As you may have noticed, dear readers and viewers, I've not posted anything in the last couple of weeks. I apologize and can only state that I've been busy reading some new books such as John Jackson Miller's excellent Star Wars: Kenobi novel and Lois McMaster Bujold's Captain Vorpatil's Alliance, as well as others, such as James Lovegrove's Age of [insert deity here] series. Doing so has reminded me that I started these book reviews as a way to not only summarize books I've enjoyed but to also give my opinions on them. And in short, I can no longer do that with certain series' that I've started, namely those by Lois Bujold and certain Bantam era Star Wars novels that I've been longing to do.
To start, I'll name the first I will no longer be finishing: The Vorkosigan Saga. This may come as a shock, but I simply do not have the time or resources--or books, for that matter--to track down each of them and reread them. I'm at my limits and have had to come to terms with that. I can, however, briefly summarize Brother's In Arms, Borders of Infinity, and Mirror Dance into a couple of paragraphs. Most of this will be off the top of my head and what I recall happening. Those will be below and the titles of which will be marked in bold. Note, this does not mean I'll abandon almost finished series, such as Lois' Sharing Knife series--I've only got one book left to review, so I may as well finish it.
Another that will take a while will be the Star Wars: X-Wing books by Mike Stackpole and Aaron Allston. First, because I have a strong dislike of Allston's works in that all his characters come across as juvenile wannabe jokers in the maturity range of 13- to 14-year-olds. That and I've loaned them out to a friend who wanted to read them. So they are on hold for a while.
But fear not, for I shall finish the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn as well as most of his books in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. But I shall only do them in the order they were published, not chronologically. To this end, I also state that I will do a couple of reviews for the Vorkosigan Saga, namely those of Memory, Komarr, A Civil Campaign, and Captian Vorpatil's Alliance--three of which I enjoyed and one I'm in the process of reading. Also, I'll be trying to get the review for JJM's Kenobi up soon, but it's a really good book and I can't stop rereading it, folks.
To make up for this, I'll do some special reviews in November for the game tie-ins that I didn't get around to, such as The Force Unleashed, The Force Unleashed II, the Star Wars: Dark Forces novella trilogy by William C. Deitz, the Assassin's Creed novels, and maybe the Resistance novels by Deitz. Now, I'm not promising anything, because I'll be extremely busy with school and work, but I will do my best to get as many of those done as I can for you.
Brothers In Arms
Okay, so this is supposed to be a mystery novel. I can handle those, but frankly, this one does seem rather easy to see through. First off, Miles and some of the members his mercenary gang stop at Earth for repairs, but the funds are delayed. Miles doesn't like this, especially when he's detained and held in the Barrayaran embassy to serve Duv Galeni, who is a nice Komarran chap, except he sees Miles as a threat by ImpSec to get him fired or something. (Remember, I'm trying to recall from my memory here, folks.) A lot of people notice that Miles and Admiral Naismith look alike, but Miles brushes it off, trying to keep both identities separate. Add in the fact that he's also having a sort of hard time keeping them apart and you've got the perfect recipe for disaster. But Miles, being Miles, suspects a couple of Komarrans are up to something and is proved right when he comes face to face with his clone. The clone (later called Mark) is to be take over Miles' job and help free the Komarran's from the rule of the Barrayarans. Naturally, Miles won't allow that and does end up stopping them and their leader, who happens to be a relative of Galeni's. Mark, now free, ends up running away to figure out who he is. Galeni is promoted, I believe and recalled back to Barrayar. This marks the last appearance of Ky Tung, who retires to Brazil on Earth to be with his family.
Side note: The actual title for this, in my opinion, should've been Mirror Dance, seeing as how Miles starts to lose it on Earth. This is just my personal opinion folks, please don't yell at me.
