Book Review: The Vorkosigan Saga: The Vor Game SPOILERS!

There's not much to say about this novel other than how horribly predictable the main plot line is throughout the entire story. Synopsis: The Prince and the Mercenary. Together, they can get into a lot of trouble. Trouble only the combined forces of the Free Dendarii Mercenaries can get them out of. At least, that's what they're hoping... In this latest adventure with the galaxy's craftiest mercenary leader Miles, starts out by so shaking up the High Command on his homeplanet of Barrayar that he is sent to the other side of the galaxy--where who should he run into but his old pals the Free Dendarii Mercenaries. And a good thing too, because it turns out that Miles' childhood chum, that's Emperor Gregor to you, has been the victim of foul pay and only Miles--with a little Dendarii muscle--can save him. This is very important to Miles; because if Gregor dies, the only person who could become the new emperor is Miles himself--and that he regards as a fate worse than death.

And with the synopsis on the back of the fifth printing done, and now reading it, it sounds like either Lois McMaster Bujold or the publishing company just loves to insult the readers and fans. I mean, reading that, it sounds like someone's talking down to the fans and readers like they're no more than children. It's just this sort of thing that makes me want to stop reading the series. Books that have this are usually written by authors and quite a few do this--Troy Denning, Chirstie Golden, Drew Karpyshyn--and it just irritates me beyond reason.

The novel opens with Miles, having graduated Barrayan Military Academy, receiving orders to be assigned to the back-end of Barrayar: a nightmarish place called Kyril Island because Mjr. Cecil knows Miles loves to treat his superiors like cattle. If Miles can follow orders for the next six months, he'll be given a post on the Prince Serg--the newest, fastest, deadliest Barrayan spaceship, and yes, that does mean it'll rape any and all battlefields. Miles fails while at Kyril Island, performing "mutiny" according to Cmdr. Metzov. Imperial Security arrives and takes Miles away. After interrogating him and finding out about ImpSec's security/firewall weakness, Count Aral Vorkosigan and ImpSec chief Simon Illyan remove Metzov from rank and power when he attempted to have new recruits kill technicians--referred to as greekies. Illyan and Aral quietly exile Miles to ImpSec as an intel agent. During a visit to ImpSec HQ, Miles pleads with Emperor Gregor for Gregor to get married and have kids because Miles' would rather run away from Barrayar than rule it should Gregor die. Gregor appears slightly interested in the running away aspect. Eventually, Illyan assigns Miles to Captain Ungari with the hope that Miles can find out what the Oseran Mercenaries--formerly the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet--is up to without reactivating Miles' persona of Admiral Naismith.

Needless to say, Miles runs in with them, which Ky Tung thinks means that a revolution is coming to the fleet and which Admiral Oser thinks is a curse. Ungari flees on a secret assignment, trusting in optimism that Miles would follow orders and go back to Barrayar; Ungari is looking for Emperor Gregor, who has disappeared mysteriously. Miles gets arrested and finds Gregor under the guise of a technician. It turns out that Gregor took Miles' words of running away a bit too seriously. After getting caught by the pirate leader Cavilo and former Barrayan Commander Metzov, Miles believes Gregor is falling in love with Cavilo (something that is apparently obvious that it is not at all going on, but maybe that was me) and eventually leaves Gregor behind to retake the Oseran Mercenaries and "remove" them  from Vervain since Cavilo has a deal with Cetaganda to help the Cetagandan Empire invade Vervain. Miles' succeeds and during a battle with Cavilo's men and the Cetagandan Imperial Navy over the planet Vervain, Oser and Metzov end up dead and Cavilo escapes, threatening to exact revenge on Miles. Gregor takes over the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet, as well as the Prince Serg led by Admiral Aral Vorkosigan, and defeats the Cetagandans--they retreat back to the Cetagandan Empire. Vervain heralds Gregor as a hero while the Cetagandan Emperor executes the survivors of the navy battle for an unauthorized battle/invasion. Miles will be kept on as a liaison officer to the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet and is promoted to ImpSec lieutenant.

Needless to say, the main plot of the novel is predictable in every way since the synopsis on the back gives most of it away, but the subplots are worth it. I won't tell you what they are, but trust me, the subplots are worth reading. Just remember to pay attention to every last word Bujold writes as she always drags some minor detail that every sane person overlooks and brings it back kicking and screaming later on in the novel.

Book Review: The Vorkosigan Saga: Cordelia's Honor SPOILERS!

