds and cultures Bujold sets up are very interesting and I think that's the reason why I didn't like "Labyrinth" as much--it was a novella, so there was not as much time for her to develop the other world. Still, very fun and I'll keep reading.
August 9, 2016
Ethan of Athos was particularly interesting, even without Miles being part of the actual plot, because of all the ideas thrown about. Even if it's not perfectly done, I admire the deft way she writes about "big" concepts about ethics and morality, but always with *people* at the forefront of the arguments, a deep feeling for real emotions.
September 3, 2009
Each story has some interesting gender complications/issues/ideas.
July 3, 2013
Really enjoyed Cetaganda but slowed a bit with Ethan of Athos and Labyrinth.
June 13, 2019
Well, I could almost count this as 3 books, as it's comprised of 2 novels (Ethan of Athos & Cetaganda) and one novella (Labyrinth), but it's all contained in this handy omnibus and so is in actuality bound all together and so one book it is. I enjoyed this read, although not all parts equally so. Bujold is a master of her craft and I'd forgotten how fresh and wonderful her writing is. I do love me a good sci-fi novel but so many can be a bit heartless and dark and grim at times. Bujold enlivens her stories with personality and her characters are ever so real. There's a warmth and joy here that isn't often present in sci-fi (or...in any books, for that matter!). Yes, there are spaceships and plots and fancy technologies and all that...but there are also relationships and genuine human concerns swirling throughout these books. And that grounds these books a bit. Of course, Bujold's plots are relentlessly forward moving, driven (usually) by the dynamo that is Miles Vorkosigan. Miles is a joy (and sometimes exhausting!) to read about and these stories (more so than some of the previous ones) highlighted his disabilities and how they affect him...while also not lessening him in any way. Now - I've barely touched on the actual stories in these books, so briefly...I simply loved Cetaganda, a glimpse into a quite alien mindset. The previously faceless villains, the Cetagandans are much expanded on and humanized and I really enjoyed the peek into their world! A aristocracy that controls and manipulates the human genome. Fascinating, indeed. And Miles was something to behold in this one. Oh Miles, you just can't help yourself, can you? But he was magnificent nonetheless and I loved this story in all its overwrought glory. Ethan of Athos, slightly less so. Partially because of the absence of Miles (very keenly felt!) and partially just due to the nature of the story itself. Bujold does a wonderful job of imagining all the implications of the technology she creates, and so as a consequence of the reality of the uterine replicator, she posits a world of only men (women - no longer required!). Fascinating indeed, but also disturbing seeing a whole society who hates and fears women and consequently utterly isolates themselves from women. Ethan was just a bit of a bland protagonist, which also detracted from my interest in the tale. But still an enjoyable read. It was great seeing Elli Quinn again and she was definitely the best character in the story! The last story, the novella Labyrinth was a quick read and honestly over a bit sooner than I would have liked. Would have enjoyed more of Miles and the Dendarii's adventures on Jackson's Whole. But this story was beautiful primarily for setting up expectations...then shattering them utterly. I shall say no more for fears of spoiling. Now, let me end this far too long of a review.
September 6, 2021
My youtube channel for book and movie reviews is called MovieFiendz
Miles, Mystery and Mayhem is the third omnibus collection of the Vorkosigan Saga. It collects two novels and one novella, a mix of spy intrigue, a standalone story, and another short heist adventure.
Cetaganda is the first novel in this collection, a sort of field trip as Miles and Ivan must attend a function on the planet Cetaganda. What ends up being a routine trip ends up having all sorts of shenanigans, involving a murder, espionage, and a very intriguing plot. It was my favourite part of this story collection.
The second novel is Ethan of Athos, which is about a gay man from a planet of all men where babies are born via uterine replicator, and DNA samples are treated very highly. When their latest shipment of samples is trash, Ethan must traverse to Fell Station to investigate what happened, and gets involved in a plot involving mercenaries and the enigmatic Elli Quinn. This story was rather hard to sit through, as it is only vaguely related to Miles.
The last novella is a heist on the planet of Jackson's Whole. It has a very strange ending and it was not my favourite novella out of any so far. This collection was mixed bag, starting off strong but getting all tangent like throughout the pages.
Miles, Mystery and Mayhem is the third omnibus collection of the Vorkosigan Saga. It collects two novels and one novella, a mix of spy intrigue, a standalone story, and another short heist adventure.