Borders of Infinity
This has got to be the worst of Lois' books. It's an anthology disguised as a novel. Basically, it's three stories wrapped around four very god-awful pages of Miles being interrogated in a hospital room by Simon Illyan which is supposed to ferret out an assassination attempt against Aral. I didn't believe it when I read it and I still don't. Anyway the first one deals with Miles investigating a killing in the backwater parts of backwater Barrayar. Apparently, the grandmother did it to spare the child of growing up with some sort of weird genetic mutation. I can't recall what, excatly, only that it was ludicrously ridiculous and had me rolling my eyes. The second story had something to do with picking up a rogue scientist in Jackson's Whole, but there's a complication--as always--and Miles seeks to rid himself of it. In this, he meets a quaddie, and some other creature whose name eludes me. During this, another rival scientist gets his lab burnt down by Miles and the creature-whose-name-eludes-me, and they manage to escape. Straightforward and simple, this is the longest novella in the omnibus--for that's what Borders of Infinity is--and is an enjoyable read. The last one is set during a war and somehow or another, the person Miles was sent to retrieve has died and so Miles helps the resistance movement--if I recall correctly--and then leaves. I don't recall much of this last one, which should be some indication of how forgettable I found it.
Mirror Dance
Ah, lovely Mirror Dance, and it's wacky plot. Mark, impersonating Miles, gets the Dendarii mercs to go to Jackson's Whole and seek revenge while freeing genetic slaves, something that Bel Thorne hates. Well, things go sour, Miles gets involved, relieves Thorne of command, and then Miles dies. He's placed into cryostasis and left on the planet. Mark, under watch by a tempermental and angry Elli Quinn, head back to Barrayar. Elli reports this to Simon. Mark meets Aral and Cordelia Vorkosigan. They treat him like their second son and Mark, unable to stand any of the asinine Barrayaran ways, convinces Elli to help him get Miles back. Meanwhile, a scientist revives Miles and over the course of a few weeks, starts to recall his life. It's only complete when Mark, Elli and the Dendarii free Miles from that and leave Jackson's Whole behind, with Mark--who has fallen for Kareen Koudelka--wants to turn his life around and goes to Beta to begin therapy, or I recall. I know it happened at some point, just not exactly sure which book.
Side Note: the correct title of this book should've been Brothers In Arms, at least, I think so, considering how Miles and Mark fight to rescue each other and how close their sibling bond gets. But maybe that's just me, folks.
To start, I'll name the first I will no longer be finishing: The Vorkosigan Saga. This may come as a shock, but I simply do not have the time or resources--or books, for that matter--to track down each of them and reread them. I'm at my limits and have had to come to terms with that. I can, however, briefly summarize Brother's In Arms, Borders of Infinity, and Mirror Dance into a couple of paragraphs. Most of this will be off the top of my head and what I recall happening. Those will be below and the titles of which will be marked in bold. Note, this does not mean I'll abandon almost finished series, such as Lois' Sharing Knife series--I've only got one book left to review, so I may as well finish it.
Another that will take a while will be the Star Wars: X-Wing books by Mike Stackpole and Aaron Allston. First, because I have a strong dislike of Allston's works in that all his characters come across as juvenile wannabe jokers in the maturity range of 13- to 14-year-olds. That and I've loaned them out to a friend who wanted to read them. So they are on hold for a while.
But fear not, for I shall finish the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn as well as most of his books in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. But I shall only do them in the order they were published, not chronologically. To this end, I also state that I will do a couple of reviews for the Vorkosigan Saga, namely those of Memory, Komarr, A Civil Campaign, and Captian Vorpatil's Alliance--three of which I enjoyed and one I'm in the process of reading. Also, I'll be trying to get the review for JJM's Kenobi up soon, but it's a really good book and I can't stop rereading it, folks.
To make up for this, I'll do some special reviews in November for the game tie-ins that I didn't get around to, such as The Force Unleashed, The Force Unleashed II, the Star Wars: Dark Forces novella trilogy by William C. Deitz, the Assassin's Creed novels, and maybe the Resistance novels by Deitz. Now, I'm not promising anything, because I'll be extremely busy with school and work, but I will do my best to get as many of those done as I can for you.
