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Jul. 6th, 2009 12:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsBefore I read the Young Miles omnibus this weekend I was convinced that I hadn't read The Vor Game before . . . but, um, that turned out to be a lie! It seems that I have in fact read all of Young Miles before, because I remembered almost everything about the Kyril Island bit, and apparently I just managed to completely and utterly blank out the second half of the plot of The Vor Game to the point where none of it when described to me rang any bells at all.
Anyway, some brief thoughts on what, it turns out, is a complete reread of Miles Vorkosigan's early, hyperactive years:
- Gregor never stuck in my head much before as a character, but despite several acts of idiocy, he really grew on me this time! I think it is an automatic fondness for characters whose main descriptor is 'glum'; I found myself just wanting to pat Gregor on the head and introduce him to Eeyore, Puddleglum and Marvin the Paranoid Android for a tea party.
- Ivan remains my favorite from the beginning, but it is very interesting to watch him growing on everyone else after being initially introduced as highly unsympathetic.
- The much-invoked concept of 'forward momentum' is also a good way to describe the zippity readability of the prose in the series. I always zoom through the books much more compulsively than I expect to.
- I like Tung, but - and I might not have noticed this if I hadn't been reading with an extra eye out for race stuff due to recent incidents - it disturbs me that he is constantly referred to as 'the Eurasian' like he is the only one in existence. (And as far as I can tell, in this universe, he is . . .)
Anyway, some brief thoughts on what, it turns out, is a complete reread of Miles Vorkosigan's early, hyperactive years:
- Gregor never stuck in my head much before as a character, but despite several acts of idiocy, he really grew on me this time! I think it is an automatic fondness for characters whose main descriptor is 'glum'; I found myself just wanting to pat Gregor on the head and introduce him to Eeyore, Puddleglum and Marvin the Paranoid Android for a tea party.
- Ivan remains my favorite from the beginning, but it is very interesting to watch him growing on everyone else after being initially introduced as highly unsympathetic.
- The much-invoked concept of 'forward momentum' is also a good way to describe the zippity readability of the prose in the series. I always zoom through the books much more compulsively than I expect to.
- I like Tung, but - and I might not have noticed this if I hadn't been reading with an extra eye out for race stuff due to recent incidents - it disturbs me that he is constantly referred to as 'the Eurasian' like he is the only one in existence. (And as far as I can tell, in this universe, he is . . .)
