skygiants | (no subject)

Miles in Love was only half a new read for me - I'd never read Komarr, but A Civil Campaign is one of the first Vorkosigan books I ever read. (Basically the secret reason I embarked on this big read/reread of the whole Miles Vorkosigan series is because I wanted to reread A Civil Campaign, because wacky slapstick Regency-ish rom-com sff is one of those things that's specifically targeted to fill me with joy. I'm not fishing for recommendations for other wacky slapstick Regency-ish rom-com sff, but - okay, yeah, I'm totally fishing for recommendations for other wacky slapstick Regency-ish rom-com sff. Any takers?)

Komarr I didn't find as constantly compelling as a lot of the other Miles books - andI missed the regular cast - but I did really appreciate the emphasius on Ekaterin's development and her choices and her own particular brand of heroism. Again, I am not sure how I feel about the portrayal of the Komarran rebels. I like it infinitely better than the way they're dealt with in Brothers in Arms, I'll say that; they're presented as sane and even sympathetic, although of course Ekaterin and Miles find their goals horrible. I really did like that even the cooperative and not-dramatically-revolutionary Komarran scientist found the idea appealing enough to keep quiet about. There is, overall, much more of a sense of - I guess - room around the edges to look past the Barrayaran POV viewpoint that THIS WAS A TOTALLY JUSTIFIED COLONIZATION and see it from the Komarran perspective of PLEASE DO NOT EXPECT US TO BE OKAY WITH THIS. I do wish we'd seen more from the Komarran guy whose name I forget who proposed to Ekaterin; Miles got super-defensive about his comments on Barrayarans visiting the war memorial, but I was in total sympathy with the dude.

A Civil Campaign - I don't have to talk about how much I love A Civil Campaign, right? Seeing as I basically said it all above. (Oh, okay, I have one more thing to add, which is that on this particular read I especially loved Miles getting knocked off his calculated Nice Guy pedestal. THANK YOU.)

However, I do totally have a few more people to add to my list of Barrayarans I Would Date now:
1. Lord Dono! True, when it comes to Dono's actual sexuality, Bujold kind of utterly fails on delving into any kind of complexity, but for the purposes of this discussion: whatever the gender, Dono is hot.
2. Martya Koudelka. Why Martya, you say? First of all, because she is The Snarky Koudelka and I find that hilarious; second of all, because as far as Koudelka love interests go, she totally gets shafted. And this is in a pool of love interests that includes Mark.
3. ARMSMAN PYM. *________*

. . . okay, I would have to wait thirty years or so first, but that is no barrier when one is discussing fictional dates!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

rymenhild.livejournal.com

Every time there's a vaguely appropriate fanfic challenge, I submit some variant on the prompt of "The gender and sexuality of Lord Dono/Lady Donna" but people keep not writing it. Maybe someday I'll have time to write fanfic...

From:

skygiants

Dude, please keep on trying, Rym. I support this endeavor 100%!

[Note to self: if Rym ever does a drabble meme in her LJ, SAVE THIS PROMPT.]

From:

rymenhild.livejournal.com

One of my favorite moments from

sahiya's and

lightgetsin's Miles/Gregor fanfic epic is the moment when Miles and Gregor announce to four of their closest ally Counts that they're getting married.

There were tears at dinner that evening, but not of pain, as it turned out. They were getting quite accomplished at this revelation business, Miles decided, as he and Gregor dropped their news over coffee. It was a neatly coordinated sortie -Miles set it up with some adroit manipulation of the conversation and delicate forewarning, and Gregor supplied the coup de grace in that inimitable way of his. Henri Vorvolk reverted to stuttering inarticulacy; René went still, thoughtful, and bemused; and Dono Vorrutyer coughed, choked, clapped his napkin to his mouth, and nearly slid under the table in a fit of sudden, crippling hysterics. He recovered himself eventually, after several moments of howling mirth, one finger waggling helplessly in their direction and a few tears of sheer merriment escaping his eyes.

"And I thought I made the old bastards sweat," he wheezed at last. "Great jumping junebugs, Miles, must you always outdo everybody?"

"Not my primary intention, I assure you," Miles said irritably.

"Oh?" Dono asked archly. Then he paused, looking from Miles's scowl to Gregor's slight frown, to the restraining fingers laid on Miles's wrist. "My God," he said, in an entirely different tone. "You mean to tell me you're actually in love?"

"Well, I should hope so," Miles snapped. "I wouldn't be doing this for any other reason, thank you."

"Is our . . . attachment a problem, Dono?" Gregor asked.

