Customer Reviews

Miles in Love, a Novel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Be warned, this is yet another compilation. I already own both novels and the short story separately, BUT I wanted to say that these are my favorite stories in the entire series. If you haven't already read these particular novels, I'd recommend this compilation.

I've been hooked on this series for years, but Komarr is my favorite novel in the entire set. (Followed closely by Shards of Honor and Barrayar which I have in the compilation Cordelia's Honor) I've read it several times. The way Miles falls in love with Ekaterin was breathtaking. I loved their scenes together. Ekaterin proves herself as a hero in both small ways and big ones. She truly is Vor and a suitable match for Miles.

A Civil Campaign has a different feel to it, but parts of it were so funny they made me laugh out loud. Bug butter. Bugs with Vorkosigan insignia on them. It also has Koudelka girls galore.

I haven't seen this printing of the short story Winterfair Gifts so I can't comment on the editing, but I highly enjoyed this story when I found it in the anthology of her short stories called Irresistible Forces. I thought the story was wonderful, even if Miles and Ekaterin weren't the main focus. I had felt cheated when the novels jumped from A Civil Campaign (before the wedding) to Diplomatic Immunity (where they're already married). I wanted to see their wedding, so was very happy when this allowed me to. I always liked Taura, so seeing her get a makeover by Aunt Alys was hysterical. It was also interesting to see behind the scenes how things worked in the manor through the eyes of one of the guards.

This collection shows us Miles and Ekaterin meeting (Komarr), getting to know each other as Miles tries to court her (A Civil Campaign), and the wedding (Winterfair Gifts), and, of course, dealing with assorted family relationships in all the stories. I enjoyed that, plus meeting Taura again in Winterfair Gifts.

A lot more goes on in these stories than romance, of course, Miles having to deal with political problems along the way, but look at how Bujold handles Miles recounting the loves of his life to Ekaterin. None of them would marry him; they all went on to lead successful lives--so unlike her life on Komarr. The last on his list was Rian: "And what does she do now?" "Now? She's an empress." ... "Can I take a number and get in line?" ... "The next number up," he breathed, "is one."

This book contains two novels and one short story. Komaar is pretty good, and A Civil Campaign is quite possibly my favorite book ever. I own a paper copy of the books, but I got a kindle-format version via the publisher's web site. The webscriptions e-book comes in multiple formats, so it can be read on devices other than a kindle, including your computer without special software.

I knew I was getting two previously published Miles stories when I bought this book. But I decided to buy it anyway because a. It had been a few years since I had read the stories. b. I have no idea where my copies are. and c.'Joy oh joy!' there was a short story about Miles' wedding included with the two novels.

My joy quickly turned to dismay as I began reading the wedding story. I can only surmise that the author had a deadline to meet and neither she nor an editor had time to run it through a spell or grammar checker. The typos were horrible and very distracting. Perhaps if the story had actually been more about Miles and his bride to be and less about one of the family guards I might have enjoyed it despite the grammatical errors. Or the fact that Miles' soon to be stepson had such a very tiny role in this story. Very tiny. Very, very tiny. So tiny I can't actually remember him being at the wedding.

I can recommend this book for the original Miles novels but not for the short story.

I save up my Vorkosigan books for when I really need a boost, because I have reasonable expectations of a great ride (Elizabeth Moon, the same thing). I was a bit hesitant to approach this one, first, because, as another reviewer said, why'd they skip _Memory_ in these omnibus reprints? And second, love and romance: not exactly this reader's cup of tea. I feared, in short, sap.

Ekaterin does seem a bit thin in _Komarr_ and she keeps falling back on that rather old misogynist trope of women completely subsuming their identities into caregivers of men, which is annoying. All that means is *I* couldn't fall in love with her. Her husband, also a thinly characterized loser/jerk, but one that's at least recognizable and consistent. This omnibus allows us to see her grow out of that, thank heavens.

