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Lois McMaster Bujold Message Board 1/1/2012
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Author Bujold's Book Reviews

A Civil Campaign
In 'A Civil Campaign' there four plots bouncing around at the same time. In the first, Miles Vorkosigan, fresh from his first triumphant Imperial Auditor case (see 'Komarr') has returned to Barrayar to lend his hand to Lord Gregor's wedding. He is also plotting to win the hand of the lovely widow Ekaterin and to keep her away from all other suiters. Miles his also up to his elbows in political problems facing the Imperial Government. Clone/Brother Ma...
Barrayar
In the second book (by internal chronology) of the Vorkosigan series, Cordelia and Aral are married, and Cordelia is pregnant. All seems to be going well - but Aral's job as Regent to the young Emperor is becoming more and more dangerous. There's an attack on the Vorkosigan house, and Cordelia and her baby are exposed to a poisonous gas that damages the fetus. In order to save him, he's removed from her body and put in an uterine replicator - which is...
Beguilement - The Sharing Knife 1
A simple farmer's daughter and a veteran patrolman fall in love after fighting a monstrous creature together, Fawn is a farm girl heading south to the town of Glassforge from her home to hide an unwanted pregnancy. Along the way she stops at a cottage for rest and food, and on the advice of the woman of the house she hides when she sees a patrol of Lakewalkers appear. They patrol the area for bandits and other threats, but are mistrusted by many due ...
Brothers in Arms
BROTHERS IN ARMS was published in 1989 and is part of the Miles Vorkosigan saga written by Lois McMaster Bujold. Miles Vorkosigan, forced to stay on Earth in order to wait for his next mission, does have some trouble keeping his two identities, Admiral Naismith and Lord Vorkosigan, clearly separated. When a clone, identical to him, makes his appearance, Miles will have to deal with his hierarchy, with Captain Galeni's father - an ancient revolutionary...

Bujold booklist

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance is the latest science fiction novel (as of March 2014) in the Vorkosigan Saga. Unlike most of the other books, it doesn't feature Miles Vorkosigan, but rather his cousin, Ivan Vorpatril. Stationed on the planet Komarr, Captain Vorpatril reluctantly agrees to Imperial Security undercover agent Byerly Vorrutyer's request that he find out who a suspicious young woman is and what she may be up to. However, Tej and her female c...
Cryoburn
A top government investigator is sent to check out a suspicious, interstellar business deal. Cryoburn is a later science fiction novel in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosiverse series. Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan is sent to the planet Kibou-daini to investigate White Chrysanthemum, one of a handful of major corporations ("cryocorp") providing cryogenic freezing for dying or ill people. The company is seeking to expand to the planet Komarr, part of ...
Diplomatic Immunity
Miles' and Ekaterin's honeymoon is interrupted by a job assignment; there's been a murder in Quaddiespace (something readers of Falling Free will understand), possibly committed by a Barrayaran subject - certainly, Barrayarans and Komarrans are involved. The political implications are troublesome, and the situation on the ground is more so. Everyone involved reports wildly different versions of events, racism is warping the views of the Barrayarans, and...
Ethan of Athos
Although it is set in the Vorkosigan universe, none of the Vorkosigans make an appearance in this book. Instead, the main characters are Ethan, an obstetrician on Athos, a planet forbidden to women, and Elli Quinn, on a solitary spying mission for the Dendarii. Ethan needs to find replacements for the tissue cultures Athos needs so badly; Elli needs to find out what the Cetagandas are guarding so ferociously. It involves genetic research, telepathy, r...
Falling Free
Quaddies (four-armed humans, engineered for suitability to free fall) are used in a space station. An engineer is sent to teach them welding. While he has qualms about their utter subservience to the corporation, he accepts the situation--until he finds out that they've become "obsolete." He sets out to save them, illegally....
Horizon - The Sharing Knife 4
Dag and Fawn continue their mission to unite Lakewalkers and farmers in order to fight the malice menace. Horizon is the fourth book in the Sharing Knife series. It starts where the events of Passage left off with Fawn and Dag and their motley crew in the coastal city of Greywater. Dag is still intent on bridging the trust gap between his people, the Lakewalkers who can harness a form of magic called ‘groundsense' and the rest of the population. Lake...

