books:

	A Civil Campaign Lois McMaster Bujold Baen, 2000 - 544 pages average customer review:based on 207 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Civil Campaign opens where Komarr ends, with Miles determined to court Ekaterin. Unfortunately, his approach is described as "General Romeo Vorkosigan, the one-man strike force." By his father. The potential for comic disaster increases when Miles's clone brother Mark arrives. He's brought a brilliant but scatterbrained scientist who's created a bug producing a perfect food: bug butter. They set up a lab in the basement of Vorkosigan House. Mark has also found a nice Barrayaran girl--she even likes the bugs--with whom he got together on the sexually liberated world of Beta. But now Kareen's living at home. Naturally, disaster strikes, repeatedly and on all fronts.

Bujold unfolds her comedy of manners while continuing to explore familiar themes: the difficulties in becoming a strong adult woman in a patriarchy, the need for trust and honesty in relationships between the sexes, the difference between appearance and identity, and the impact of advanced biotechnologies on society. A Civil Campaign is a sure-fire Hugo and Nebula nominee, likely to add another statue to Bujold's already full shelf. It's charming, touching, and quite funny too. --Nona Vero

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Best in a very funny series: a Regency Romance in Space


The Miles Vorkosigan series of adventures is far and away the most amusing comedy science fiction series ever written. This is the ninth Miles Vorkosigan adventure, and in my opinion the funniest book in the series.

It is slightly different from the other nine books in the series - the first eight and the last one all have elements of action adventure, mystery and detection. This one, on the other hand, can best be understood as a "Regency Romance" style farce set several hundred years in the future on a planet which in some ways is used to high technology and in others is a quasi-feudal militaristic Empire. In other words, it mimics the style, and has a very similar plot, to the popular genre of romantic novels set in Georgian England during the "Regency" period in the early 19th century. Think Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer meet Star Wars with a hint of "The West WIng" thrown in.

The Miles Vorkosigan stories, and four other books set in the the same future universe, can stand on their own. However, a number of them, of which this is one, will give you something extra if you have previously read some of Bujold's books set earlier on the same timeline.

If you have not previously met Lord Miles Vorkosigan, he is 1) a brilliant intriguer who at one stage was juggling at least three identities; 2) physically very small, having been injured in his mother's womb by poison gas; 3) a former spy for Imperial Barrayan security, former mercenary admiral and present "Imperial Auditor"; 4) desperately trying to find a wife; and 5) hysterically funny to read about.

The book is set in the run-up to the wedding of Miles' cousin, the Emperor, which is shown on the front cover. The handsome, tall man on the cover with his bride is Emperor Gregor, and definately not the hero of the stories, Lord Miles Vorkosigan. Miles is neither tall nor handsome, but he makes up for it in other ways - some of the time, anyway.

Several other people are thinking about love and marriage, including Miles himself, as he is very much in love with Ekaterin who he met in the previous book, "Komarr".

Miles' friend Duv Galeni, his clone-brother Mark, and his cousin Ivan also have their own romantic plans, and their various romantic intrigues collide not only with each other, but with those of various scheming nobles who are fighting over the inheritance of two titles, those of Ekaterin's idiotic relatives, and of two luckless Escobarran policemen.

At one point, Miles' mother Cordelia has to sort out the angry parents of Miles' childhood friends the Koudelka sisters. If you want to understand some of the references here, you will have to read the story of how the previous generations of Vorkosigans and Koudelkas got together, which can be found in the books "Shards of Honour" and "Barrayar." These two books have been published separately, and also together as "Cordelia's honour".

Sound complicated? It is. That's why there is a lot to be said for reading these stories in sequence. Having said that, you can read this book on its own and it is still funny.

The full sequence of books in this Universe is

"Falling Free" (set 200 years before Miles is born)

The story of the romance between Miles' parents:
"Shards of Honour"
"Barrayar"
(Published in one volume as "Cordelia's Honour")

The Miles Vorkosigan adventures:

"The Warrior's Apprentice"
"The Vor game"
"Borders of Infinity"
"Cetaganda"
"Brothers in Arms"
"Mirror Dance"
"Memory"
"Komarr"
"A Civil Campaign"
"Diplomatic Immunity"

And a separate adventure for Miles' friend Elli Quinn:
"Ethan of Athos"

All these books are excellent and strongly recommended.

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The only Regency SF book ever

To enjoy this book to its fullest, the reader must be among those who have read other books in the series, AND also reads and enjoys Regency Romances. Judging from the other reviews, there are a number of her readers that fit in this category. If you have not yet read this book and fit into the catagory as well, rush to acquire the book. For those who understand what is going on in Mile's life and the conventions of a Regency Romance, A Civil Campaign is the funniest book ever. I read it when it first came out at the World Con, and made quite a spectacle of myself in the lounge reading and chortling away. The people who panned it need to become more ecclectic in their tastes -- most of us who liked this read military SF, which is why we are reading the Miles books, and Regencies as well. You are missing out in life that you have never read even one Georgette Heyer book.

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Wow!

This is a stunningly good book! I am so glad I stumbled across it. Now I need to get my hands on the rest of the Vorkosigan saga IMMEDIATELY!


it's not sci-fi and it's not funny

LMB may have a great writing talent, but that does not imply a great book. You also need a plot, and this has very little plotwise.

It's just toooo predictable. It all winds up nicely as you may well predict from the beginning. No subtle twists, just boring really.

Yawn,

Leslie.


Other Books

If you like a chick, occasionally it is a good idea to tell her.


Especially before you are in the middle of a formal situation and the M word might blurt out. A pretty lightweight part of the series this one, and you could easily skip it, as both of the M brothers try and sort out themselves and the various female acquaintances that they are keen on.

In this situation, they decide to become mummy's boys so she can use some of her wiles against the various potential in-laws standing in the way.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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recommendations

The science fiction/fantasy books of Lois McMaster Bujold
The New Classics: Must Reads in Sci Fi and Fantasy
Love and Sexuality in Science Fiction and Fantasy
Miles Series -- Lois McMaster Bujold
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