I do love Bujold. Well plotted stories, relatable characters, books I find hard to put down. This is an omnibus of two books and a short story

Komarr: This is my favourite in the book, exciting adventures, well motivated bad guys, heartbreaking situations. When do you fight your foreign invaders? When do you leave your husband?

A Civil Campaign: I am carrying a lot of baggage about this book (it was... the wrong Miles book to read first). And I don't really like regency romances. Or butter bugs. But Bujold really can do whatever she turns her hand to.

Winterfair Gifts. I do like Taura, and I do like this short sweet story set around Miles's wedding. ( )

Chapter 9 of "A Civil Campaign" is quite possibly the funniest chapter of a book I've ever read. ( )

Fun to read again; these stories complete a nice trilogy as Miles finds, pursues rather ineptly and eventually wins the lady of his dreams. ( )

This entire omnibus was too cute for words! I loved how the love story was drawn out through two novels AND a short story, and Winterfair Gifts was a gift to mankind. Taura is a precious cinnamon roll who deserves all the happiness in all the worlds, that's all I have to say. I loved Ekaterin, I really connected with her and many of her dilemmas. I sort of wish there were more Nikki, it feels like he was often just shoved off to the side of everything, but the moments in which he was thoroughly included, he really shines :) A great book, can't wait to see what happens next! ( )

KOMARR:

Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold is the latest book in my re-read of the Vorkosigan saga. It comes chronologically after Memory and before A Civil Campaign, nestled quite closely, chronologically, between the two. It is split in point of view between Miles and a new character, Ekaterin.

I had forgotten, until I started re-reading Komarr, how unlucky Ekatarin was, in life, before the events of this book (or, well, Miles came along). Her past is heartbreaking, even though she often reminds us that it could be worse. She has a lot to overcome in this book before she can start to come into her own.

On the other side of the equation, we have Miles, who has tagged along with Imperial Auditor Vorthys (who happens to be Ekatarin's uncle) while he investigates a small disaster that happened in Komarran orbit. Miles is partly getting used to his new role, but he's also still Miles. While this book can't be mistaken for military SF like some of the earlier Vorkosigan books, it's still got a similar vibe, combining a mystery to solve and a reasonable dollop of action. Two of the main ingredients in a lot of the Vorkosigan books.

This was a very enjoyable read that made me laugh several times. It's not the most cheerful of the Vorkosigan books — that would be the next one chronologically, A Civil Campaign — and it has it's dark moments. But as with most of the Vorkosigan books, I had trouble putting it down and practically inhaled it once I got going.

This isn't the worst book to start with if you haven't read any Vorkosigan books before. It's the start of a new phase in Miles's life and hence doesn't rely too heavily on events of the past, although there are a lot of references to earlier events, they're only mildly spoilery for the earlier books and the story certainly doesn't hinge on any of them. That said, all the Vorkosigan books are good, so in general I recommend reading them in chronological order. But if you like intrigue and engineering, partially terraformed planets and clever dialogue, I highly recommend Komarr.

5 / 5 stars

A CIVIL CAMPAIGN:

A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold was my favourite book the first time I read the Vorkosigan saga. Chronologically it falls after Komarr and before the novella Winterfair Gifts (or the novel Diplomatic Immunity if you don't feel like counting novellas). It's quite a departure from the more military aspects of many of the earlier novels, and is instead a comedy of manners with some political machinations on the side.

The most important question, for a re-read of a favourite book, is did it hold up? The broad answer is yes, although it was quite different to re-read than to read for the first time. The main reason for this is that there was quite a bit of humour that depended on surprising revelations which, of course, weren't as surprising the second time around. I found myself laughing more at miscellaneous interstitial scenes that hadn't stuck in my head as clearly than I did at the big key scenes I remembered most clearly from my first read through.

Even if it was a little less funny the second time around, this was still an excellent book. The point of view changes between Miles, Ekaterin, Kareen, Mark, and Ivan, giving us insights into all of those characters as they strive towards their goals. The background setting of the lead-up to Emperor Gregor's wedding provides a bit of chaos and a lot of cause for schemes from third parties. Even so, between Miles secretly courting Ekaterin (secret from her, not from anyone else), Mark trying to sell his new business venture to investors, Ivan being bossed around by everyone from his mother downwards, and Ekatarin and Kareen striving for self-actualization, there's a lot of room for entertaining scenarios just between the key players.

A Civil Campaign is still one of my favourite Vorkosigan books and also books in general. I spent a lot of this current re-read of the series looking forward to this book specifically and probably hyped it up a bit too much in my mind. I was disappointed that I laughed less than I did the first time I read it, but, really, I only laughed a little bit less.

5 / 5 stars

WINTERFAIR GIFTS

Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold is a novella set in the Vorkosigan universe. Chronologically it follows the novel A Civil Campaign and comes before the novel Diplomatic Immunity. It does not really stand alone without having read the few books preceding it in the series. This review also contains general spoilers for some of those earlier books.

I would say the most interesting thing about this book is that it's told from the point of view of Armsman Roic, the most junior of the Vorkosigan armsmen. He is usually assigned to night duty and we previously met him in that capacity in A Civil Campaign, when events rather escalated. Trying to live down those events — which really weren't his fault — Roic just wants to regain the good regard of both Miles and Head Armsman Pym. In this novella we follow Roic around while he goes about his less usual duties in the lead-up to the Vorkosigan wedding.

It was an amusing story, and I enjoyed following Roic around, for all that I'd forgotten he was the point of view character in this one. It was particularly interesting to see his perspective on various characters that we're used to. Not only Miles — which was expected, and who we've seen him from other people's points of view before — but also the more prominent side characters who make an appearance here. Roic expends a lot of attention on Taura, who is visiting Barrayar for the first time with Elena, her husband, and Arde the jump pilot — the latter being a source of fascination to Nikki. We also get a fresh perspective on other characters such as Aral, Cordelia and Gregor from the perspective of an underling.

This was a fun quick read and I definitely recommend it to fans of the Vorkosigan series, especially those who've read the earlier books. Fun as this novella is, it does not stand alone without some knowledge of the rest of the series that came before it. I really enjoyed re-reading it and pretty much inhaled it in a single session.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog. ( )