The more I think about Cryoburn, the new Miles Vorkosigan novel, the more I appreciate it. The novel does what great science fiction ought, consider the implications of technologies just out of reach. In this case, it's cryogenics. The neo-Japanese planet of Kibou-daini is dealing with all the socio-economic and ethical issues brought up by access to this not-cheap process -
Niall Ferguson says the first and most primitive form of insurance was burial societies - as well as inherent problems such as what happens when people are revived in an unfamiliar society where they know no one, or what happens to the assets and voting rights of the cold undead.
The book also introduces early stage prolong tech to the Vorkosiverse and Lois McMaster Bujold has a character offer the statistic that, actuarially speaking, the average ageless person would only live 800 years before some accident befell them. Anyone heard that before?
It's not as lyrical as the Sharing Knife books, but then they're not floating down the Mississippi. It is told from the perspective of a child and an armsman as well as Miles, which I suppose might make it possible to read only this novel, although I'd recommend reading the rest of the series first.
There are little things that may well get smoothed out in the final edition, like I disbelieve a viscountess would want to run a garden design business when she's already managing the agricultural and terraforming of her county, not to mention all those gardens at their various estates. Similarly, Barrayar has the most naive member of the foreign service ever serving as consul to Kibou-daini. I'll probably pick up a copy of the book when it comes to the library so I can re-read and find out what changed, what was cleaned up.
One thing I noticed from re-reading (the beginning of) Cordelia's Honor recently is how different the older generation is from Miles. I'm so very impressed with how gorgeous the descriptions of Sergyar are in LMB's first-written book. Cordelia and Aral have a very distinct vocabulary from their wacky son, even when dealing with the same issues. I'm planning on re-reading several of the books just to see how this comes through in the earlier books.
I got the impression from the original press release, timing, and stuff on the boards that LMB hadn't planned on writing this book, but did so as a favor to the man who gave her a chance. Which makes it doubly impressive how well it pulls together threads from the entire series. Despite my outraged tweets, the ending isn't really a cliffhanger, but it's a probable end to the series.
Someone on the Baen/LMB board said: after sleeping on it, have come to the initial conclusion that the whole of the novel was written to support the aftermath chapter. The whole story is about the progression of life from birth through death with little side trips for things like un-death, afterlives, epiphanies, and second chances.
I'm on the verge of tears just thinking about the ending - in part bc I'd (unwisely) started noticing parallels between certain characters in the series and people in my life - but it's perfect. Throughout the novel, there are scenes of domesticity perfectly designed to punch your gut with the ending. The last chapter puts a human face on people we've seen leading armies and the epilogue elegantly and succinctly summarizes the entire series. Someone else on the boards commented that the second to last sentence of the novel is the best [elided] ever, and I'm inclined to agree.
Edit: there are series spoilers in the comments, although so far, although the Cryoburn spoilers are in white.
Edit2: Herself recommended
this post as sharpening some of her own insights.