Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, and bits of Buffy and B5
I'm finishing up loose ends of a couple other books before my regularly scheduled roundup, but I couldn't wait, having finished the Ivan book today:
51. Lois McMaster Bujold, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance -- I thoroughly enjoyed myself while reading this book, and yet, I must admit I'm somewhat disappointed by it. Spoilers, both major and vague! One of the things I love about the Vorkosigan Saga -- on top of the great characters and the quotable lines and the worldbuilding that really thinks through social implications, is that while Vorkosiverse may be where all of ASOIAF's happy endings have gone, it's NOT all fluff. Heroes screw up big time, actions have irrevocable consequences, people die. You wouldn't know this from CVA. And it's not like I wanted any of these people to die, but it felt like things happened too smoothly for everyone concerned, and that made it difficult to feel like I was reading a Vorkosigan book. It was a great romp! Laugh-out-loud funny in several places, and I read most of it with a smile. There were even a couple of profoundly poignant bits -- I teared up during Ivan's second proposal, in the bunker, and had been feeling it coming on during several pages prior, and Alys and Ivan during the burnt offering scene both are a kick in the gut. I still love all these people, and it was wonderful to see so much more of Ivan, and of Simon (much more recovered now than even in ACC, it looks like), and of Alys, and cameos from Gregor and Galeni, and at least flashbacks/letters/mentions from Cordelia and Aral and Mark. But the stakes didn't feel high enough. It didn't quite feel real :/
(On the other hand, maybe LMB just wanted a fluffy book after [huge spoiler for CryoBurn] the punch of CryoBurn's ending... In any case, I guess if any Vorkosiverse book should be fluffy, Ivan's book would be the best candidate, since he is a character who does not go in for hard choices or impossible quests or undue personal sacrifice, by either inclination or position.)
All that said, I still loved it. Ivan has stealthily become one of my favorite characters (of which I have tons in this series, so I don't know where that puts him, really) even prior to this novel, and now that status is cemented. I loved those little mentions of kid!Ivan, having to contend with playmates who had no patience for his relative ineptness with puzzles (and I wonder if those plural playmates are all Miles or if Elena (and Gregor?) got in on the puzzle-confiscating action, too), and Uncle Aral's lesson about not hitting girls, and not playing with bombs (I want this fic XD) and later lightflyer instruction. I loved Ivan's warm and fuzzy feelings about flowcharts (I get you, Ivan, I really do!), and how they are well known to everyone, apparently. I love Ivan being competent-if-not-brilliant, brave-but-not-stupid, getting along well with his superiors and people in general, his easygoing, funny, nice self. I love that he is a "tropical island" rather than a "small war" person, and "not the balcony type". I also found it interesting that Ivan spends a lot of time mostly preemptively telling people that he is aware of the importance of consent and so on, which was something that surprised me a lot, because I never figured Ivan for someone who thought about those things. It's actually a refreshing change from Miles, who is all chivalry, of course, but for whom consent (in general, not just in sexual situations) does not seem to be a very big deal -- including his *own* consent, given that he doesn't seem to have any problems with the scenario in "Labyrinth", which to me is mutually squicky. But, anyway, back to Ivan, I wonder how much of that is due to being a stereotypically looking Barrayaran in uniform who's been to galactic and galactic-adjacent places like Cetaganda, Earth, and Komarr, and how much of it is Tante Cordelia's training. I'm guessing mostly the latter, while Uncle Aral was apparently busy teaching Ivan that We Don't Hit Girls.
My feelings about Tej are not nearly as strong, and I can't say that I ship Ivan/Tej except that she loves him and makes him happy so why not? But that's OK, I have enough ships in this universe, with Aral/Cordelia and Mark/Kareen, and Simon/Alys. I do like that she's talented in certain things but dismisses her own language abilities because and earbug can do a better job. And I definitely think she's a good match for Ivan, one that would believably make him happy and be made happy by him. But it's just not a very interesting relationship... But it was neat to see Barrayar through her eyes, especially Miles (aka the Coz) and "The Gregor", and also Simon, and also sweet that she was the first person to refer to him as Ivan's stepfather. And I guess it's a bit interesting that in summary Tej sounds kind of like she would be a Mary-Sue -- a half-Cetagandan robber princess whose name means Princess Radiant Flame -- but is actually like the least Sue-y person ever in terms of what she wants and how she interacts with the established characters. One thing I do like a lot about Tej (and Ivan shares that trait) is that she is compassionate and empathetic
Of the new characters introduced, my favorites were Shiv (and that's a pretty great name for a space pirate XP) and Moira ghem Estif, because old pirates and badass grandmas are kind of a thing with me, OK, so I'm predictable, so sue me. Moira was especially epic, with her 100-year-grudge and her style and the "please don't hurt our grandma" ploy. And I want fic of Galeni frantically trying to get first-hand Occupation history from her. I liked the Arquas' family dynamic in general, and Tej being Daddy's Girl, the the whole odd-sib/even-sib thing (though I didn't feel like the other siblings, besides Rish, got as much characterization as I'm normally used to in LMB's books).
