Bujold, Lois McMaster
A CIVIL CAMPAIGN
Lois McMaster Bujold
BAEN Books 1999
Pb 534 pages
ISBN#
0-671-57885-5
Ekaterin Voroisson, secret heroine of the latest Komarran disaster, has retired to Barrayar's capital city to live with her aunt and uncle while she completes her "year of mourning." Unfortunately, the bachelor-rich society of Vorbarr Sultana cannot wait for this young widow to finish grieving. A CIVIL CAMPAIGN is romantic comedy at its best, with--of course--a smackering of Barrayaran intrigue thrown in to spice things up. Miles's dinner party in the middle of the book had me laughing so hard I nearly rolled out of bed--and certainly woke up the entire household. Here are just a few tidbits to engage your imagination and whet your appetite: -1- Miles has a plan on how to storm Ekaterin's defenses (but he doesn't find out until it's too late that military strategy doesn't work in the romancing of a woman!); -2- Miles's brother Mark, home from Beta Colony for the summer, has discovered a genius for making money and brought home an eccentric Escobarran scientist and his eight-thousand bugs (who don't manage to stay in their crates--oh, yes); -3- these bugs create a nutritious "butter" similar to yogurt in that it can be flavored and served a great many ways (it's just getting past the idea of eating bug-vomit that bothers Miles, so he is unaware of his cook's complicity in Mark's scheme until... oh, yeah); -4- Kareen Koudelka has a problem convincing her parents--to Mark's supreme disappointment and public embarrassment--that it's okay to make love to a clone; and -5- poor cousin Ivan, the most attractive bachelor in Vorbarr Sultana finally decides he wants to settle down with an old flame only to find out that she's been to Beta Colony to get a sex-change operation! Now Ivan is having to protect Donna--uh, Lord Dono, while she/he proves his right to inherit the title of Count. -6- Then we have to consider that both Ivan and Miles have mothers who are more daunting than any Vor lord and use their power with incredible subtlety. (Ooo, and the fun is just beginning.)
Ms. Bujold empowers the once meek Ekaterin into one of the few women in the galaxy who can tell Lord Auditor Vorkosigan what to do: "Yes, ma'am"; did that come from Miles? --oh yes. If you want a little light reading to keep you wholly entertained, this may very well be the right choice, an absolute 10! A sample of Ms. Bujold's precision characterization of her star player Miles: "Damn that smile. Was it Ivan's fault, that he had been born undamaged while his cousin had been born crippled? No, blast it. It was bloody bungled politics that had wrecked him, and you'd think it would be a lesson to him, but no. Demonstrably, even sniper fire couldn't stop the hyperactive little git. In between inspiring you to strangle him with your bare hands, he could make you proud enough to cry. At least, Ivan had taken care no one could see his face, when he'd watched from the Council floor as Miles had taken his Auditor's oath with that terrifying intensity, before all the assembled panoply of Barrayar last Winterfair. So small, so wrecked, so obnoxious. So incandescent. Give the people a light, and they'll follow it anywhere. Did Miles know how dangerous he was? And the little paranoid actually believed Ivan had the magic to entice any woman Miles really wanted away from him. His fears were more flattering to Ivan than he would ever let on. But Miles had so few humilities, it seemed almost a sin to take this one away from him." And...: "'Do you have any idea what it takes to stop him? I still remember being kids, me and my sisters, visiting Lady Cordelia with Mama, and Miles told off to keep us occupied. Which was a really cruel thing to do to a fourteen-year-old boy, but what did I know? He decided the four of us should be an all-girl precision drill team, and made us march round in the back garden of Vorkosigan House, or in the ballroom when it was raining. I think I was four.' Kareen frowned into the past. 'What Miles needs is a woman who will tell him to go soak his head, or it'll be a disaster.'" And...: "'Oh, yes. I've met several of his girlfriends, in fact. The most appalling bunch of bloodthirsty amazons you ever saw. God, they were frightening.' Mark shuddered in memory. 'Of course, they were all pissed as hell at me at the time for getting him killed, which I suppose accounts for some of it. But I was just thinking, you know. I really wonder if he picked them, or if they picked him? Maybe, instead of being such a great seducer, he's just a man who can't say no. It would certainly explain why they were all tall aggressive women who were used to getting what they wanted. but now, maybe for the first time, he's up against trying to pick for himself. And he doesn't know how. He hasn't had any practice.' A slow grin spread across Mark's broad face at this vision. 'Ooh. I wanna watch.'"
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