Brothers In Arms
Okay, so this is supposed to be a mystery novel. I can handle those, but frankly, this one does seem rather easy to see through. First off, Miles and some of the members his mercenary gang stop at Earth for repairs, but the funds are delayed. Miles doesn't like this, especially when he's detained and held in the Barrayaran embassy to serve Duv Galeni, who is a nice Komarran chap, except he sees Miles as a threat by ImpSec to get him fired or something. (Remember, I'm trying to recall from my memory here, folks.) A lot of people notice that Miles and Admiral Naismith look alike, but Miles brushes it off, trying to keep both identities separate. Add in the fact that he's also having a sort of hard time keeping them apart and you've got the perfect recipe for disaster. But Miles, being Miles, suspects a couple of Komarrans are up to something and is proved right when he comes face to face with his clone. The clone (later called Mark) is to be take over Miles' job and help free the Komarran's from the rule of the Barrayarans. Naturally, Miles won't allow that and does end up stopping them and their leader, who happens to be a relative of Galeni's. Mark, now free, ends up running away to figure out who he is. Galeni is promoted, I believe and recalled back to Barrayar. This marks the last appearance of Ky Tung, who retires to Brazil on Earth to be with his family.
Side note: The actual title for this, in my opinion, should've been Mirror Dance, seeing as how Miles starts to lose it on Earth. This is just my personal opinion folks, please don't yell at me.
Borders of Infinity
This has got to be the worst of Lois' books. It's an anthology disguised as a novel. Basically, it's three stories wrapped around four very god-awful pages of Miles being interrogated in a hospital room by Simon Illyan which is supposed to ferret out an assassination attempt against Aral. I didn't believe it when I read it and I still don't. Anyway the first one deals with Miles investigating a killing in the backwater parts of backwater Barrayar. Apparently, the grandmother did it to spare the child of growing up with some sort of weird genetic mutation. I can't recall what, excatly, only that it was ludicrously ridiculous and had me rolling my eyes. The second story had something to do with picking up a rogue scientist in Jackson's Whole, but there's a complication--as always--and Miles seeks to rid himself of it. In this, he meets a quaddie, and some other creature whose name eludes me. During this, another rival scientist gets his lab burnt down by Miles and the creature-whose-name-eludes-me, and they manage to escape. Straightforward and simple, this is the longest novella in the omnibus--for that's what Borders of Infinity is--and is an enjoyable read. The last one is set during a war and somehow or another, the person Miles was sent to retrieve has died and so Miles helps the resistance movement--if I recall correctly--and then leaves. I don't recall much of this last one, which should be some indication of how forgettable I found it.
Mirror Dance
Ah, lovely Mirror Dance, and it's wacky plot. Mark, impersonating Miles, gets the Dendarii mercs to go to Jackson's Whole and seek revenge while freeing genetic slaves, something that Bel Thorne hates. Well, things go sour, Miles gets involved, relieves Thorne of command, and then Miles dies. He's placed into cryostasis and left on the planet. Mark, under watch by a tempermental and angry Elli Quinn, head back to Barrayar. Elli reports this to Simon. Mark meets Aral and Cordelia Vorkosigan. They treat him like their second son and Mark, unable to stand any of the asinine Barrayaran ways, convinces Elli to help him get Miles back. Meanwhile, a scientist revives Miles and over the course of a few weeks, starts to recall his life. It's only complete when Mark, Elli and the Dendarii free Miles from that and leave Jackson's Whole behind, with Mark--who has fallen for Kareen Koudelka--wants to turn his life around and goes to Beta to begin therapy, or I recall. I know it happened at some point, just not exactly sure which book.
Side Note: the correct title of this book should've been Brothers In Arms, at least, I think so, considering how Miles and Mark fight to rescue each other and how close their sibling bond gets. But maybe that's just me, folks.