As for the rest, you know what you're going to get. Plenty of political intrigue, witty dialogue, good good guys and sinister but worthy-adversary bad guy, and rabbit-punches of mayhem. The romance I'd so dreaded in _Civil Campaign_ was recognizable through both sides' complete misinterpretation of the other; a bucket of patently unsuitable suitors (I felt kinda bad for a few); and the requisite cast of staff and cupid's helpers. But there's also the insane clone, an icky bug infestation, a woman who got a full body sex change to inherit her family's property (and who flirts wildly with those who 'knew' her as a woman), Ivan being, well, Ivan, and Bujold's amazing sense of timing--she knows just when to unleash the wackiness. There's a bit less swashbuckling in this collection than I like: I still mourn the 'demise' of Admiral Naismith. But it makes up for it in intrigue and comedy. The romance is well integrated, and the sap factor not too sticky.

"Winterfair Gifts" is all right. I see how she wants to keep continuity from some long ago characters, and the armsman (whose main claim to fame is being caught nearly nekkid in the middle of a butter fight) is our dim bulb narrator. It's nice to see Miles from someone else's head, but it's a bit predictable and schmaltzy for me. Don't fear this collection, if, like me, you dread romance. It's fun to follow Miles along on a new sort of mission and a new way to mess things up in Technicolor. I decided a long time ago Bujold probably sold her soul to write this well, this consistently: I for one appreciate the sacrifice. Keep 'em coming!

Ah, so many details of other reviews are just a bit off factual. So, don't consider them all to be spoilers. But which are right and which are wrong? Read the books.

The books and story compiled in this volume are wonderfully well written with characters I'd like to know and have for friends. There is adventure, romance, comedy, tragedy, subtlety, intrigue and mystery.

The first page of Komarr and the title of the volume do telegraph the theme of this entire volume - Miles meeting Ekaterin and how they might make a life together. But it is NOT going to be easy to get there, given the beginning. The trip is great, though.

I have all these stories in separate books, on e-book, on audio and I keep a copy of this volume on the shelf to give out -- to hook people into Lois McMaster Bujold's really great writing.

The middle book in the volume is a leading contender for my favorite book of all time. It's stood up well to my 10 or so re-readings. And the others are very good, too.

Enjoy!

To begin with, let me say that I love everything Lois McMaster Bujold writes, and her Miles Vorkosigan/Naismith books are among my most-often-reread: a likeable main character who's admirable but far from perfect; both witty humor and heartfelt emotional drama; not to mention exciting plots that keep you guessing and hanging on to the edge of your seat ... "It's all in there!" And as a lover of the English language, I can only admire her writing skill, which makes it look easy -- These are books which ANY SF fan can enjoy.

I decided to enter a review for this particular volume because, although
I've been buying Baen's omnibuses (my old single paperbacks won't last much longer ;-) and THEIR editions are "properly" grouped (i.e., by plot chronology)), I'm hesitant to get this one -- It skips from _Mirror Dance_ (in _MILES ERRANT_) right to _Komarr_, omitting _Memory_, which chronicles a critical point in Miles life, showing how/why Miles is forced to leave behind his second identity with the Dendarii.
I understand that putting all 3 "post-Naismith" books, plus the wedding short, in one volume would equal MANY pages, and _Memory_ is pre-Ekaterin (i.e., pre-"In Love") but... they could have called it "Imperial Auditor Miles" or "After the Little Admiral", or something, maybe even "Miles Reinvented", right?

