The Leaning Pile of Books

This week I got three books to add to the pile (well, I guess technically my husband got one but it's in a series we both read so I'll include it). Good thing I've actually been reading more books this month than the last few...

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

This is the first book in a young adult fantasy trilogy, The Seven Realms. I've wanted to read this ever since I read Thea's review at The Book Smugglers but had never actually gotten a hold of a copy of it, so when I was contacted about receiving the first two books for review consideration my answer was an ecstatic "Yes!" It looks like a fun book. The first chapter is available on the author's website.

Times are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for himself, his mother, and his sister Mari. Ironically, the only thing of value he has is something he can’t sell. For as long as Han can remember, he’s worn thick silver cuffs engraved with runes. They’re clearly magicked—as he grows, they grow, and he’s never been able to get them off.

Han’s life gets even harder after he takes a powerful amulet from the son of the High Wizard. The amulet once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. With a magical piece so powerful at stake, the Bayars will stop at nothing to reclaim it from Han.

Meanwhile, Raisa ana’Marianna, Princess Heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight. Although Raisa will become eligible for marriage after her sixteenth name-day, she isn't looking forward to trading in her common sense for a prince with a big castle and tiny brain. Raisa aspires to be like Hanalea—the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But it seems like her mother has other plans for her—plans that include a suitor who goes against everything the Queendom stands for.

The Seven Realms will tremble when the lives of Han and Raisa collide in this stunning new page-turner from best-selling author Cinda Williams Chima.

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The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima

The middle book in The Seven Realms trilogy will be released on September 28. Chapter Two is available to read on the author's website.

You can't always run from danger...

Haunted by the loss of his mother and sister, Han Alister journeys south to begin his schooling at Mystwerk House in Oden’s Ford. But leaving the Fells doesn’t mean danger isn’t far behind. Han is hunted every step of the way by the Bayars, a powerful wizarding family set on reclaiming the amulet Han stole from them. And Mystwerk House has dangers of its own. There, Han meets Crow, a mysterious wizard who agrees to tutor Han in the darker parts of sorcery—but the bargain they make is one Han may regret.

Meanwhile, Princess Raisa ana’Marianna runs from a forced marriage in the Fells, accompanied by her friend Amon and his triple of cadets. Now, the safest place for Raisa is Wein House, the military academy at Oden's Ford. If Raisa can pass as a regular student, Wein House will offer both sanctuary and the education Raisa needs to succeed as the next Gray Wolf queen.

The Exiled Queen is an epic tale of uncertain friendships, cut-throat politics, and the irresistible power of attraction.

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Miles In Love by Lois McMaster Bujold

This was the last set of Miles books I didn't own (at least until CryoBurn comes out next month). I still need to read Memory before getting to this one, but my husband recently picked up the next book he had to read in the series and started going through the rest (and has now finished them all, including this one and the one after it). This omnibus edition contains the novels Komarr and A Civil Campaign and the novella "Winterfair Gifts."

Two complete novels and a short novel in one large volume:

Komarr—Miles Vorkosigan is sent to Komarr, a planet that could be a garden with a thousand more years of terraforming; or an uninhabitable wasteland, if the terraforming project fails. The solar mirror vital to the project has been shatteredby a ship hurtling off course, and Miles Vorkosigan has been sent to find out if it was an accident, or sabotage. Miles uncovers a plot that could exile him from Barrayar forever—and discovers an unexpected ally, one with wounds as deep and honor as beleaguered as his own.

A Civil Campaign—On Komarr, Miles met the beautiful Vor widow Ekaterin Vorsoisson, who has no intention of getting married after the heartbreak and betrayal of her first experience. But Miles has a cunning plan to change her mind. Unfortunately his clone-brother Mark and his cousin Ivan have cunning plans of their own, and the three-way collision of cunning plans threatens to undo Miles’s brilliant romantic strategy.

“Winterfair Gifts”—Miles and Ekaterin make elaborate preparations for their wedding. But Miles has an enemy who is plotting to turn the romantic ceremony into a festival of death.

More CryoBurn News

You know how I mentioned yesterday that CryoBurn, the next Miles Vorkosigan novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, was to be released in its final hardcover format in November? Lois McMaster Bujold announced today that the publication date has actually been moved forward to October 19. She also said that she will be starting the book tour on Saturday, October 16 at Uncle Hugo's in her hometown of Minneapolis.

Review of Miles Errant

	Miles Errant by Lois McMaster Bujold 752pp (Trade Paperback) My Rating: 8/10 Amazon Rating: 4.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 4.38/5 Goodreads Rating: 4.3/5

Miles Errant is an omnibus containing the novella "The Borders of Infinity" and the novels Brothers in Arms and Mirror Dance in the Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Mirror Dance won the Hugo Award in 1995.