I also liked Captain Morozov and his interrogations via board game. Oh, and Desplains, the ophidian census and reminding Ivan to call his mother and keeping in touch with him in galactic exile, and the Vor Horseman of the Apocalypse.
Bored Alys-less Simon making bets was great, and it was really neat (though more in a painful way) to see other ImpSec people react to him, from Allegre on down. Mark opening up a themed hotel in the old ImpSec HQ (and Miles having conniption fits over it) was great. Cordelia giving Ivan play-by-plays of Simon and Alys's visit to the Orb was great. Galeni the history geek was fun (writing 10 out of 90 chapters in the new Barrayaran history book and wanting to lecture Ivan on proper document preservation before being struc speechless by Xav-and-Yuri correspondence, etc. etc.), and getting lectured by Illyan on clarity, brevity, etc. in his reports (I feel you, Duv), but now that he and Delia have a toddler and an infant, I really want fic of Duv as a father; I really wonder what kind he is, given his own, uh, difficult relationship with his. I do find it interesting that either Ivan and Delia or Ivan and Duv actively hang out socially (I'm guessing probably Ivan and Delia). Gregor was in fine form, both in private, at Miles's get-together and dealing with Shiv and the rest.
I'm not as much a fan of By as I think I'm meant to be -- he is entertaining, but I'd rather be reading about other people -- and this book did not change that. I found his flirting with Ivan early on fun, and asking him for relationship advice very funny, but overally, By/Rish didn't do a thing for me (or singularly either, for that matter; the only thing I found interesting about Rish was her Komarran telenovela obsession, and that was pretty quickly dropped). And someone aptly remarked in their CVA review that By ending up in a heterosexual relationship means that all the non-straight characters (excluding the fellows from Athos, of course) are in het relationships now. Well, OK, I'm not really sure Bel counts towards either side, but still.
There were a lot of really funny moments. Ivan getting stunned and tied up to a chair, and the frantic first wedding (complete with Ivan's wristcomm in the fridge) and recounting the whole scene to Miles and Gregor, Ivan's letter to his mother, the hearing with Count Falco, discovering that the treasure the Arquas are after is under ImpSec HQ and the building sinking, and a lot of really funny lines.
"Heavy drinking last night, Vorpatril?"
"No, sir, not a drop. I was kidnapped by two beautiful women and held prisoner in their flat all night. They didn't let me get a wink of sleep."
By, to Rish: "Mademoiselle. May I just say, a stunner seems redundant."
Tej, t Ivan: "Do you have a lot of cousins? Or just a lot of one cousin?" [though this is a case where the line is a quip but one I have a hard time seeing actually happening.]
"As the week wore on, Ivan contemplated the merits of inertia as a problem-solving technique with growing favor." [That's my boy! I highly recommend it, personally.]
"How did I get into this mess? Miles isn't even here."
And some very poignant moments, too. Alys's "it wasn't his bravery that killed [Padma] -- it was his cowardice", and Ivan's "Sure taught me the price of Vorptatril's mixing in politics, tough", and Morozov explaining about Lady Alys: "Had anything untoward ever happened to Gregor, I am sure that -- after first seeing those responsible properly hanged with all due ceremony -- she would undoubtedly have been drawn into guiding her son in his new duties", and Ivan's flashbacks to Brothers in Arms, causing him to give Rish an (unappreciated) hug, and, of course, "I would follow you to the ends of the bunker", and lines that are both funny and poignant, like:
"The major, with a restraint that practically seemed to break something -- perhaps his heart -- visibly kept himself from saluting [Illyan]", and
"You know what I like best about you, Ivan Xav?"
"My shiny groundcar? My Vorish insouciance? My astounding sexual prowess? My... my mother? Dear God, you're not taking me for the sake of getting my um-stepfather?"
