In general things seemed a little, um, simplified? But I still loved it.
This, exactly. Can you imagine Tej and Mark's first meeting? Also 100% with you on Ekaterin's presence (ha): Kareen in ACC said, "notice how the stories end when women get married" and despite the lampshade? Ekaterin hasn't been a PoV character since... she got married.
But good things! Ivan and Tej are ambitious, in their own way: ambitious to not get dragged into their family's plans. The annual death-offering wasn't new information, but its re-introduction reminded me that Ivan has had the blood price of Barrayaran politics hammered into his consciousness every birthday of his life.
Simon and Alys were awesome, no surprise; the, ah, unintended consequences of the mycoborer were definitely best witnessed through ex-ImpSec eyes.
The By/Rish interaction felt too neat - I don't like my romances like dominoes, knock one down and cascade the rest, even if (as I check facebook) life is sometimes exactly like that - I wanted Rish to be awesome on her own. And not simplified.
The implications about Jackson's Whole biochemistry / genetics are, again, not new, but are extremely unsettling to contemplate at any length.
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This, exactly. Can you imagine Tej and Mark's first meeting? Also 100% with you on Ekaterin's presence (ha): Kareen in ACC said, "notice how the stories end when women get married" and despite the lampshade? Ekaterin hasn't been a PoV character since... she got married.
But good things! Ivan and Tej are ambitious, in their own way: ambitious to not get dragged into their family's plans. The annual death-offering wasn't new information, but its re-introduction reminded me that Ivan has had the blood price of Barrayaran politics hammered into his consciousness every birthday of his life.
Simon and Alys were awesome, no surprise; the, ah, unintended consequences of the mycoborer were definitely best witnessed through ex-ImpSec eyes.
The By/Rish interaction felt too neat - I don't like my romances like dominoes, knock one down and cascade the rest, even if (as I check facebook) life is sometimes exactly like that - I wanted Rish to be awesome on her own. And not simplified.
The implications about Jackson's Whole biochemistry / genetics are, again, not new, but are extremely unsettling to contemplate at any length.