Her first novel in the Vorkosigan saga, published that is, Lois McMaster bujold weaves a tale of speculation as to what happens to humans once we've conquered the stars. Synopsis: When Enemies Become More Than Friends--THEY WIN. In her first trial by fire, Cordelia Naismith captained a throwaway ship of the Betan Expeditionary Force on a mission to destroy an enemy armada. Discovering deception within deception, treachery withing treachery, she was forced into a separate peace with her chief opponent, Lord Aral Vorkosigan--he who was called "The Butcher of Komarr"--and would consequently become an outcast on her own planet and the Lady Vorkosigan on his. Sick of combat and betrayal, she was ready to settle down to a quiet life, interrupted only by the occasional ceremonial appearances required of the Lady Vorkosigan. But when the Emperor died, Aral became guardian of the infant heir to the imperial throne of Barrayar--and the target of high-tech assassins in a dynastic civil war that was reminiscent of Earth's Middle Ages, but fought with up-to-the minute biowar technology. Neither Aral nor Cordelia guessed the part that their cell-damaged unborn would play in Barrayar's bloody legacy. Publisher's Note: Cordelia's Honor is comprised of two parts: Shards of Honor and Barrayar. Together, they form a continuous story following the life of Cordelia Vorkosigan nee Naismith from the day she met her then-enemy Lord Aral Vorkosigan through the boyhood of her son Miles.

So the first part (Shards of Honor) starts out with Cordelia Naismith of the Betan Expeditionary Force and Captain Aral Vorkosigan heading through a jungle to reach Vorkosigan's men after the Barrayans attacked Cordelia's scientists. Along their journey, they get to know one another better and fined each others planets beliefs to be odd. Once there, they find that one of Aral's former acquaintances, Lt. Radnov, has staged a coup and ordered Aral's men to kill him on sight. Those that remain loyal to Aral don't and soon retake the General Vorkraft, the ship Aral and his men arrived on. Along the way back, the space crew of the Betan Survey team attempt a rescue on Cordelia, which almost succeeds with her teams help from Radnov, who is desperately trying to retake the ship which Cordelia and Aral manage to stop. Cordelia and her team get away but end up being caught again and Cordelia orders her crew to surrender which they grudgingly do. Vorrutyer drugs and tortures Sgt. Bothari enough and has him attempt to torture Cordelia, but Bothari instead kills Vorrutyer because Cordelia is Aral's woman--it should be noted that all these drugs and torture are what has caused Bothari to be insane; he's received enough of them over his lifetime and Aral has tried to make the problem go away for Bothari. Aral shows up ready to kill Vorrutyer but ends up hiding Cordelia and Bothari in his quarters. They stay there the entire time, even during the battle of Escobar (an event which is never shows because Bujold seems to dislike showing a sci-fi battle or maybe because she prefers to stay in one persons head for the entirety of a novel and that gets old real fast); it is here that Crown Prince Serg, a corrupted man and son of the Emperor of Barrayar, dies--apparently, Serg enjoyed raping women as much as Vorrutyer did. It's apparent that Serg's death, as well as Vorrutyer's, is what the Emperor wanted to happen. Cordelia is transported down to Escobar and after a few weeks, is released to go back to Beta Colony and everyone there thinks she's a hero for killing Vorrutyer despite her claims that she didn't do anything. After punching the president of Beta Colony, nearly drowning her psyche evaluator, and rants, Cordelia hijacks a freighter and heads to Barrayar and finds Aral shit-faced drunk with his father who loathes her. There is a subplot about the uterine replicators housing dozens of Barrayan babies that are eventually shipped off to Barrayar with Bothari claiming one of them as his own for penance of all his rape crimes.

In the second part (Barrayar), the novel continues the story of Cordelia through Cordelia's (and only her) POV. Cordelia is finding out that the life of Lady Vorkosigan isn't what she thought it'd be. After numerous attempts of Aral's life, one of which results in Cordelia and Aral's unborn child becoming accidentally poisoned and has to be birthed using the uterine replicators, the old Emperor dies, demanding that Aral become Regent of Barrayar until his grandson, Gregor, is old enough to take the throne. A coup ensues, led by Vidal Vordarian, attempt to seize the throne. He succeeds, taking the Princess Kareen captive as well. Cordelia takes young Gregor and hides in the countryside while Aral and his followers, including his father, attempt to rest control back. Cordelia, with Bothari, Droushnakovi, and a wounded Koudelka perform a raid to retrieve Lady Alys Vorpatril and make their way closer to the Emperor's Palace. After seeing Koudelka and Alys off safely, Bothari, Droushnakovi and Cordelia enter the palace and retrieve a uterine replicator with Miles inside and get captured by Vordarian's men. Cordelia hands Kareen Gregor's shoe and Kareen attempts to kill Vordarian. She fails and is killed by a guard while Bothari and Droushnakovi get Cordelia and a captured Vordarian to the chambers where he's keeping Miles as a hostage. After admitting he was behind the assassination attempts, Cordelia orders Bothari to kill Vordarian, which Bothari does by taking a sword and beheading Vordarian. Droushnakovi commandeers a groundcar and the four of them head back to base where Aral is glad to see Cordelia alive and unharmed along with Miles. She dumps a bag on the table in front of Aral and his staff and they see it's the head of Vordarian and they all suddenly become half-repulse, half-respectful of Cordelia, including Aral's father. In the end, the war is over and a few years later, Miles, age five, is negotiating with his grandfather for horse lessons.

All in all, a decent omnibus with a decent set of stories. They're not all bad, but dear me could I use a POV switch every now and then. I wanted to see the battle action in Shards of Honor and a lot more of it in Barrayar but what you get is what you get.