Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (Bujold)
Jul. 18th, 2012 04:46 pm4/5. I HAVE MISSED YOU, LMB! AND YOUR PLOTS TOO!
I wasn't intending to read this until the hardback came out, but then![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
julianyap intervened. So.
So this review really boils down to SQUEE! This was an incredibly indulgent book -- and I don't care, I wanted it to be indulgent, and so (I suspect) did LMB. For this reason, it read a lot like extremely well-written fanfic, with a nice plot, from someone who really likes Ivan! Which I'm all for! (Interestingly, I just requested something almost exactly like this in a fic exchange, which amused me no end while reading it.)
It's most like Civil Campaign in feel -- not so surprisingly, as it's a slightly tongue-in-cheek romance (oh, come on, that's not a spoiler, is there anyone, anyone at all reading this book, that didn't know Ivan was going to get hooked up in this one?), but without either the Barrayan politicking or the Milesian tendency to get himself, um, hoist on his own petard. Because if there's anything that would be out of character for Ivan, it is getting himself hoist on his own petard. It's really kind of refreshing. Though I looooved the politicking of ACC and would have preferred more of that.
It isn't deep. It isn't serious. It isn't even super-plot-heavy (this disappointed D, actually; he was sort of hoping that there would be some sort of super-plot-twist at the end tying it up really nicely, but there wasn't). It doesn't tell us anything about life we didn't already know (as was true with Mirror Dance, Memory in spades, and even Civil Campaign). It's just a rollicking adventure with an old friend who gets some of the happiness we all always hoped he would get.
( Some-of-these-are-spoilers, tried to make them mild, involving some of our old friends: )
A couple of things that mildly bothered me: ( Mild spoilers regarding Tej's identity ) So Tej didn't really ring true to me. I mean, as a character she was great! But as a character given her backstory... not so much.
Another thing: The Koudelkas are the only females in the Vorkosiverse I can think of who actually manage to have friends whom they don't meet through their husbands or father. ( Not-so-mild spoilers regarding friends/families )
In general things seemed a little, um, simplified? But I still loved it.
I wasn't intending to read this until the hardback came out, but then
julianyap intervened. So.So this review really boils down to SQUEE! This was an incredibly indulgent book -- and I don't care, I wanted it to be indulgent, and so (I suspect) did LMB. For this reason, it read a lot like extremely well-written fanfic, with a nice plot, from someone who really likes Ivan! Which I'm all for! (Interestingly, I just requested something almost exactly like this in a fic exchange, which amused me no end while reading it.)
It's most like Civil Campaign in feel -- not so surprisingly, as it's a slightly tongue-in-cheek romance (oh, come on, that's not a spoiler, is there anyone, anyone at all reading this book, that didn't know Ivan was going to get hooked up in this one?), but without either the Barrayan politicking or the Milesian tendency to get himself, um, hoist on his own petard. Because if there's anything that would be out of character for Ivan, it is getting himself hoist on his own petard. It's really kind of refreshing. Though I looooved the politicking of ACC and would have preferred more of that.
It isn't deep. It isn't serious. It isn't even super-plot-heavy (this disappointed D, actually; he was sort of hoping that there would be some sort of super-plot-twist at the end tying it up really nicely, but there wasn't). It doesn't tell us anything about life we didn't already know (as was true with Mirror Dance, Memory in spades, and even Civil Campaign). It's just a rollicking adventure with an old friend who gets some of the happiness we all always hoped he would get.
( Some-of-these-are-spoilers, tried to make them mild, involving some of our old friends: )
A couple of things that mildly bothered me: ( Mild spoilers regarding Tej's identity ) So Tej didn't really ring true to me. I mean, as a character she was great! But as a character given her backstory... not so much.
Another thing: The Koudelkas are the only females in the Vorkosiverse I can think of who actually manage to have friends whom they don't meet through their husbands or father. ( Not-so-mild spoilers regarding friends/families )
In general things seemed a little, um, simplified? But I still loved it.