Anyway, there may be less guns-ablazing type of action in this portion of the series, but these stories are never boring, with just as much laughter, tears, suspense, and surprises as ever. Some people think "Winterfair Gifts" is too "old-home-week"-ishly light, with "our hero" in a secondary role, but I like the chance to see Miles from another viewpoint. *Macho* SF readers may worry _A Civil Campaign_ (subtitled "A Comedy of Biology and Manners", and dedicated to Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Georgette Heyer, & Dorothy L. Sayers) has too much romantic goings-on, but it's got plenty of political scheming, too. I'm just worried that L.McM.B. may feel she's said all she needs to say about Miles, now that _Diplomatic Immunity_ shows him married and becoming a father. Miles deserves more! (Especially since her Chalion fantasies, though just as well written, are IMHO a bit ~heavier~, and thus less quick to reread.) Lois, don't prove Mark's fiancee right, that in stories, marriage is almost as bad as death as far as hearing any more about a person/character!

"Komarr". Considered physically and mentally unfit for military duty any longer, Miles Vorkosigan is forced to leave the service he loves. However, his experiences obtain him work as a Barrayaran Empire Imperial Auditor handling top-secret special complicated cases with potential for far reaching damage. His current investigation is to learn whether a terraforming satellite that collided with an ore freighter near Komarr was deliberate as the planet is a hotbed of rebellion. To make his inquiry more difficult most Komarrans loathe his father, who brutally put down their last revolt. As he uncovers bribery and treason, Miles falls in love with the married enemy, Ekaterin Vorsoisson.

"A Civil Campaign". Miles loves Ekaterin, but hesitates wooing her since he holds himself culpable as a widow maker when his actions led to her husband's death; although he also rationalizes that her late spouse was corrupt. As he courts his beloved, his wacko clone brother Mark bugs him. Mark's latest get rich scheme involves "butter bugs", but these cockroaches somehow got free and have infested their parents' house. As he tries to exterminate the bugs, Miles is accused of murder. Still he never loses sight of his objective, marrying Ekaterin.

"Winterfair Gifts". Miles and Ekaterin are getting married at his family estate. One of his armsman, Roic, guards the Vorkosigan estate at night especially as the guests arrive for the nuptials. However, to his shock Roic is attracted to the dangerous Amazonian Sergeant Taura at a time when he cannot afford the distraction. Someone wants to kill Miles, Ekaterin or both.

These two novels and the novella that make up this omnibus collection are fabulous tales that showcase MILES IN LOVE. Each entry is humorous yet serious with the novella "Winterfair Gifts" refreshingly told mostly by Roic's perspective. Lois McMaster Bujold is at her best with this trilogy.

Harriet Klausner

Lois McMaster Bujold is perennially a Hugo, Nebula, or Locus nominee, so I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about. So, I spent the latter half of 2010 locating, and reading, each novel of her Vorkosigan series. Many of the titles aren't readily available, even in the larger chain bookstores, but are becoming rather ubiquitous as Omnibus sets--usually two or three of her novels, and perhaps a novella or short story, in a single binding. I must say, it's a large chunk of book to haul around, if you read at lunch, or on breaks. LibraryThing.com records Miles in Love as nine inches tall, and weighing over two pounds (some "fan"atic took rather seriously the task of *weighing* Bujold's novels). I sat on the sofa and read the three constituent stories over the weekend.

Miles in Love is comprised of the novels Komarr, A Civil Campaign, and Winterfair Gifts, the twelfth and thirteenth, chronologically, of the Vorkosigan saga, and a novella that features incidental characters.

Miles' story is a difficult one without spoiling every novel in the series, so I'm aware I am being rather vague: let's just see where this leads us. Miles has had a long career, working covertly for the planet Barrayar. A few mistakes has led him to retirement, and he is now one of seven Imperial Auditors. An enormous light-reflecting mirror is destroyed in Komarr's orbit, which threatens all terraformed work on this fragile planet's ecosystem. Miles is sent to observe this audit, and meets Ekaterin Vorsoisson, the wife of a scheming middle-manager. During the course of the novel, Ekaterin's husband is accidentally killed by the same environmental terrorists who destroyed the mirror, as they are trying to create a super-weapon large enough to destroy the wormhole that connects Komarr with the rest of the universe. Miles slowly learns, as the title of the Omnibus package suggests, he is in love with Ekaterin.