There are currently 13 novels in this space opera series (including the ones that are loosely related since one takes place 200 years before, two are prequels about Miles's parents, and one does not feature Miles but a member of his crew instead) and 4 novellas with a new novel (Cryoburn) scheduled to come out later this year. Miles Errant is fourth in the omnibus edition order (after Cordelia's Honor, Young Miles and Miles, Mystery and Mayhem). It is followed by one novel not in an omnibus (Memory) and two more collections, Miles in Love and Miles, Mutants and Microbes.

Even though the books were not all published in chronological order, I'd recommend starting with either the first prequel about Miles's mother (Shards of Honor which can also be found in the omnibus Cordelia's Honor) or the first book about Miles (The Warrior's Apprentice which can be found in the omnibus Young Miles). The two books in Cordelia's Honor are not really necessary to understanding the rest of the series, but I'm glad I started with them because I really enjoyed them. However, I would recommend those who are more interested in space opera adventure begin with The Warrior's Apprentice since Shards of Honor is largely a love story.

The novella "Borders of Infinity" starts off this collection. Miles is dropped off in the Cetagandan prison camp Dagoola IV, where he is immediately beaten and stripped of his few belongings (including the clothes on his back) by some of the other prisoners. Soon he is approached by another naked man who would like to know if Miles is the One - or rather, the other One since the scripture he's been carrying around says there are two Ones. Miles thinks perhaps he can use this religious fanaticism to his advantage in his mission - rescuing the heroic Colonel Tremont from the prison camp.

Brothers in Arms picks up after the events of "The Borders of Infinity." In this novel Miles and his fleet end up on Earth shortly after the end of the previous story. While waiting for the funds necessary to repair one of the ships, Miles works at the Barrayaran embassy - to the great dismay of Captain Galeni, who has to deal with him and his Dendarii Fleet. However, after his requests for funding are ignored, Miles begins to wonder if there is some sort of conspiracy at play - and inadvertently discovers a plot against his home planet involving the clone he never knew he had.

Mirror Dance takes place about two years after the previous story but is very closely related since it is mostly about Mark, Miles's clone. Mark pretends to be Admiral Naismith in order to free the clone children on Jackson's Whole, who will eventually be replacement bodies for their progenitors. While he largely succeeds due to the intervention of Miles, who figured out what happened, the plan goes awry and has some rather dire consequences. Afterward, Mark ends up on Barrayar where he meets his family and must come to terms with who he is.

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The series focuses of course on the title character, Miles Vorkosigan, a dwarf with very brittle bones due to a toxin his mother was exposed to before he was born. Growing up in a very military society, Miles has had to overcome the obstacles of both prejudice and his own physical limitations. Fortunately for Miles, what he lacks is more than made up for by the fact that he is brilliant. He's hyper, has issues with obeying authority and is overall a very vibrant character - and is very entertaining to read about. It's a fun series to read, and I do think there is some great character development and insight, particularly in Mirror Dance (which was not only my favorite in this collection but also my favorite in the series so far).

The three stories in this particular collection all tied together very well. "The Borders of Infinity" was a very light, fast-paced and fun story - at least until close to the end where it's not as light. The way it ended was great, though, and it's very rare that I really think a story has a strong conclusion. Brothers in Arms followed a similar pattern of going from light and fun to less so, but it didn't take long for Mirror Dance to be on the darker side. Even when it's not going well for the characters, the narrative contains enough humor to keep it from feeling as grim as it could, though.

For instance, right at the beginning of "The Borders of Infinity," Miles is stripped naked and pretty thoroughly beaten by some other prisoners. Instead of focusing too much on the depressing circumstances, it is immediately followed up with Miles being approached by a fellow naked prisoner offering him a drink of water:

The man squatted in studied politeness until Miles finished drinking, then leaned forward on his knuckles in restrained urgency. "Are you the One?"

Miles blinked. "Am I the what?"

"The One. The other One, I should say. The scripture says there has to be two."

"Uh," Miles hesitated cautiously. "What exactly does the scripture say?"

The man's right hand wrapped over his knobby left wrist, around which was tied a rag screwed into a sort of rope. He closed his eyes; his lips moved a moment, and then he recited aloud, "...but the pilgrims went up that hill with ease, because they had these two men to lead them by the arms; also they had left their garments behind them, for though they went in with them, they came out without them." His eyes popped back open to stare hopefully at Miles.