"No," Dono said slowly, almost wonderingly. "Now isn't this interesting." A curious, pleased smile curved his lips, shaded with the sort of vindictive anticipation that Miles had seen on his mother's face more than once when she discussed Barrayar's future prospects. "My congratulations," Dono said, straightening in his chair. "I assume you're telling us this now in order to inquire about our support of you, in Council and elsewhere. You have mine, and that of my District, to the extent I can command it." He bowed formally from his chair, face serious and eyes twinkling only a very little.

From:

skygiants

. . . okay, that is awesome. Dono is awesome. And now I'm really sad we never got to see him hanging out with Cordelia.

- and also, yet again, wistful that the last book I have left to read takes place pretty much entirely off-planet.

From:

rymenhild.livejournal.com

Once you're done the reread, if you're looking for a things-that-happen-on-Barrayar fix, you might actually like A Deeper Season and What Passing Bells (http://archiveofourown.org/tags/a%20deeper%20season). Yes, they are AU Miles/Gregor, but once you accept the starting premises*, the books make a great deal of sense. And they spend a very long time on internal Barrayaran politics and characterization.

*1. Gregor's gay and in love with Miles -- not an enormous stretch if you read The Vor Game, and Gregor's subsequent failure to marry anyone until the age of thirty-five, with the right goggles.

*2. Miles likes tall, terrifying, repressed brunette women, and while, as Ivan puts it, Gregor is missing an essential element there, Miles is constitutionally incapable of rejecting a challenge... and he also has a very, very hard time saying no to Gregor.

From:

skygiants

*makes note* I am willing to be convinced of these premises for the length of a fic, at least! Thanks for the link. :D

From:

ceitfianna

I love A Civil Campaign so much. I've actually bought multiple copies of it, because I forget that I own it. At this point I think I own two copies of it. Komarr is good, but not one of my utter favorites.

Though I've found that when I do a reread I tend to go in order of Memory, Komarr and A Civil Campaign.

From:

skygiants

Memory and A Civil Campaign have definitely emerged as my favorites, along with the Cordelia books. (I still have to reread Diplomatic Immunity, but from my vague memories of it I don't really think it's going to be a top contender.)

From:

ceitfianna

Its okay, its nice to see Miles and Ekaterin working in partnership and there are Quaddies, but the story itself isn't anything special.

Oh, I tried to buy the first of those Kingdoms' books you keep recommending but Borders didn't have the first one. I'm going to search for it at the comic store next.

From:

skygiants

That's my vague impression too. But we'll see! Maybe I'll like it better with more backstory, which I didn't have last time.

BORDEEEERS. Yeah, Borders often fails with respect to those. The comic store is a good bet, though! They often get shelved in with manga, even though they are not in fact manga at all.

From:

ceitfianna

I'm contemplating writing up a post about how Borders is failing. I've been reading great blogs like Reading in Color and the Rejectionist so I wanted to find something out of my normal scope. Well, this being Borders, I didn't have a lot of luck.

I do have the newest Rick Riordan and Lies My Teacher Told Me, which is still outside my normal reading range.

From:

skygiants

That post is totally relevant to my interests, and I think you should write it.

Lies My Teacher Told Me, however: also an excellent book! (I cannot speak for the Rick Riordan as so far I have only read one.)

From:

ceitfianna

I'm going to. I think I'll write it on my professional blog and cross post it to my normal one.

Riordan is so good and this is the start of his newest series.

From:

the_croupier

I hate to admit this, but Ekaterin is the one character that leaves me feeling "I have to like her because Lois needs/wants me to."

She finally does end up winning me over, but I keep feeling sort of obligated about it. Unlike, say, Elli Quinn, who never needs an argument on behalf of her obvious awesomeness.

Which may also be why I find Diplomatic Immunity so much of a disappointment. I understand why Bujold would want to focus more on the 'new' couple, and of course, we also get more Bel and also the Quaddies, but I'm always more conscious of what we don't get in that book than what we do.

From:

skygiants

It took me a while to warm up to Ekaterin, too, but I was pretty much sold on her by the end of Komarr. I haven't imprinted on her the way I did on a lot of the other characters, but I am impressed by Bujold's choice to tell a story about a much more complicated kind of internal development than the more obvious heroics that are easy to sell an audience on.

From:

batyatoon

I would date Lord Dono.

And yeah, he and Cordelia NEED to talk.

From:

skygiants

Olivia Koudelka is the clear winner in the Koudelka Family Matrimony Sweepstakes. I mean, I like Duv and all, but . . . yeah.

Clearly you should write the fic! *helpful*