Cetaganda is the first novel in this collection, a sort of field trip as Miles and Ivan must attend a function on the planet Cetaganda. What ends up being a routine trip ends up having all sorts of shenanigans, involving a murder, espionage, and a very intriguing plot. It was my favourite part of this story collection.
The second novel is Ethan of Athos, which is about a gay man from a planet of all men where babies are born via uterine replicator, and DNA samples are treated very highly. When their latest shipment of samples is trash, Ethan must traverse to Fell Station to investigate what happened, and gets involved in a plot involving mercenaries and the enigmatic Elli Quinn. This story was rather hard to sit through, as it is only vaguely related to Miles.
The last novella is a heist on the planet of Jackson's Whole. It has a very strange ending and it was not my favourite novella out of any so far. This collection was mixed bag, starting off strong but getting all tangent like throughout the pages.
September 7, 2020
This omnibus editions contains two novels and one novella.
"Cetaganda" walks us through Miles taking on a diplomatic mission/detective case while attending the funeral of the Empress of (barely veiled) hostile Cetaganda. We are treated to Miles' dashes of brilliance, along with a shiny decadent planet with bizarre power structures.
"Ethan of Athos" is unusual in that it does not have Miles as a protagonist. Instead, the protagonist is a doctor from Athos, a planet that took the technological innovation of uterine replicators a bit too far, creating an all male population with a serious cooties complex. Ethan's naivete is a little grating at first, but the story does pick up once Elli Quinn shows up, specially when she does things emulating what Miles would do. "Ethan of Athos" is fascinating from the sociology point of view, but it does lack Miles' brilliance that sends me to laughigng fits.
"Labyrinth" involves some unsavory transactions in crime overrun planet Jackson's Whole. Even though there are covert missions and action galore, the pace is a bit more sedate - it feels like "The Tombs of Atuan" when our two main characters meet.
"Cetaganda" walks us through Miles taking on a diplomatic mission/detective case while attending the funeral of the Empress of (barely veiled) hostile Cetaganda. We are treated to Miles' dashes of brilliance, along with a shiny decadent planet with bizarre power structures.
"Ethan of Athos" is unusual in that it does not have Miles as a protagonist. Instead, the protagonist is a doctor from Athos, a planet that took the technological innovation of uterine replicators a bit too far, creating an all male population with a serious cooties complex. Ethan's naivete is a little grating at first, but the story does pick up once Elli Quinn shows up, specially when she does things emulating what Miles would do. "Ethan of Athos" is fascinating from the sociology point of view, but it does lack Miles' brilliance that sends me to laughigng fits.
"Labyrinth" involves some unsavory transactions in crime overrun planet Jackson's Whole. Even though there are covert missions and action galore, the pace is a bit more sedate - it feels like "The Tombs of Atuan" when our two main characters meet.
April 27, 2022
Has the classic characters and hijinks that make this series great, but also throws in some fascinating takes on widely differing approaches to reproduction and power in various societies.
First: Miles vs the Cetagandans, wastes no time in getting to action, with early threats on the young Lord's life. Miles creates a secret mission for himself and Ivan tags along to help. They learn all about the haut-women controlled breeding system.
Second: Mystery in Ethan of Athos when an expected delivery goes awry. In this case the main character is fairly clueless, so the reader gets to see the worlds in the series from a new perspective. To lead him along the way, we get to see a callback to Elli Quinn, who has developed into a formidable opponent for wrongdoers since we last saw her.
Last: Labyrinth where Miles stretches an original mission in the scary Jackson's Whole a little too far, but brings off the win in the end! I had to raise my eyebrows a bit and question some of the decisions/actions the author chose for our hero, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the story.
As always, a fun and well-written sci-fi read.
First: Miles vs the Cetagandans, wastes no time in getting to action, with early threats on the young Lord's life. Miles creates a secret mission for himself and Ivan tags along to help. They learn all about the haut-women controlled breeding system.
Second: Mystery in Ethan of Athos when an expected delivery goes awry. In this case the main character is fairly clueless, so the reader gets to see the worlds in the series from a new perspective. To lead him along the way, we get to see a callback to Elli Quinn, who has developed into a formidable opponent for wrongdoers since we last saw her.
Last: Labyrinth where Miles stretches an original mission in the scary Jackson's Whole a little too far, but brings off the win in the end! I had to raise my eyebrows a bit and question some of the decisions/actions the author chose for our hero, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the story.