I feel guilty, as if I've simultaneously spoiled, and hardly said a thing, about Komarr. I suppose this signifies how strong a writer Bujold actually is. Her characters are rich, her worlds extravagant and plausible, and the relationships she builds--well, a review can hardly do them justice. Ekaterin is very likeable, and we enjoy her family, her absentminded uncle, her genetically-weak son, and her very strong aunt, as much as any minor characters Bujold has ever invented.

A Civil Campaign brings the story back to Barrayar, where Miles and his cousin Ivan plan for the grandest event of a century--Emperor Gregor's wedding. Miles courts Ekaterin in a reckless haphazard manner that makes us realize within a few chapters, that gods of farcical comedy are about to collide with the young Vor's best-laid plans. His brother Mark returns from the (sexually) liberal Beta Colony, thoroughly smitten with family friend Kareen Koudelka. Mark also brings a Escobarran researcher and crates full of butter-bugs, which are simultaneously nutritious, and the most disgusting pus-like insects imaginable. All the vectors collide simultaneously at a dinner party hosted by Miles, and, I guess, hilarity ensues.

I never found whole scenario all-too funny because I've become attached to Miles, and despite his bullheaded courtship, I hate seeing a collision of mishaps to this magnitude. It makes me uncomfortable. Despite this minor complaint, there were some beautiful passages; for example, Gregor's audience with the young Nikki Vorsoisson, where he forthrightly, yet with elegance, explains his father's death. Gregor, who early in the series, I found to be an annoying complainer, has become a wonderfully wise and complex character, smitten with his Komarran bride-to-be.

A third story, "Winterfair Gifts," tell the story of Miles' and Ekaterin's wedding, and of the uncovering of a plot to poison the Vorkosigan-to-be. Another favorite character of mine, the super-intelligent, and genetically altered, Taura, is featured in this story. She deserves her moment in the limelight, and the story is delightful.

Throughout, Bujold goes where her gifts lie: She creates believable characters, whether monsters, deviants, or emperors, or armsmen. Each of them (even the antagonist) is captured lovingly and sympathetically by her writing. Her worlds are interesting, and her ideas are strong: but these are not where the force of her stories lie. Bujold excels at creating relationships. There is possibly no better place than a love story to do this, and no writer better to accomplish the task.

I have enjoyed the Vorkosigan books ever since I read my first one in the early 1990's. This compilation provides two novels and a novella that bring the story of Miles Vorkosigan's life to a new level of committed love, beginning with "Komarr," in which Miles falls in love while solving a mystery, continuing with "A Civil Campaign," in which Miles is involved in intrigues and shenanigans leading up to the emperor's wedding, and culminating in the novella "Winterfair Gifts," a story told from the point of view of one of Miles's armsmen about the long-expected Vorkosigan wedding. The two novels are available in their own single editions but the novella is only otherwise available as part of an anthology that is becoming hard to find.

Of the three, "A Civil Campaign" is the most densely plotted and, to me, the most interesting. The novel "Komarr," with its alternating points of view, dragged a bit at times but led up to an exciting and unexpected finish. The novella provided an interesting plot to go with the expected wedding, but I was rather disappointed that this momentous event in Miles's life didn't receive a longer treatment. For Vorkosigan fans, all three are good books and good reads, and fans will want a copy of "Winterfair Gifts," whether in this edition or in the elusive anthology where it was first published.

Unfortunately and very annoyingly, this edition is full of typographical errors. They range from the startling (in one sentence Miles is referred to as "she") to the incomprehensibly careless (words with a letter replaced by a comma or other punctuation mark). Sometimes there are three or more within a single paragraph. It makes for maddening reading.

With that caveat, I give it my tepid recommendation. I do have the other anthology (called "Irresistible Forces," for the curious) but wanted to have the compilation. I would be much happier with my purchase if it were not so riddled with typos.