Book Review: Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen

Fair warning - I came to the Vorkosigan books late (they began in the late 80s, but I didn't start until the mid 2000s), and I'm always trying to push this series on to friends. The latest, and seventeenth, title in the series is Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, which focuses on both a secondary character from the main series and a return of series protagonist Miles Vorkosigan's mother Cordelia (who was last a story lead in the 1986 novel Shards of Honor.

The book itself works as both a family drama and a nice finale for the series (although I'm always hopeful for more!). Although not nearly as action-heavy as many of the books in the series, the author works to tell a compelling story and it certainly hooked me.

My only complaint is that this book, unlike many in the series, does not work very well as a stand alone novel, and would definitely not be one I would recommend to a newcomer.

A great way to bring the series full circle, and definitely one that leaves me wanting more; it felt like catching up with old friends - but with spaceships and laser guns

Things I've Noticed: The Vorkosigan Saga just keeps getting better and better

Looking back at 2009, my very first “Genre Character of the Week” post was for a science fiction character named Miles Vorkosigan.

Yesterday I finished the 14^th book in the Vorkosigan saga, Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, and honestly, this series is quickly becoming one of my favourites in the genre of Science Fiction.

I came across the Vorkosigan novels while working my way through the best Science Fiction novels for the Locus Awards. In 1991 Barrayar won, but it was part of a series so I decided to start at the beginning, which turns out to have been one of the better decisions I could have made in my reading history.

Here’s what I love about the series, it grows and changes.  As a guy in his mid (soon not-so-mid) 30s, I’ve grown and changed a lot in my life, the Bookmonkey of my childhood is reflected in, but not the same as the Bookmonkey of my 20s, and both exist but do not fully represent the Bookmonkey I am today.  In a similar vein, Miles Vorkosigan changes and grows throughout the series, and it is that growth that first drew me to the character.

Although he only makes a cameo in the latest book, I really enjoyed it, and am now going to be keeping an eye out for the series in hardcover to add to my own collection!

Genre Character of the Week: John Perry

So I may have just found one of my new favourite writers (the last time this happened was reading Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box), in that I just read John Scalzi’s first novel, Old Man’s War and it was freaking amazing!  Basically mix together concepts from both Joe Halderman’sThe Forever War and Robert E. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers and then give them an incredibly intriguing twist and you get what this book has to offer.

 

To get a taste of what I’m talking about, here’s the first three sentences:

 

I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday.  I visited my wife’s grave. Then I joined the army.

 

This is how we are introduced to the main character (and our genre character of the week)John Perry.

John is a retired advertisement writer who has enlisted in the Colonial Defence Forces (CDF), who supposedly defend Earth from something, but as there is a complete media blackout on what exactly service with the CDF entails, new recruits have no idea what they are in for.  The rules for registration are simple, 1) You must be at least 75 years of age, and 2) You must agree to leave Earth permanently, legally listing yourself as deceased and hoping for the best.

 

Now on the John Perry - As a character he’s great, he’s adventurous, inquisitive and a wonderful lens to view this world through, in a lot of ways he makes me think of Miles Vorkosigan in the Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster-Bujold in that he is quite clever and incredibly fast on his feet (mentally speaking).

 

The best part of this book (for me) was in discovering exactly what the CDF is about, so try to avoid spoilers like the Wikipedia page or Amazon reviews.  In fact, if you want to enjoy the book the most, even skip reading the back cover.  Trust me, it is worth the read.

Keeping on top of Genre, the Yearlies

Yearly Genre updates are actually pretty simple, mostly it's just keeping up with the genre awards and checking in on certain sequels I've been patiently waiting on.

The Awards

One of my favourite things about the Internet is how easy it is to keep on top of award winners.

From Science Fiction (Hugo, Nebula, and Locus), to Fantasy (World Fantasy and Mythopoeic), to Horror (Bram Stoker and International Horror Guild), and even the few award shows that specialize in horror (Scream Awards, MTV Movie awards), I can keep track of what the newest critically acclaimed titles are (or in the case of the MTV movie awards - what my kids friends most acclaimed movies are) by doing a simple Google search.

I actually keep a spreadsheet listing the winners of each of the book awards and am slowly, but surely moving my way though the winners list - when I'm done it's on to the nominations list.

Sequels

For the simple reason that I don't want to feel bad on a monthly basis, I only follow up on sequels I've been waiting for once a year. Currently Clive Barker's third Abarat novel tops the list (I've been waiting since 2004) followed by my hopes for a new Miles Vorkosigan novel from Lois McMaster Bujold.

What the heck I'll check right now - for fun.

(frenzied sound of typing)

NOPE - no third Abarat book any time soon - that's fine, I've been waiting for half a decade, I can keep waiting for now.

But wait - Lois McMaster Bujold is releasing a new Miles Vorkosigian book in September! It's called Cryoburn! SQUEEE!

(Sound of Bookmonkey doing a quiet victory dance - everyone else in the house is asleep)

You Owe it to Yourself #10: Favourite Characters

We all have them, the characters in books or movies or even video games that just stand out, that we relate to, and I think it might be interesting to take a closer look at the ones that you like best. Unfortunately, you aren't writing this post, so instead we'll look at the ones I like best and you can tell my your favourties in the comments.

When analysing why your favourite characters are your favourites, you should follow these steps: (I'll give an example)

1. Gush - Begin by explaining everything you love about the character.

For me, one of my favourite characters in SF is Miles Vorkosigan, who features in more than a dozen books by Lois McMaster-Bujold. This guy starts out as a trainee, becomes a mercenary, then the leader of an army of space mercenaries, a spy, a diplomat, and has a LOT of character development, dealing with his parents expectations, growing up, growing older, falling in love, changing careers, and lost of other stuff - but with Laser guns and spaceships!

2. Relate - Try to figure out things you and the character have in common.

All right, I'll admit it, I'm not the head of a band of mercenaries, or a super-spy, or even the next in line of a royal family in a military world, but Miles and I do have a lot in common, we both come from a mixed marriage, we both have a significant health problems we had to overcome (Miles' health problem, an issue with his bones which makes them very fragile, definitely trumps my asthma and vision problems, but I can relate), and we both married women we are crazy about.

3. Role Model - What attributes does the character have that you want?

Miles' two greatest strengths are thinking outside the box and working through a problem until it is finished. I love how regardless of the danger he is put in (these are Action-Adventure SF stories) that he can overcome it in unusual ways (Check out the short story Labyrinth for my personal favourite) and actually thrives in most any environment. Miles ability to see a job to completion, whether a murder investigation, or a difficult mercenary mission, is also really admirable to me as I like to think I'm pretty good at finishing what I've started, too.

So there you have it, three simple steps to getting a handle on why you love the characters you do, as well as a look at one of my personal favourites, you know, I might actually make a "Favourite Characters" post a regular thing here.