"Well, I do like them both very much, but no. What I like best about you, Ivan Xav, is that you're nice. And you make me laugh."
"That... doesn't seem like much."
"Yes, but consider the context."
*
And here's some TV stuff, just 'cos I had it written up already:
Buffy: spoilers!
"Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" -- oh, cool, I didn't see the twist coming, with the little kid being the annointed one -- that's creepy! Also, beepers XD (I foresee a lot of "lol, 90's" reactions in general XD)
"The Pack" -- That was a lot creepier than all the vampire stuff, I gotta say. The pig (which I'm assuming is a Lord of the Flies kind of nod), the principal (and I was really starting to like him, actually XP), the attack on the family in the car -- it's all the kind of creepy that really gets to me. (I think it's the "ordinary people taken over by the worst sorts of violence" thing, as in Sandman's "24 Hours", e.g.) I also like the fact that Xander wasn't brave enough to deal with the consequences of his actions while hyenified and chose to pretend he didn't remember ("like" not as in a personal choice, but because it seems right for his character). Also some really great lines, the first that elevated above general Jossy clever patter background for me: "I can't believe that you of all people are trying to Scully me" "It's devastating. He's turned into a 16-year-old boy. Of course, you'll have to kill him." and "Testosterone is the great equalizer -- it turns all men into morons".
**
B5 (spoilers!): "Legacies" -- yeah, this kid really can't act very well. Combined with my generally being bored with telepaths when Bester is not around, the telepath plot -- I can't really tell if it was the A or B plot -- really left me cold. And everybody kept hugging and petting her, which just seemed so fake! And the foreshadowing with the word "chyrsalis" was the lamest foreshadowing ever XP The only thing I liked about that whole plot was Na'Toth seriously considering checking the girl's teeth after Ivanova snarked at her. The episode's saving grace were the Minbari and Garibaldi's scene with the Pak'ma'ra and the resultant jokes. It is really cool to see Delenn a) doing something questionable and being all "and I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling humans" (only not as a bad guy), and b) pulling rank and laying down the law with Neroon. And I actually did find Sinclair's words to Neroon at the end fairly moving, more so than his usual speechifying. And [Spoiler for Sinclair's arc] Neroon's "You speak like a Minbari" to Sinclair was *very* interesting in light of future stuff. Not surprised this was an episode developed by a freelancer -- it's not that great.
51. Lois McMaster Bujold, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance -- I thoroughly enjoyed myself while reading this book, and yet, I must admit I'm somewhat disappointed by it. Spoilers, both major and vague! One of the things I love about the Vorkosigan Saga -- on top of the great characters and the quotable lines and the worldbuilding that really thinks through social implications, is that while Vorkosiverse may be where all of ASOIAF's happy endings have gone, it's NOT all fluff. Heroes screw up big time, actions have irrevocable consequences, people die. You wouldn't know this from CVA. And it's not like I wanted any of these people to die, but it felt like things happened too smoothly for everyone concerned, and that made it difficult to feel like I was reading a Vorkosigan book. It was a great romp! Laugh-out-loud funny in several places, and I read most of it with a smile. There were even a couple of profoundly poignant bits -- I teared up during Ivan's second proposal, in the bunker, and had been feeling it coming on during several pages prior, and Alys and Ivan during the burnt offering scene both are a kick in the gut. I still love all these people, and it was wonderful to see so much more of Ivan, and of Simon (much more recovered now than even in ACC, it looks like), and of Alys, and cameos from Gregor and Galeni, and at least flashbacks/letters/mentions from Cordelia and Aral and Mark. But the stakes didn't feel high enough. It didn't quite feel real :/
(On the other hand, maybe LMB just wanted a fluffy book after [huge spoiler for CryoBurn] the punch of CryoBurn's ending... In any case, I guess if any Vorkosiverse book should be fluffy, Ivan's book would be the best candidate, since he is a character who does not go in for hard choices or impossible quests or undue personal sacrifice, by either inclination or position.)
