Miles in Love; Lois McMaster Bujold

Another omnibus put out by Baen, this one has two full size novels and one novella. I read the two full size novels: Komarr and A Civil Campaign. The novella is Winterfair Gifts, also available in the romance anthology which I read when it came out. Links to LMB's webpage in the title above. Reminder, there are two ways to read about Miles Vorkosigan: publishing order or by internal series timeline. All of the novels in Miles in Love center around Miles falling in love (duh! lol) with and his courtship of Ekaterin Vorsoisson. I will try very hard not to give too many plot details away below.

Komarr is set on the planet of the same name not long after the war between Miles’ people and the Komarrans. Thus the stage is primed with latent hostilities and suspicion before the action begins. Komarr has been terraformed, a type of planetwide landscaping, for many years. One of the technologies used to improve life on Komarr is a giant solar array. Somehow, several of the giant mirrors were destroyed in a tug accident. Lord Auditor Vorthys and Miles are in orbit around Komarr to investigate the accident. Lord Vorthys is Ekaterin’s uncle and he brings Miles down to the Vorsoisson’s apartment in the capitol city of Serifosa. Things snowball dramatically from there.

Ekaterin, IMO, is exceptionally well drawn. Trapped both by her upbringing and by necessity in an unhappy marriage with a manipulative, emotionally unavailable man, Bujold limns Ekaterin with grace and light and strength. She finds Miles both puzzling and charming, but mostly she’s coping with her husband and trying to shield their son Nicolai from the worst of his father (which is indifference). Meanwhile, the investigation proceeds apace.

A Civil Campaign takes up immediately after Komarr. Ekaterin and Nicolai have returned to Vorbarr Sultana and are staying with Ekaterin’s uncle. The Vorr are still a patriarchal society, there are legal issues between Ekaterin and her male relatives that complicate matters. Then of course there’s Miles’ cousin Ivan Vorpatril who likes nothing better than to makes Miles’ life as difficult as possible ‘all in the name of fun,’ of course. Not only that, Miles’ clone brother Marc shows up. Politics and paternalism rear their ugly heads, but rest assured romance fans- there is a happy ending.

Winterfair Gifts takes place a few months later, just before Miles and Ekaterin get married. The primary story is set around Armsman Roic and Sergeant Taura of the Dendarii Mercenaries. Taura is in town for the wedding and Roic is assigned to her courtesy escort detail. Primarily the theme is one of finding a place where you can belong, looking beyond appearances, love and acceptance. This novella is also found in both Irresistible Forces and Miles in Love.

Images found on the following sites: Content Reserve, Princeton NJ public library, East Baton Rouge LA public library, and on Catherine Asaro's webpage.

Edited to correct book title Winterfair Gifts is in.

Catch the Lightning; C. Asaro

SO- yeah. Another one. I'm glomming. Sue me. Young mestiza in LA in 1987 meets an alien space pilot & helps him steal his ship from the USAF (Air Force). They end up in space together, get sold as slaves together & get married. Great stuff.

The author has a unique world built around the premise that unknown aliens came to earth & kidnapped a bunch of Mayans. Those Mayans were then used to build a space faring empire. The languages & names are built on Mayan language stems.

The only issue I have with Asaro's series is that many of them have darker elements that can be uncomfortable. I think my problem is that I initially approached this author from a romance perspective & I dislike dark elements in my romances. I only object in romances though. After so many years, I've fallen into the Romancelandia convention: no violence (or at least much less than the bodice ripper era).

I think I'll adjust just fine though. I've even made serious efforts at understanding the physics explanations at the end of Quantum Rose, as well as the theory laden sections in each work. Unfortunately it seems I've allowed my brain cells to rot. Some of the theories & math are really tough. One of Asaro's short stories uses physics & math to represent music (a fugue encoded into a statue of a bird, playable only via computer) which I really want Son #1 & Son #2 to read - both play instruments & read music & Son #1 loves physics & math.

Quantum Rose; C. Asaro

I really enjoy Ms. Asaro's writing- a unique combination of hard science fiction & romance. Ms. Asaro has multiple degrees in various types of brain straining sciences & her knowlege is put to use in her writing. She does not write with the usual constraints typical romance genre novels have & as such the reader ought to be aware that there are elements romance readers aren't used to. Unlike Mercedes Lackey's fantasy romances, though, Ms. Asaro's books have strong relationships which are the primary focus. No disrespect to Ms. Lackey, I've read the two 500 Kingdoms romances & my comments are here.

Kamoj Argali is the eighteen year old governor of Argali province on a small agricultural outpost world. Due to the extreme weather & unusual planetary rotation Kamoj must make a political marriage to ensure her people's survival. Betrothed to Jax______ (sorry I don't remember his surname) since her childhood, Kamoj is ready to sacrifice herself (literally) for the survival of her province.

That is until Havyrl Torcelli, known on Kamoj's world as Vryl (pronounced Va-rye, according to the short story in Irresistable Forces) Lionstar arrives & rides amok around Kamoj's province. Basically, due to cultural differences, Vyrl buys Kamoj. He thinks he's offered her dowry, but alas, that's not so. Culturally Kamoj's world has concepts similar to the Asian face. Kamoj realizes almost immediately that while this relationship may be beneficial for her, there are sure to be negative political consequences for her province.

Vyrl is a political pawn in a huge intergalactic game similar to the Cold War, one consequence of which is that he was moved to this planet. Vyrl is also an alcoholic, resulting from an horrific incident in his recent past. He is not, however, a tortured hero. Kamoj helps him get on (& stay on) the wagon. Like Kamoj, Vyrl has obligations to his homeworld & to his family that he cannot set aside, no matter the price he must pay.

How Kamoj & Vyrl overcome their cultural differences & the political problems weave an interesting story. There are several scenes (all involving Jax) that are likely to set your teeth on edge. Since this is my first book by Asaro I wasn't quite sure of what I was in for when reading this & I was unprepared for some of what happens.
There is the expected HEA, though. Never fear.

Different, exciting, set your teeth on edge romantic adventure. Might help to be familiar with Asaro's world, but I read it without prior knowlege & had no problems.

Edited: I misspelled Vyrl's name in the original post, which I have now corrected.

Irresistable Forces; ed. C. Asaro

This is a short story anthology edited by Catherine Asaro, published in 2006 by Signet. There are 6 short stories, 3 by romance authors & 3 by sci/fi or fantasy authors. I was most impressed by the Lois McMaster Bujold story, of Miles & Ekaterin's wedding & of an interesting romance between a human & a bioengineered human. It's unnecessary to read the Miles saga ahead of time, but you may be left trying to glom her other Miles books.

I am totally blown away by Jo Beverley's sci fi based romance though. I've always liked her romances, but this one left me wishing she'd write some sci fi stuff too. An earth colony is under attack from a mysterious entity that reduces mammals & humans to ashes. Certain people residing on the planet have mental powers to destroy these beings, but only at great cost. Thus ensues a wonderful story about the limitations of power: political, personal, media & the morality of use of power. Loss, grieving, how war changes both the soldier & those left behind. What price do we all pay? Fascinating & wonderful stuff happening here.

There are also pieces here by: MJP, Catherine Asaro, Deb Stover & Jennifer Roberson. All of which were good, but none caught my attention as thoroughly as the two mentioned above.