Cryoburn / Lois McMaster Bujold

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold (a Miles Vorkosigan novel). 339 p.

It's been 8 years since Bujold's last novel in this setting, so of course the book itself is a bit of a let-down after all that anticipation. It's still very good. Miles, the Emperor's trouble-shooter, is on Kibou-daini, a planet whose main industry is cryogenics--they want to extend their services into the Empire, so Miles needs to figure out whether there's anything hinky first. Of course something is wrong, and Miles figures it out; but compared to some of Miles' earlier adventures, this one feels just a bit...sedate. I think that, for me, it's the absence of most of the supporting cast from previous books that I miss the most. Still, the picture of Kibou-daini's culture and and society is pretty interesting--what would happen if a large chunk of the population was frozen with the potential for being awoken again? I thought the vote-proxy ideas were particularly plausible. And Bujold, always a thoughtful writer, handles the various themes of death and aging with aplomb.

Diplomatic Immunity / Lois McMaster Bujold

Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold. A Miles Vorkosigan adventure. 367 pp.

A new book in this series is due out this fall--yay!!--so I thought I'd re-read the most recent entry, which was just as awesome as I remembered. Here is a series that has changed quite a bit over its length--the circumstances of the main character, Miles, have changed drastically, yet he is recognizably the same person. Miles is a character with some pretty deep flaws who is nevertheless remarkably sympathetic. In this iteration he is on a delayed honeymoon with his wife Ekaterin when he is pressed into his Emperor's service as Imperial Auditor to prevent a shooting war in Quaddiespace. As usual, things get more complex once Miles gets involved, not less, but he manages to triumph yet again.