So, now we begin to see why this guy seems to be all by himself.... "Are you, perchance, the other One?" Miles shot at a venture.

The man nodded shyly.

"I see. Um..." How was it that he always attracted the nut cases? He licked the last drops of water from his lips. The fellow might have some screws loose, but he was certainly an improvement over the last lot, always presuming he didn't have another personality or two of the homicidal loonie variety tucked away in his head. No, in that case, he'd be introducing himself as the Chosen Two, and not be looking for outside assistance. (pp. 5 - 6)

Even though Mirror Dance is more about Mark than Miles, it is still a very good story and also contains some good scenes with Miles. In spite of being his clone and sharing many of his traits, Mark is very different from Miles. This is definitely his book and he undergoes a lot of growth in it. It goes very well as a follow-up to Brothers in Arms, in which we first meet Mark but only see him from Miles's perspective.

While I wouldn't recommend starting with Miles Errant, I'd definitely recommend it to fans of the series who haven't read it yet. For those who haven't read the series, I'd recommend it to those who like adventures, strong characters and some well-written humorous narrative.

My Rating: 8/10

Where I got my reading copy: I bought it.

Reviews of other books in this series:

• Cordelia's Honor
• Young Miles
• Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem

Review of Miles, Mystery and Mayhem

	Miles, Mystery, and Mayhem by Lois McMaster Bujold 576pp (Paperback) My Rating: 8/10 Amazon Rating: 3.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 4.16/5 Goodreads Rating: 4.13/5

Miles, Mystery & Mayhem contains three stories in the Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold: the novel Cetaganda, the novel Ethan of Athos, and the novella Labyrinth (originally published in Borders of Infinity). It also has a 4 page afterward written by Bujold. Chronologically, this omnibus comes after the Young Miles collection in this space opera series, although it can be read as a stand alone book. All three stories share the common themes of genetic technology and reproduction and tie together with events in Cetaganda, even though that was the last published of the three.

In Cetaganda, Miles and his cousin Ivan have been sent to the planet Cetaganda for the funeral of the Dowager Empress. When they dock on the planet, a man barges in to their ship and leaves behind a strange object after a brief fight. Miles coerces Ivan into keeping the encounter a secret and soon finds himself embroiled in a mystery involving the genomes kept by the haut women of Cetaganda and the murder of the person who came into their ship.

Ethan of Athos is not actually about Miles Vorkosigan, although he is mentioned on occasion since Elli Quinn of the Dendarii Fleet plays a major role in the novel. Ethan is a doctor with the important job of creating life on the all-male planet of Athos. The development of the uterine replicator and genetic technology has made it possible to have children without the presence of women; however, many of the fetuses are no longer surviving. To solve the problem, Athos orders some new ovarian cultures but when the package arrives it is full of useless parts. Ethan is sent to Jackson's Whole to inspect potential cultures to ensure this does not happen again. What he does not expect is to find himself entangled in a plot involving the mysterious shipment Athos never received - and protected by Elli Quinn, one of those evil female creatures he has been warned against his entire life.

Labyrinth features Miles as his persona Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii Fleet. Miles is on a mission to retrieve the great bio engineer Dr. Canaba for Barrayar. While Dr. Canaba has accepted Barrayar's offer to work for them, the house he works for will not let him go willingly. The plan becomes complicated when Dr. Canaba contacts Miles to say he will not leave with him unless Miles will obtain some samples for him. Canaba hid some genetic materials in the leg of one of the creatures he engineered to be a species perfect for war. Unfortunately, that morning his employer sold the werewolf-like girl, not knowing about the great value of the hidden sample. Now it's up to Miles to somehow recover the important specimen and secure Dr. Canaba's services for Barrayar.

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Cetaganda and Labyrinth both sucked me in right away, but Ethan of Athos was a bit harder to get into initially. The highlight of the books in this series is the character of Miles, a brilliant disfigured dwarf who has a knack for getting himself (and his friends) into a lot of trouble. He is inquisitive, somewhat reckless, very energetic, and his character leaps off the pages. The lack of Miles as a main character is very noticeable in Ethan of Athos since it does not have the vibrance he brings to Cetaganda, which comes right before this story. This may partially be due to the fact that Cetaganda was written about 10 years after Ethan of Athos, which was only Bujold's third novel. However, The Warrior's Apprentice was her second novel and Miles definitely gave that one the personality that Ethan of Athos was lacking.

Ethan of Athos was also the least humorous of the three stories, again likely because Miles was missing. Cetaganda and Labyrinth were both engaging and entertaining reads with which I had a lot of fun. While Miles often got into funny situations and introduced a lot of sarcastic humor, the two stories also dealt with more thought-provoking serious topics like eugenics and social structures.

