Booklog 41/2022: Lois McMaster Bujold: Shards of Honour - Vorkosigan #1

This is a re-read via Audible, read by Grover Gardner

I reviewed the plot before, in great detail, way back in 2009. Though set 200 years after the book about the quaddies (Falling Free) this is the first Vorkosigan book, in which Aral Vorkosigan meets and falls for Cordelia Naismith while they are on opposite side in a war. Complications ensue and are surmounted. Both Cordelia and Aral find things to dislike about their own side and, indeed, Cordelia is almost killed with kindness, but it all resolves beautifully. This is the first Vorkosigan book Ms Bujold wrote and it sets the scene well for future books.

Grover Gardner doesn't have the kind of voice that I like. It's a bit hard, but he reads well and I've become habituated to his readings of all the Vorkosigan books.

Booklog 42/2022: Lois McMaster Bujold: Cetaganda – Vorkosigan #9

This is a re-read via Audible, read by Grover Gardner.

Miles and his cousin Ivan are sent to Cetaganda to represent Barrayar at the funeral of the haut-Empress, who has died of natural causes. On arrival, Miles and Ivan's shuttle is misdirected to a deserted service bay and  a stranger accosts them, leaving behind a strange rod after being driven off. Later when the dead empress' servant, Ba Lura, is found murdered at the foot of the funeral bier, Miles recognises the Ba as their aggressor. Thus begins a complicated plot. Miles meets the neautiful haut Rian Degtiar, one of the haut ladies who control the Cetagandian gene bank. The strange rod, which Miles returns to her, is the key to the bank, but it turns out that it's a fake. Miles takes on the job of finding the original rather than handing the problem over to the authorities. He suspects one of the governors of Cetaganda's outlying colonies, though it turns out to be not the one he thought it was. After a few twists and turns, three 'pranks' - which could have proved fatal - a kidnapping and a capture, Miles solves the problem. The emperor awards Miles the Order of Merit, but politely suggests he should leave Cetaganda immediately before he causes any more mayhem. Haut Rian Degtiar becomes the next empress.

Booklog 43/2022: Lois McMaster Bujold: Komarr - Vorkosigan #11

Komarr was conquered by Barrayar before Miles was born. It's of strategic importance since it guards the only wormhole which leads to Barrayar. The planet itself is inhospitable to humankind and the population lives beneath a series of domes. When part of the solar array that provides power for the planet's terraforming project is destroyed, Miles, newly appointed Imperial Auditor, and Auditor Vorthys, engineering specialist, are sent to assess the situation. They stay at the home of Vorthys' neice, Ekaterin Vorsoisson, her nine year old son, Nikki, and her husband, Tien, a mid-level beaurocrat who works for the terraforming project. Ekaterin's marriage is crumbling and it turns out that her husband, up to his ears in debt, has been taking bribes from a bunch of Komarran patriots who've been engineering a wormhole collapser, intending to isolate Barrayar forever. Tien tries to inform against the terrorists, but his plan goes awry and he dies when he is tied up outside with his breath mask running out of oxygen. The conspirators kidnap Ekaterin and Vothys' wife while trying to use their weapon (which would be likely to blow them up).. Ekaterin manages to destroy it. Miles has been gently falling in love with Ekaterin thoughout the book, but decides to bide his time (which leads directly to the next book, A Civil Campaign). I've been re-listening to the Vorkosigan books via Audible (not necessarily in the correct order) and thoroughly enjoying them.

Booklog 44/2022: Lois McMaster Bujold: Brothers in Arms - Vorkosigan #5

This is a re-read via Audible, read by Grover Gardner.

While in his Admiral Naismith guise with the Dendarii Mercenaries, Miles spends some time on Earth swapping between his two identities, trying to work with the head of Imperial Security on Earth, Dub Galeni. he's surprised to find his cousin Ivan, who is assigned to the Diplomatic Corps. Trying to find out what's happened to an expected payment for the Dendarii, Miles suspects someone is embezzling funds. What he doesn't expect is that there's a Komarran plot to kidnap him and replace him with a clone--a clone that Miles believes is his brother and therefore must be saved.

Booklog 45/2022: Lois McMaster Bujold: Diplomatic Immunity - Vorkosigan #13

This is a re-read via Audible, read by Grover Gardner.

Miles is on his honeymoon with Ekaterin while their two children are 'cooking' in a uterine replicator back home. They are diverted to Graf Station in Quaddie Space by Emperor Gregor, to sort out a diplomatic standoff between a rich merchant ship of Barrayarans and the quaddies, a gen-engineered race designed for nul-gravity. They have four arms instead of two arms and two legs. Miles reunites with Bel Thorne, Betan hermaphrodaite and former Dendarii mercenary, who is now in charge of running the station. After an attempt on his life, Miles discovers that one of the passengers on the Barrayaran ship has a thousand uterine replicators which are somehow tied into the Cetagandan gene bank. And there's the possibility of a Cetagandan super-plague.