Book Log 3/2016 - Lois McMaster Bujold: Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen - Vorkosiverse #15

If, like me, you are a fan of not only Lois McMaster Bujold's writing in general, but her Vorkosigan series in particular, you'll have been waiting for this book with bated breath. I jumped the gun and shelled out for the e-arc from Baen in advance of the official publication day on 2nd February 2016. I'm so glad I did. Every book that Ms Bujold writes is subtly different. Stories set in the Vorkosiverse have varied from military SF, through murder-mysteries, conspiracy plots and even Regency romance in space. Apart from the first two, now offered as the omnibus: Cordelia's Honour, most of the others feature the hyperactive Miles Vorkosigan, stunted runt with a brain the size of a planet. This book takes us back to Cordelia, some forty odd years after the events in Cordelia's Honour where as captain of a Betan astronomical survey ship she unwittingly landed her ship and crew in the middle of a war and met the love of her life Aral Vorkosigan.

Cordelia has been there throughout Miles' adventures, often on the sidelines, but always a force of nature. Now, three years after Aral's death, she's back in her own right. Yes, that's right - kudos to Ms Bujold she has a heroine in her seventies (though Cordelia's lifespan could well reach 120 or more as she's a Betan, so seventy is the new fifty). Even so, a fifty year old heroine? Respect! (Bujold has, of course pulled this off before in her fantasy novel Paladin of Souls, set in her Five Gods version of Earth.)

So Cordelia, three years a widow and still Viscerine of Sergyar, ruling in the name of Emperor Gregor, decides that it's time to make some changes. Aral's death has left a hole in her life and in her heart, but with a potential fifty years left to her it's time she did something for herself. It's no accident that the cover has strands of DNA twirling across it as Cordelia decides it's time to give forty-something year old Miles some siblings, courtesy of frozen eggs and sperm which she and Aral 'banked' many years earlier, and which she now has legal control over.

Admiral Oliver Jole, Aral's one time protégé and now admiral in charge of the Sergyar fleet, finds himself unexpectedly drawn into Cordelia's plans which, in turn, causes a re-examination of his own life and aspirations.

Miles, now Count of the Vorkosigan district since Aral's death, but also a ferociously dogged Imperial Auditor, comes to investigate his mother's plans and finds more than he bargained for.

No further spoilers. Read the book. Compared to a lot of Vorkosigan books this one is quite domestic in nature but it manages to cover the ins and outs of developing a colony on a planet with bio-systems still barely explored, plus the reproductive technology that Cordelia introduced into the Barrayaran system and which - forty some years ago - saved baby Miles' life.

It's also a thorough character study of old and new protagonists. I don't remember Jole from other books (though he appears to have been a very minor character and I must go back and re-read) but now in retrospect we see that things were somewhat different to our imaginings. We learn a lot about the retrospectives of Aral, Cordelia and Jole's lives, together and separately, and so - to his surprise - does Miles.

While not a comedy this is funny and sweet while remaining intriguing. Highly recommended.

Winterwood, Published 2nd February

My new novel, Winterwood, is due very soon. Publication date is Tuesday 2nd February. I don't have actual copies of the mass market paperback yet, but I have copies of the Advance Reading Copy, a trade-paperback size. If anyone here would like a copy to review, please email me direct via my website at http://www.jaceybedford.co.uk. Unlike my first two books, this one is historical fantasy.

I've been delighted to get a few good reviews already, including ones from Publishers Weekly. It was also a Top Pick at RT where their reviewer said: "seamlessly blends history, magical lore, high seas adventure and romance into one fantastic story" . The latest review today at the Bibliosanctum, which said lovely things like: "The best thing about Winterwood is its many fascinating components, which Jacey Bedford weaves into one amazing story of magic and adventure. Rollicking action is expertly balanced with passionate romance in this novel which will leave you salivating for more, and I loved every moment!" - Well, I can live with that.

So here's the rundown...

WINTERWOOD

It's 1800. Mad King George is on the British throne, and Bonaparte is hammering at the door. Magic is strictly controlled by the Mysterium, but despite severe penalties, not all magic users have registered. Integral to many genteel households is an uncomplaining army of rowankind bondservants, so commonplace that no one recalls where they came from.

Ross Tremayne, widowed, cross-dressing privateer captain and unregistered witch, likes her life on the high seas, accompanied by a boatload of swashbuckling, barely-reformed pirates and the jealous ghost of her late husband, Will. When she pays a bitter deathbed visit to her long-estranged mother she inherits a half-brother she didn't know about, and a magical winterwood box containing task she doesn't want. Depending on who you believe it could right a terrible wrong or it could bring about the downfall of Britain. There's a man - a deadly government agent - willing to use all his considerable powers to prevent Ross from opening the box.
Enter Corwen. He's handsome, sexy, clever and capable, and Ross really doesn't like him; neither does Will's ghost. Can he be trusted? Whose side is he on?

Unable to chart a course to her future until she's unravelled the mysteries of the past, Ross has to avoid the not altogether unwelcome attentions of a dashing but dangerous pirate; evade a ruthless government agent who fights magic with darker magic; and brave the hitherto hidden Fae. Only then can she open the magical winterwood box and solve the problem. Unfortunately success may prove fatal to both Ross and her new brother, and disastrous for the country. By doing the 'right' thing is Ross going to unleash a terrible evil? Is her enemy the real hero and Ross the villain? Should she open the box or let sleeping magic lie.

Whichever choice Ross makes it's going to reverberate down the centuries.

Book Log 4/2016 - Paul Cornell: The Witches of Lychford

A neat novella set in a sleepy Gloucestershire town threatened with the coming of a supermarket. Opinion is divided as to whether it's a good idea or not, But Judith, the town's resident witch knows that it will be a magical disaster of epic proportions. Building a new supermarket and altering the roads around the town centre will open ancient gateways and let in evil, potentially causing the apocalypse. At the heart of the supermarket proposal is a man--if man he is--who embodies the evil. All that stands against him is a seventy-something year old witch with no friends, the local magic shop proprietor with a reputation for mental health problems, and the town's new (female) vicar with a tragedy in her past and a crisis of faith looming over her.

A quick read, much enjoyed.