Kari C. reviewed on + 77 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This latest book in the Vorkosigan Saga takes us to an entirely new world. If it was mentioned in any of the previous books, it was only in passing. The world of Kobou-daini is run by corporations that specialize in cryofreezing. The goal of everyone on planet is to have enough money on hand that when they become too ill, too old or too injured they can be frozen until a cure for what ails them is invented. The corporations wound up running everything because someone who is cryofrozen is still, technically, alive. Since Kobou-daini is nominally a "one-vote per person" democracy, the corporations that control the frozen body are aloud to cast their vote for them.
The culture of Kobou-daini is Asian with a little Egyptian thrown in.
The book begins very abruptly, which leaves the reader scrambling to figure out what's going on. A lot of that orientation is covered in characters musing on how they got to be where they were. It would have been much better to simply show us the action instead. Once oriented the book becomes the traditional Miles Vorkosigan adventure, with Miles charging out to do what he feels needs to be done. The book is co-narrated by Armsman Roic and Jin, a native boy. This adds some nice viewpoints to get other takes on the action.
While seeing a new culture in Bujold's world was nice, it was a bit disappointing to have Miles so far from the Empire, and his family and friends. A bit of something was missing.
Overall a decent book in the series, although not a great one.
The culture of Kobou-daini is Asian with a little Egyptian thrown in.
The book begins very abruptly, which leaves the reader scrambling to figure out what's going on. A lot of that orientation is covered in characters musing on how they got to be where they were. It would have been much better to simply show us the action instead. Once oriented the book becomes the traditional Miles Vorkosigan adventure, with Miles charging out to do what he feels needs to be done. The book is co-narrated by Armsman Roic and Jin, a native boy. This adds some nice viewpoints to get other takes on the action.
While seeing a new culture in Bujold's world was nice, it was a bit disappointing to have Miles so far from the Empire, and his family and friends. A bit of something was missing.
Overall a decent book in the series, although not a great one.
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