Although Ethan of Athos was the weakest of the three stories, I thought it did have the most interesting social structure - the planet of Athos. Athos was basically a monastery with men only but set on a planet instead of a building so women really were a mystery to these men. It gave an interesting portrait of what a world of men only would be like, what survival would be like for them if they did have the technology for creating life by themselves, and what meeting a woman for the first time would be like.

Miles, Mystery & Mayhem was an immensely entertaining read despite the relative weakness of the second novel, which was still not bad by any means. I am not tired of Miles, even after four novels and two novellas, and certainly want to keep reading more about this snarky dwarf admiral nobleman intelligence man.

8/10

Reviews of other books in the series:

• Cordelia's Honor
• Young Miles

Review of Young Miles

	Young Miles by Lois McMaster Bujold 864pp (Paperback) My Rating: 8/10 Amazon Rating: 4/5 LibraryThing Rating: 4.32/5 Good Reads Rating: 4.17/5

Young Miles is an omnibus containing three stories in the "Miles Vorkosigan" series by Lois McMaster Bujold -- the novel The Warrior's Apprentice, the Hugo award winning novella "The Mountains of Mourning" and the Hugo award winning novel The Vor Game. Although the books in this series are self-contained and not written in any particular order, these three are compiled in chronological order and come after the omnibus Cordelia's Honor. It is debatable whether the series should be read in order at all and if so, whether to begin with The Warrior's Apprentice or Shards of Honor, the first book in Cordelia's Honor. The former is the first book that actually has Miles Vorkosigan as a main character since the two books in Cordelia's Honor tell the story of Miles's parents. Having read them both, I would recommend fans of romance begin with Shards of Honor as it is more focused on relationships and very different in tone from the books in the following set, but fans of light, fun adventures would probably find The Warrior's Apprentice a better introduction to this series.

The Warrior's Apprentice begins with the failure of Miles to be accepted into the Barrayaran Imperial Military Academy that his father and grandfather both attended. Growing up in a powerful martial family instilled in Miles a desire to serve his planet despite being a dwarf with brittle bones that tend to break very easily. While most of the young men seeking admittance into the academy find the written exams to be far harder than the physical tests, the intelligent Miles breezes through the former but is unable to finish the latter due to breaking a bone while coming off the wall climb. Although deeply disappointed, Miles is soon busy trying to find a way to live up to his paternal history of service in a way more fitting to his abilities (and limitations). Chance and some fast thinking soon find Miles acquiring a couple of irregular recruits, followed soon after by an entire band of mercenaries and the title of "Admiral Naismith."

In "The Mountains of Mourning," Miles has finally graduated from the Imperial Academy and is on break before being given his first assignment. When a sobbing woman comes to the front gate wanting to see Lord Vorkosigan the guards are ready to turn her away, but Miles feels sorry for her and knows it is her right to have a hearing before her lord. She explains that her baby girl was born with a slight birth defect (any physical problem is frowned upon in the military society of Barrayar) and was murdered. She seeks justice for the infanticide and Miles's father sends him to the woman's town to solve the murder mystery and give whatever judgment he deems fitting.

The Vor Game starts with Miles being assigned his first post as a graduate of the Imperial Academy - Chief Metereology Officer at Lazkowski Base, otherwise known as "Camp Permafrost." Having never even taken a course on this subject while in the academy, Miles suspects there has been a mistake. Instead he finds that he was placed there as a test; Miles has a long history of problems with authority, and if he can successfully blend in with the hardened soldiers at this camp, a position more to his liking will be waiting when he's done. Miles certainly finds this a challenge once he meets his abrasive superior officer and of course events lead to more mayhem when he has to resume his role of Admiral Naismith and foil a plot against the Emperor.

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The books contained in this omnibus are a lot of fun. It is light reading and very easy to breeze through, heavy on dialogue and humor. There is a mixture of serious storytelling dealing with themes such as oppression and prejudice and light-hearted humor that provides a nice balance between the two.

Miles is an enjoyable character - extremely bright and energetic with a strong mischievous streak. However, the other characters are definitely secondary as Miles always takes center stage with a shining personality that overshadows the rest. His name is in the series title, after all, so I suppose this is not all that surprising.

The Warrior's Apprentice was a rather fast-paced, entertaining story that was fairly flawless. It is followed up by a more somber tale about a society terrified of people who were different in "The Mountains of Mourning." It was not all serious, though, and this novella contained one of my very favorite lines in this entire book with Miles's thoughts about all the young women gathering around and pampering his horse:

God, thought Miles jealously, if I had half the sex appeal of that bloody horse I'd have more girlfriends than my cousin Ivan.