All that said, I still loved it. Ivan has stealthily become one of my favorite characters (of which I have tons in this series, so I don't know where that puts him, really) even prior to this novel, and now that status is cemented. I loved those little mentions of kid!Ivan, having to contend with playmates who had no patience for his relative ineptness with puzzles (and I wonder if those plural playmates are all Miles or if Elena (and Gregor?) got in on the puzzle-confiscating action, too), and Uncle Aral's lesson about not hitting girls, and not playing with bombs (I want this fic XD) and later lightflyer instruction. I loved Ivan's warm and fuzzy feelings about flowcharts (I get you, Ivan, I really do!), and how they are well known to everyone, apparently. I love Ivan being competent-if-not-brilliant, brave-but-not-stupid, getting along well with his superiors and people in general, his easygoing, funny, nice self. I love that he is a "tropical island" rather than a "small war" person, and "not the balcony type". I also found it interesting that Ivan spends a lot of time mostly preemptively telling people that he is aware of the importance of consent and so on, which was something that surprised me a lot, because I never figured Ivan for someone who thought about those things. It's actually a refreshing change from Miles, who is all chivalry, of course, but for whom consent (in general, not just in sexual situations) does not seem to be a very big deal -- including his *own* consent, given that he doesn't seem to have any problems with the scenario in "Labyrinth", which to me is mutually squicky. But, anyway, back to Ivan, I wonder how much of that is due to being a stereotypically looking Barrayaran in uniform who's been to galactic and galactic-adjacent places like Cetaganda, Earth, and Komarr, and how much of it is Tante Cordelia's training. I'm guessing mostly the latter, while Uncle Aral was apparently busy teaching Ivan that We Don't Hit Girls.
My feelings about Tej are not nearly as strong, and I can't say that I ship Ivan/Tej except that she loves him and makes him happy so why not? But that's OK, I have enough ships in this universe, with Aral/Cordelia and Mark/Kareen, and Simon/Alys. I do like that she's talented in certain things but dismisses her own language abilities because and earbug can do a better job. And I definitely think she's a good match for Ivan, one that would believably make him happy and be made happy by him. But it's just not a very interesting relationship... But it was neat to see Barrayar through her eyes, especially Miles (aka the Coz) and "The Gregor", and also Simon, and also sweet that she was the first person to refer to him as Ivan's stepfather. And I guess it's a bit interesting that in summary Tej sounds kind of like she would be a Mary-Sue -- a half-Cetagandan robber princess whose name means Princess Radiant Flame -- but is actually like the least Sue-y person ever in terms of what she wants and how she interacts with the established characters. One thing I do like a lot about Tej (and Ivan shares that trait) is that she is compassionate and empathetic
Of the new characters introduced, my favorites were Shiv (and that's a pretty great name for a space pirate XP) and Moira ghem Estif, because old pirates and badass grandmas are kind of a thing with me, OK, so I'm predictable, so sue me. Moira was especially epic, with her 100-year-grudge and her style and the "please don't hurt our grandma" ploy. And I want fic of Galeni frantically trying to get first-hand Occupation history from her. I liked the Arquas' family dynamic in general, and Tej being Daddy's Girl, the the whole odd-sib/even-sib thing (though I didn't feel like the other siblings, besides Rish, got as much characterization as I'm normally used to in LMB's books).
I also liked Captain Morozov and his interrogations via board game. Oh, and Desplains, the ophidian census and reminding Ivan to call his mother and keeping in touch with him in galactic exile, and the Vor Horseman of the Apocalypse.
Bored Alys-less Simon making bets was great, and it was really neat (though more in a painful way) to see other ImpSec people react to him, from Allegre on down. Mark opening up a themed hotel in the old ImpSec HQ (and Miles having conniption fits over it) was great. Cordelia giving Ivan play-by-plays of Simon and Alys's visit to the Orb was great. Galeni the history geek was fun (writing 10 out of 90 chapters in the new Barrayaran history book and wanting to lecture Ivan on proper document preservation before being struc speechless by Xav-and-Yuri correspondence, etc. etc.), and getting lectured by Illyan on clarity, brevity, etc. in his reports (I feel you, Duv), but now that he and Delia have a toddler and an infant, I really want fic of Duv as a father; I really wonder what kind he is, given his own, uh, difficult relationship with his. I do find it interesting that either Ivan and Delia or Ivan and Duv actively hang out socially (I'm guessing probably Ivan and Delia). Gregor was in fine form, both in private, at Miles's get-together and dealing with Shiv and the rest.
I'm not as much a fan of By as I think I'm meant to be -- he is entertaining, but I'd rather be reading about other people -- and this book did not change that. I found his flirting with Ivan early on fun, and asking him for relationship advice very funny, but overally, By/Rish didn't do a thing for me (or singularly either, for that matter; the only thing I found interesting about Rish was her Komarran telenovela obsession, and that was pretty quickly dropped). And someone aptly remarked in their CVA review that By ending up in a heterosexual relationship means that all the non-straight characters (excluding the fellows from Athos, of course) are in het relationships now. Well, OK, I'm not really sure Bel counts towards either side, but still.