As always, a fun and well-written sci-fi read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2021
This is actually a combination of two novels and a short story in the Vorkosigan Saga that each give the reader a taste of the milleu Miles lives in. I urge you to read the books from the beginning to understand what is going on in these. 1st is Cetaganda, where 22yr old Miles is thrust into the internal politics & intrigue of an old enemy system that is currently mostly ignoring Barrayr.
The short story is Ethan of Athos which Miles is not actually in, but is mentioned several times by a trusted subordinate who has to think fast in an unexpected situation.
In Labyrinth 23yr old Miles is thrust into a new twist on life as he meets a new main character while thinking he's going to smuggle out a scientist from a bad neighborhood of a planet.
All are going to be good reading but much better in the proper order.
The short story is Ethan of Athos which Miles is not actually in, but is mentioned several times by a trusted subordinate who has to think fast in an unexpected situation.
In Labyrinth 23yr old Miles is thrust into a new twist on life as he meets a new main character while thinking he's going to smuggle out a scientist from a bad neighborhood of a planet.
All are going to be good reading but much better in the proper order.
June 2, 2020
I reviewed each part of this book individually (Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos, and Labyrinth) because the last book kind of left me feeling ... off. And, I didn't want that review to affect my feelings on the other two books. But, overall this is a fun read.
May 19, 2017
One thing I really appreciate about Bujold is that she explores corners and possibilities of society, but isn't ham-fisted with her message. Her writing is more observational—there's a good and a bad side to just about everything, so draw your own conclusions. The three tales in this omnibus have a common thread of social commentary and genetics, supported by generally good stories. Nothing mind bending, but fun to read.
Cetaganda: An Agatha Christie "whodunnit?" in space, with much greater stakes than anything Mrs. Marple had to deal with. The Cetagandans themselves are really interesting, with their bubble-dwelling subversive matriarchs, and use of genetics as an art and a source of power.
Ethan of Athos: Ethan is a very different sort of protagonist for this series—a sheltered monk from a male-only planet. This book tracks his first foray outside of Athos, and in particular, his first interactions with women. It turns out they're just people. Who knew?
Labyrinth: I was wondering when the quaddies would make an appearance again! Really enjoyed this continuation of the Naismith saga. The story takes place on Jackson's Whole, a planet of unrestrained capitalism where no one seems to win.
Cetaganda: An Agatha Christie "whodunnit?" in space, with much greater stakes than anything Mrs. Marple had to deal with. The Cetagandans themselves are really interesting, with their bubble-dwelling subversive matriarchs, and use of genetics as an art and a source of power.
Ethan of Athos: Ethan is a very different sort of protagonist for this series—a sheltered monk from a male-only planet. This book tracks his first foray outside of Athos, and in particular, his first interactions with women. It turns out they're just people. Who knew?
Labyrinth: I was wondering when the quaddies would make an appearance again! Really enjoyed this continuation of the Naismith saga. The story takes place on Jackson's Whole, a planet of unrestrained capitalism where no one seems to win.
February 13, 2020
I have the weirdest cognitive dissonance with these Vorkosigan books. My initial attitude toward starting the series, which has persisted with starting every new volume, is apathetic. By this point, that makes no sense, because I really enjoy these books, a lot. If there's any possible explanation, it's that the novella/omnibus format means that there's not an obvious pick-up-where-you-left off point. Maybe it's that cliffhanger urgency that really gives me that itch.
But even though I'm moving through this series slowly, they're such fun to read, and in a way, the "pleasant surprise" of still enjoying them as much as I do -- despite the completion inertia -- is a cherry on top.
But even though I'm moving through this series slowly, they're such fun to read, and in a way, the "pleasant surprise" of still enjoying them as much as I do -- despite the completion inertia -- is a cherry on top.
July 26, 2023
Three very different stories. I particularly like Ethan of Athos, for the in-depth characterisation. As much as I like Miles, seeing through someone else's POV was refreshing. It was also interesting to see the way his sentiment changed towards women throughout the story - EQ1 was touching.
Labyrinth was a little cliched (weird sex? lol) but Cetaganda was quite interesting. I'm amazed sometimes that Ilyan ever lets Miles leave home, due to the trouble that is attracted to him. But - that really shows just how authentic the characters feel by this point.
Looking forward to continuing the series.
Labyrinth was a little cliched (weird sex? lol) but Cetaganda was quite interesting. I'm amazed sometimes that Ilyan ever lets Miles leave home, due to the trouble that is attracted to him. But - that really shows just how authentic the characters feel by this point.
Looking forward to continuing the series.
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