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Reading: Brothers in Arms
Sep. 16th, 2018 03:56 pmLois McMaster Bujold's Brothers in Arms sees Miles Vorkosigan and his Dendarii Mercenaries between contracts on Earth, now a galactic backwater, where Miles struggles to keep his two personas - Lord Vorkosigan and Admiral Naismith - apart and out of the way of the people who want to kill them. This task is made even harder when the head of security at the Barrayaran Embassy disappears and Miles's attempts to track him down lead to Miles himself being kidnapped and replaced by a clone.
I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this one as much as I've enjoyed the others in the series so far. Maybe I just wasn't quite in the mood for it, or maybe I was put off by chapter 2, in which it becomes woefully apparent that neither Bujold nor, presumably, her editor actually knew what "dowager" meant. Or Miles's confidence in a situation where - for once - he isn't way ahead of everyone else tips to the wrong side of the fine line between entertaining chutzpah and irritating cockiness. Or the romance subplot between Miles and Elli Quinn just didn't work for me (Bujold's romances don't, generally; the romance element of Shards of Honour was the main reason why I bounced off it very hard the first time I tried it). And really, nor did the final showdown on a Thames Barrier that was simultaneously a far-future Thames Barrier designed to protect London and the whole lower Thames basin from much higher sea levels than the present barrier and enough like the current structure that it felt very much as if Bujold had visited London, taken a tour, and decided that it was so cool she had to put it in a book. (Unlike the rest of the London setting, which isn't recognisably London at all; I did feel that Bujold rather threw away the chances setting the novel on a far-future Earth rather than another planet offers to throw in a few familiar landmarks and make readers feel like they're really seeing their home in 500 years' time.)
I don't know. I felt like I ought to be enjoying it, but the joy of the previous books just didn't seem to be there this time, and it ended up being rather a slog. I'm sure I will carry on with the series, but maybe not for a little while.
I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this one as much as I've enjoyed the others in the series so far. Maybe I just wasn't quite in the mood for it, or maybe I was put off by chapter 2, in which it becomes woefully apparent that neither Bujold nor, presumably, her editor actually knew what "dowager" meant. Or Miles's confidence in a situation where - for once - he isn't way ahead of everyone else tips to the wrong side of the fine line between entertaining chutzpah and irritating cockiness. Or the romance subplot between Miles and Elli Quinn just didn't work for me (Bujold's romances don't, generally; the romance element of Shards of Honour was the main reason why I bounced off it very hard the first time I tried it). And really, nor did the final showdown on a Thames Barrier that was simultaneously a far-future Thames Barrier designed to protect London and the whole lower Thames basin from much higher sea levels than the present barrier and enough like the current structure that it felt very much as if Bujold had visited London, taken a tour, and decided that it was so cool she had to put it in a book. (Unlike the rest of the London setting, which isn't recognisably London at all; I did feel that Bujold rather threw away the chances setting the novel on a far-future Earth rather than another planet offers to throw in a few familiar landmarks and make readers feel like they're really seeing their home in 500 years' time.)
I don't know. I felt like I ought to be enjoying it, but the joy of the previous books just didn't seem to be there this time, and it ended up being rather a slog. I'm sure I will carry on with the series, but maybe not for a little while.