Lois McMaster Bujold list of books

Komarr
Miles, now Imperial Auditor, is sent to Komarr to unravel a mystery - the unfortunate (or intentional?) destruction of one of the solar reflectors. While on planet, he meets Ekaterin, the wife of a Vor and the niece of one of Miles' fellow Auditors. Miles falls for Ekaterin, hard - oh, and solves the mystery, barely in time to save the planet....
Legacy - The Sharing Knife 2
Newly married couple Fawn and Dag struggle against his family's disapproval while also dealing with a Malice outbreak. Fawn is a young farm girl newly married to Dag, the Lakewalker patrol man who she met in the events of the first book in the series. The book opens on their first wedded night together as they travel from her farm to Hickory Lake, the encampment of his people. As they make love and Dag notices for the second time in a week that his gr...
Memory
The summary line for this one is "Miles hits thirty - thirty hits back." That describes it quite well. Miles makes a serious mistake - understandable, but very serious - and loses pretty much everything he really values. But shortly thereafter, his beloved boss, Simon Illyan, falls strangly ill, and Miles is there to figure out why. This is a fabulous novel because of the amount of character development and the development of the series - Miles has...
Mirror Dance
This book tells the story of Mark Vorkosigan, Miles Vorkosigan's clone-brother who was created illegally and raised by abusive people with the intent that he should kill Miles and his family and make himself Count Vorkosigan. Mark has escaped, passed himself off as Miles and led a raid on the evil planet of Jackson's Whole to rescue some clones before their bodies can be used for brain transplants. After his raid goes horribly wrong, Mark spends the re...
Paladin of Souls
Paladin of Souls picks up three years after The Curse of Chalion, when the dreadful curse that plagued Chalion's rulers was lifted. Dowager Royina Ista is fed up with her padded prison at Valenda and is ready to live again. When her mother finally passes on, the 40-year old Ista seizes the chance to go on a religious pilgrimage around Chalion. Ista is not particularly interested in the gods, as they have so long ignored her prayers, but it soon turns out...
Passage - The Sharing Knife 3
Fawn is a farmer girl who has married Dag, a patrolman of the Lakewalker people. His people have tried to annul their marriage on the basis that Lakewalkers have a form of magic called groundsense and farmers do not, therefore a mixed marriage is invalid. Because of this Dag and Fawn have left his home at Hickory Lake with their horses and little else. Dag has decided that the gap between the two cultures needs to be bridged. He and Fawn are set to tr...

Lois McMaster Bujold novels

Shards of Honor
Cordelia Naismith is left behind when her ship is attacked by Vorkosigan's ship and is forced to flee. She stays on the planet with her shipmate Debauer who is damaged by a Disruptor. They are both captured by Lord Vorkosigan and hike to a shelter Barrayarans have built. During the trek they realize they are becoming more than a captor and hostages....
The Curse Of Chalion
Cazaril, a physically and psychologically ravaged prisoner of war returning to his native country, accepts a position as tutor to a young noblewoman, which his well-wishers mistakenly believe will be a safe job. Instead he finds himself involved in dangerous intrigues against a pair of corrupt noblemen with designs on the young lady he protects, leading him to attempt the most dangerous magic of all: death magic that invokes the mysterious fifth god of t...
The Spirit Ring
Fiametta Beneforte wants nothing more than to be a great mage like her father. Well, she would also like to be more beautiful and have the handsome Captain of the Guard Uri Ochs fall in love with her, but she really wants to be a master goldsmith/mage. Unfortunately, girls simply don't practice trades like men do and her father has never made her an official apprentice, though she does know quite a bit of metalworking. Her father just completed a beautif...
The Vor Game
In the fourth book (chronologically speaking) of the Vorkosigan series, Miles has graduated. His first posting, in a place lovingly called Camp Permafrost, leads to a serious misstep - and his second posting puts him in a very tight spot: only he can save Emperor Gregor, but he has to use the Dendarii Mercenaries to do it - and to use them, he'll have to regain leadership....
The Warrior's Apprentice
Miles Vorkosigan, having failed the entrance exam for the Imperial Academy, takes a vacation to Beta Colony. There he gets involved in a minor police problem, which leads, inevitably (this is Miles, after all) to him tangling with another system's civil war. ...