Science Fiction Aficionados discussion

Yay! Time for another Vorkosigan! this one looks very interesting!.

I plan to read it this weekend.

I'm halfway through. It seems slower so far, but Bel is back!

I thought it went back to Miles in full forward momentum mode.

I think this is more one of Miles's caper stories rather than one with profound character development.

Always fun.

Mary, it certainly is a Miles' caper story but we did get to see Lady Vordosigan developing and it was great to see Bel again.

While the first half was relatively sedate, we were treated to quite a bit of action in the second half. How many lives does Miles have?

Reading the political setup in the opening was intriguing in itself.

Humm. On reflection, I wonder how much of the punch it would lose when not read in the sequence of his story. (view spoiler)[You can only build up Cetaganda so much as a menace in this book, but in sequence, we know a great deal more about the import. And his message to Benin is fraught with more significance when you know why he's sending it there, and why the Admiral is reacting so strongly. (hide spoiler)]

Mary wrote: "Humm. On reflection, I wonder how much of the punch it would lose when not read in the sequence of his story. [spoilers removed]"

Mary, I think you are right. While the books in this series are not formularic, they do build on each other. While enjoyable on their own, collectively they pack a far greater punch.

I've always loved Ms. Bujold's artistry in placing little nuggets in each book that can be build up later without losing the stand-alone characters of each individual narrative.

She wrote Komarr as a starting point book. You still understand the characters and universe more if you start at the beginning of the series but it is pretty standalone.

I really love how Miles went right back into his friendship with Bel. I always enjoyed their relationship.

Diplomatic Immunity seems more dependent on having read the previous books in Internal Chronology.

Diplomatic Immunity may be described as layer upon layer of "-isms" dependent upon "race," gender, sex, different ability, who knows what else. I think in order for that layering to occur, Bujold has drawn from the body of the Miles work and brought those issues together.

I agree with the above comments about previous books - I probably would have enjoyed it as the first in the series, but I often thought as I was reading how glad I was that I met the quaddies before, read Cetaganda, etc. That rich backstory really added to this one.

Miles has really grown - he is still super intelligent, but he isn't quite as impulsive. I love how his wife understands him so well and gets him to explain the huge jumps in his thought processes.

I'm coming a little late to the party, but still glad to be here. Looks like a "who dun it". I'm interested to see how Lady Vorkosigan handles herself on this mission. Also Miles is going to be a Da. How cool is that.

I agree - it is fun to imagine Miles as a father. Especially if his children inherit parts of his personality!