(no subject)

[skygiants]

After I read Mirror Dance, batyatoon and I had a conversation in which I argued that no one should ever date Miles Vorkosigan, because he is kind of a TERRIBLE BOYFRIEND. Batya defended him valiantly and with many good arguments, but I was unconvinced!

I was still thinking about this for the first thirty or forty pages of Memory, during which I sort of wanted to smack Miles in the head ("MILES STOP BEING A JERK TO QUINN AUGH I TOLD YOU SO"). And then Miles got back to Barrayar and I forgot to be grumpy about that because all of a sudden Memory got AMAZING. I completely understand why everyone likes this one (along with Civil Campaign) best now! Themes about self-reinvention and rebuilding your life when everything seems to have fallen apart and changing Barrayaran culture, along with some detective work and a healthy dose of slapstick; it's all the things that Bujold does best and I enjoyed it enormously.

(It was nice to get a focus on the Barrayaran characters, too, who tend to be my favorites. Lady Alys! Gregor! Galeni, who is not technically Barrayaran but I am counting him anyway! Lots and lots of Ivan! \o/)


Also, Illyan/Alys is maybe the most adorable thing ever . . . okay, possibly it is beaten out by the adorable of Illyan DISCOVERING MAPS AND PALM PILOTS. Illyan has shot up to way near the top of my favorite characters list after this book.

It was pretty easy to predict that the culprit was Haroche from his first introduction - I mean, he is basically the only major player in this book that we don't already know and like; the field of potential suspects is not huge, here - but I don't mind that too much, since the mystery is only a small part of the point of the book anyway. The only complaint I really have is how completely amazed everyone is that Miles did not sell out Galeni's career for the Naismith bribe - it does not really speak all that highly of their opinion of him! Guys, choosing not to destroy your friend's life is not an amazing example of strength of character, it is basic human decency. I get that Naismith was an enormous temptation, but you are really not doing Miles any favors by being so boggled that he didn't take Haroche up on it.

I'm still firmly convinced Miles is a terrible boyfriend, though. Actually, Batya and I had a great deal of difficulty coming up with any people in the Vorkosiganverse that we would actually want to date. A half hour of brainstorming or so gave us this very short list:

Cordelia Naismith
Ky Tung
Duv Galen (crossed out because I suggested him initially, but I am not sure he is still on my list after a demonstration of just how terrible he is at the dating thing in this book.)

Bel Thorne would be on there, except no one in their right mind would ever want to be the rebound girl/guy for someone who had previously been head-over-heels for Miles Vorkosigan. I admit I would date Ivan, but only in a Koudelka way, by which I mean: platonically, and largely for the joy of rejecting him when he eventually panicked and proposed. >.> It would be funny!

Other Vorkosigan readers, you should weigh in! Whose sterling qualities are we overlooking?

Comments

Re: Thatwasme

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

"Death is not an Imperial monopoly."