Book Reviews
Cryoburn [Vorkosigan Saga #14] by Lois McMaster Bujold
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- Category: Fiction - Sci-Fi - Fantasy
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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.
Emperor Gregor dispatches miles to investigate the Cryonics companies who want to set up shop on Komarr based on some report of something smelling fishy. Miles, in his role of Imperial Auditor, attends a conference on the planet in a attempt to gain information on the industry’s plan to expand onto the planet Komarr. There is an attack by a terrorist / anti-cryo group which ends with miles drugged and lost in the Cryo-Catacombs beneath the city, Roic kidnapped by the same terrorist group. This is how the story of Jin, a boy who rescues Miles, unfolds. We find out that Jin is crazy about animals and lives with a virtual menagerie on a rooftop. He also has some links to a group of illegal cryo-freezing street organization who help the destitute.His mother who was cryo-frozen it turns out had secrets which could bankrupt the corporations.
In the end Jins mother gets thawed and gets to tell the secret. The bad guys from the corporation show up and get nabbed. Finally shockingly Miles father Aral Vorkosigan dies in Segyar.
Roic's viewpoint had some pretty funny stuff like him thinking up ways to commit suicide incase Miles had been kidnapped and killed. Jins viewpoint was very simplistic and at times uninteresting. Miles as usual had some good insights. The body snatching adventures had me in rolling around laughing.
I have mixed feelings about this book. It is fun and it has a underlying depth at the same time. But from a long time fan of the Vorkosigan series it is too light and doesn't command the gripping and emotional attachment of the earlier books. Its missing almost all the main characters of the series except for a page or two devoted to each. Newer readers of the series might do better as they might not be expecting those characters to the same extent. As books go, its good, but not up-to the usual Bujold standard. Somehow I feel Bujold has been going downhill since the "Sharing Knife" series. The story is weighed down by the very important kid character which is underdeveloped and frankly not very interesting. The plot is also lacking in any primary antagonists almost upto the end. The bad guys are the corporation throughout the narrative and no personal interaction with them happens in most of the narrative.. They get tided up at the end like the loose ends that they are without ever being anything more than a name in the main character's mouth.
One of the things I really enjoy about Bujold is the way she deals with themes of sacrifice and redemption, and making the hard choices. There wasn't really any of that in this book. The plot is perfectly adequate, I suppose, but notably lacking in pain or urgency. The bad guys aren't even particularly interesting.
Miles is still Miles, and we always love Miles, of course. Though, having found his place and his anchors, he's a much more static character than he used to be. He does change, right at the end, but we barely get to see it. It would have been nice to spend more time on the things that actually matter, personally.
Memory is my favorite, and I love A Civil Campaign. I'd like to see more of that kind of thing, with the whole crowd on Barrayar. Lois has said that she is working on an Ivan book, which should be lots of fun.