There were a lot of really funny moments. Ivan getting stunned and tied up to a chair, and the frantic first wedding (complete with Ivan's wristcomm in the fridge) and recounting the whole scene to Miles and Gregor, Ivan's letter to his mother, the hearing with Count Falco, discovering that the treasure the Arquas are after is under ImpSec HQ and the building sinking, and a lot of really funny lines.
"Heavy drinking last night, Vorpatril?"
"No, sir, not a drop. I was kidnapped by two beautiful women and held prisoner in their flat all night. They didn't let me get a wink of sleep."
By, to Rish: "Mademoiselle. May I just say, a stunner seems redundant."
Tej, t Ivan: "Do you have a lot of cousins? Or just a lot of one cousin?" [though this is a case where the line is a quip but one I have a hard time seeing actually happening.]
"As the week wore on, Ivan contemplated the merits of inertia as a problem-solving technique with growing favor." [That's my boy! I highly recommend it, personally.]
"How did I get into this mess? Miles isn't even here."
And some very poignant moments, too. Alys's "it wasn't his bravery that killed [Padma] -- it was his cowardice", and Ivan's "Sure taught me the price of Vorptatril's mixing in politics, tough", and Morozov explaining about Lady Alys: "Had anything untoward ever happened to Gregor, I am sure that -- after first seeing those responsible properly hanged with all due ceremony -- she would undoubtedly have been drawn into guiding her son in his new duties", and Ivan's flashbacks to Brothers in Arms, causing him to give Rish an (unappreciated) hug, and, of course, "I would follow you to the ends of the bunker", and lines that are both funny and poignant, like:
"The major, with a restraint that practically seemed to break something -- perhaps his heart -- visibly kept himself from saluting [Illyan]", and
"You know what I like best about you, Ivan Xav?"
"My shiny groundcar? My Vorish insouciance? My astounding sexual prowess? My... my mother? Dear God, you're not taking me for the sake of getting my um-stepfather?"
"Well, I do like them both very much, but no. What I like best about you, Ivan Xav, is that you're nice. And you make me laugh."
"That... doesn't seem like much."
"Yes, but consider the context."
*
And here's some TV stuff, just 'cos I had it written up already:
Buffy: spoilers!
"Never Kill a Boy on the First Date" -- oh, cool, I didn't see the twist coming, with the little kid being the annointed one -- that's creepy! Also, beepers XD (I foresee a lot of "lol, 90's" reactions in general XD)
"The Pack" -- That was a lot creepier than all the vampire stuff, I gotta say. The pig (which I'm assuming is a Lord of the Flies kind of nod), the principal (and I was really starting to like him, actually XP), the attack on the family in the car -- it's all the kind of creepy that really gets to me. (I think it's the "ordinary people taken over by the worst sorts of violence" thing, as in Sandman's "24 Hours", e.g.) I also like the fact that Xander wasn't brave enough to deal with the consequences of his actions while hyenified and chose to pretend he didn't remember ("like" not as in a personal choice, but because it seems right for his character). Also some really great lines, the first that elevated above general Jossy clever patter background for me: "I can't believe that you of all people are trying to Scully me" "It's devastating. He's turned into a 16-year-old boy. Of course, you'll have to kill him." and "Testosterone is the great equalizer -- it turns all men into morons".
**
B5 (spoilers!): "Legacies" -- yeah, this kid really can't act very well. Combined with my generally being bored with telepaths when Bester is not around, the telepath plot -- I can't really tell if it was the A or B plot -- really left me cold. And everybody kept hugging and petting her, which just seemed so fake! And the foreshadowing with the word "chyrsalis" was the lamest foreshadowing ever XP The only thing I liked about that whole plot was Na'Toth seriously considering checking the girl's teeth after Ivanova snarked at her. The episode's saving grace were the Minbari and Garibaldi's scene with the Pak'ma'ra and the resultant jokes. It is really cool to see Delenn a) doing something questionable and being all "and I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling humans" (only not as a bad guy), and b) pulling rank and laying down the law with Neroon. And I actually did find Sinclair's words to Neroon at the end fairly moving, more so than his usual speechifying. And [Spoiler for Sinclair's arc] Neroon's "You speak like a Minbari" to Sinclair was *very* interesting in light of future stuff. Not surprised this was an episode developed by a freelancer -- it's not that great.