Lois McMaster Bujold is one of my all time favorite authors and the Vorkosigan saga is one of my favorite series. Lois McMaster Bujold introduced the world to Miles Vorkosigan in 1986 with the novel ‘The Warrior’s Apprentice’. The Vorkosigan Saga is Space Opera at its best and there are now fourteen novels and short stories set in the same universe, the latest of which is ‘Cryoburn’. Each and every one is an adventure and full of all the best elements of storytelling: compelling characters, intriguing plots, edge of the seat action, laugh out loud humour and the lighter, sweeter moments of romance and emotionally painful moments. I have been waiting for quite sometime for Bujold to write a new Miles book. This book is #14 in the series and takes place approximately 6 years after the events in Diplomatic Immunity.
Kibou-daini is an entire culture mortally so afraid of dying to the point where millions of citizens, have chosen cryo preservation by preplanned death rather die in a normal way. Oddly, since they are not dead, as citizens they still retain their votes in this democracy, albeit by proxy held by large corporations. This book contemplates a bit of speculative technology – cryo freezing and cryo revival - and asks a lot of penetrating questions about the sociopolitical fallout. I laughed ou loud by the time I got to the part about commodified cryo corpse contract swaps between companies.