The murder mystery in the novella was not hard to figure out, but I don't really think the story was about figuring out who did it.

While it was great fun to read, the military adventure The Vor Game was probably the weakest of these stories. It very heavily relied on major coincidences (such as Miles just happening to run into the Empire while not even on their home planet) and the "Camp Permafrost" storyline seemed to only be relevant for introducing the character of the superior officer at this place. At one point, Miles found a dead body in a drain which seemed to be setting the stage for another crime to solve. However, this event proved completely random and was never mentioned again, making it seem very out of place. (Bujold writes in the afterword that originally Miles also found some money but she later changed this to cookies since everyone thought this meant there was going to be a big fun who-done-it story.)

While the series is technically science fiction, these space operas are about plot and character and do not have a lot of gadgets or long explanations of advanced technology. Space is the setting but not the main attraction, so these books may appeal to those who do not normally enjoy the science fiction genre.

Young Miles is a diverting romp through space featuring a clever main character who has a knack for getting himself into (and out of) trouble. It's thoroughly enjoyable and easy to get into, making it a great read for times when you just want a light story that does not require too much brain power.

8/10

Reviews of other books in this series:

• Cordelia's Honor

Review of Cordelia's Honor

	Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold 608pp (Paperback) My Rating: 8/10 Amazon Rating: 4.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 4.37/5 Good Reads Rating: 4.26/5

Cordelia's Honor contains the first two chronological novels in Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series, Shards of Honor and Barrayar. These books could also be viewed as prequels to the series since they are not actually about the life of Miles but instead tell the story of how his parents met and how Miles came to be disfigured before birth. Shards of Honor is Bujold's first published novel while Barrayar was released 5 years later after other books in the series had been written. The latter is a direct sequel to the former and completes the story begun in the first book, some parts of which Bujold had originally wanted to include in Shards of Honor before she realized it was too long. While the first half of the story was certainly enjoyable, it did lack polish and Bujold's extra writing experience shows in Barrayar, which is a much tighter novel and the winner of the 1992 Hugo Award.

In Shards of Honor, Commander Cordelia Naismith from Beta is part of an astronomical survey expedition until she and her crew are disrupted by a military force of their enemies from Barrayar, who claim they found the planet first and insist the Betans surrender to them. Most of Cordelia's party escapes, leaving her and her botanist, whose mind was destroyed by a disruptor fired by one of their foes, stranded. The commander meets and is taken prisoner by Captain Aral Vorkosigan, infamous as the "Butcher of Komarr." This knowledge does not stop Cordelia from being openly hostile to Vorkosigan, but soon she begins to see that he is an honorable man even if his society's beliefs are very different from her own.

Barrayar continues shortly after the marriage of Cordelia and Aral and Aral's appointment to the position of Regent of Barrayar. Cordelia's former expectations of a quiet life with her new husband are turned upside down as their lives become more dangerous due to conspiracies to take the throne. Aral is already unpopular with many on this very harsh, political world due to his liberal views, and now he is a very clear target for those who desire to replace the regent and the five year old emperor.

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The slower-paced Shards of Honor contains romance, adventure, an exploration of the concepts of duty and honor, and an illustration of the cruel Barrayarans and the compassionate but misguided Betans. The science fiction elements are in the background - although the story takes place in a world where space travel occurs, technobabble and heavy-handed scientific explanations are not present. The characters of Cordelia and Aral are likable with a dry humor that emerges at times and personalities that are clear from their words and actions. It was not always a tight story and the aftermath chapter at the end in particular seemed to come from out of nowhere and not tie in to the rest of the tale, but it was an entertaining book that made me eager to read more.

Barrayar is much more tightly plotted and faster paced than its predecessor with adventure and political scheming galore. The headstrong, independent Cordelia is still a pleasure to read about. The characters besides her and Aral are also better written and there are new ones introduced as the heroine settles into life on Barrayar. This also allows the society to be examined more as well as the political division between people like Aral who believe change is necessary and those like his father who are set in the old ways and abhor the idea of changing them. In the afterward, Bujold states that the book is "about the price of becoming a parent," but the theme that stood out for me was that people often viewed as being without worth by others, like the crippled Koudelka and disfigured child Miles, were still human and could be perfectly useful and valuable in spite of their shortcomings.

Cordelia's Honor comprises two novels of varying quality and complexity but both of these have one thing in common - they are worth reading for interesting characters and entertainment.

8/10