Product Description

A COMEDY OF TERRORS from the inimitable award-winning Lois McMaster Bujold! A rich Komarran merchant fleet has been impounded at Graf Station in distant Quaddiespace, after a bloody incident on the station docks involving a security officer from the convoy's Barrayaran military escort. Just the sort of situation that calls for the attention of the Imperial Auditors, Barrayar's special, high-level trouble-shooters. As luck would have it, Lord Miles Vorkosigan, the empire's youngest Auditor, just happens to be in the area. Of course, he and his wife, Lady Ekaterin, have other things on their minds, such as getting home in time to attend the long awaited births of their first children. But when duty calls -- in the voice of Barrayar's Emperor, Gregor -- Miles has no choice but to answer. Waiting on Graf Station are diplomatic snarls, tangled loyalties, old friends, new enemies, racial tension, lies and deceptions, mysterious disappearances, and a lethal secret with wider consequences than even Miles anticipates. The entire system is in danger and time is running out. Miles Vorkosigan is uncomfortably aware that the downside of being a trouble-shooter comes when the trouble starts shooting back...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1220676 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From Amazon.com
Fans won't find this surprising in the least, but Miles Vorkosigan--the plucky, short-statured hero of Lois McMaster Bujold's beloved series--is uniquely incapable of having an uneventful honeymoon. Between a racially fueled diplomatic dispute, the appearance of a hermaphroditic old flame, and a bizarre Cetagandan genetic conspiracy, Miles just can't seem to get a minute of peace with his new wife, the lovely and resourceful Ekaterin (whom Miles courted in A Civil Campaign).

Miles had hoped to give "hands-on op games" a rest once and for all, but when the Emperor urgently calls on him to resolve a "legal entanglement" in Quaddiespace, diplomacy alone might prove inadequate. (Quaddies, you'll remember, are the no-legged, four-armed free-fallers introduced in Falling Free.) Our newly minted Imperial Auditor almost immediately forgets all about "Baby's First Cell Division" (after the assignment comes in, Ekaterin quickly observes "You know, you keep claiming your job is boring, Miles, but your eyes have gone all bright"), but even Miles feels the heat after his diplomatic attempts devolve into a series of flattering assassination attempts.

Vorkosigan (and family now!) is as winning as ever, with Bujold offering up her usual fun mix of space-opera action and droll social commentary in a character-centered plot. And here's a bonus for Milesophiles and Vorkosiga novices alike: a book-by-book timeline detailing what trouble Miles got into and when. --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly
Those who have followed Bujold's superb far-future saga about the undersized and unorthodox warrior, Miles Vorkosigan, will heave a sigh of relief as our hero and his beloved Ekaterin enjoy wedded bliss (including looking at "baby pictures," i.e., a sperm fertilizing an egg) on a belated galactic honeymoon until a diplomatic crisis intrudes. As a Barrayaran Imperial Auditor, Miles must look into a murder whose investigation is complicated by the boorish behavior of the Barrayaran military. When the case develops a host of new angles, Miles wonders, "How many angles can dance on the head of a pin?" A seemingly straightforward crime leads him to mass murder, kidnapping, hijacking, biological warfare and Cetagandan genetic politics, all on an orbital habitat of the quaddies (the genetically engineered four-armed humans introduced in the author's Nebula Award winning Falling Free). Preventing interstellar war is a tough job, but fortunately Miles has his lady working beside him, in the best tradition of Nick and Nora Charles or Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. As usual, Bujold is adept at world-building and provides a witty, character-centered plot, full of exquisite grace notes such as the description of quaddie ballet (hint: four arms and no gravity make many things possible). Established fans will be thoroughly gripped and likely to finish the book in a single sitting. While this isn't the best place to start for new readers, they'll be helped by a concise chronology at the end that neatly sums up Miles's earlier adventures.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
En route to his home to await the births of his ex-utero children, Barrayaran Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan receives a directive from the emperor: he must travel to Graf Station to investigate the impounding of an allied merchant fleet from Komorra and the seizure of Barrayaran personnel. In the course of his pursuit for the truth, Miles finds mystery, missing persons, attempted murder, and a host of suspects while simultaneously rediscovering the importance of true friends. The latest in Bujold's popular "Vorkosigan Saga" continues the adventures of one of the genre's most enterprising and engaging heroes. Recommended for most sf collections, particularly where the series has a following.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Bujold at her worst is still better than 90% of the stuff on the shelf
This is one of Bujold's weaker efforts, or maybe it only seems so after the triumphs of Komarr and A Civil Campaign. In it, we follow Miles on an assignment as Imperial Auditor, from the time he first gets the assignment to the time he wraps it up. In it, we see Miles playing detective (a role he has played before, most notably in The Vor Game and Cetaganda.) We also see a few loose strings left over from previous books neatly tied up. In fact, this is so much of a "tidying up" book that it makes me worry that Bujold might be getting tired of Miles.

The major disappointments are that it's so short, that we don't get to see any of the story from Ekaterin's perspective, and that, uncharacteristically for Miles, he doesn't manage to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. (Survival, yes, but I wouldn't exactly call it a victory.) There are also some subtle indications here and there that Bujold was paying less attention than usual to canonicity. In particular, she has Miles and another character reminiscing about their "dim and distant past", which was, I'll grant you, four books back, but only about two years ago in internal chronology.

Still, this is Bujold, and Bujold at her worst is still better than 90% of the stuff on the shelf.

For Vorkosigan addicts
If you aren't already a fan of Miles Vorkosigan, please, please, do yourself a favor and start earlier in the series. While I don't doubt any book in the series is self-contained enough to be read independently of the rest, you are risking losing so much by jumping into the latter part of a multiple-novel story.

That being said, for the Barrayarra-philes, you already know the background - recent marriage after a memorable courtship now on a galactic honeymoon. As always, Bujold embellishes her universe with familiarity amongst the novel and surprising. You won't be disappointed.

Oh, and if you're like me and each book only whets your appetite for more, you're in luck. A novella, Winterfair Gifts, that describes the Vorbarra Sultana wedding of Miles and Ekaterin is amongst the collected stories of Irresistable Forces. Check it out.

Great - as always
I have been reading this "series" for years. Ms. Bujold writes in great depth on multiple complex levels - politics, leadership, relationships, diplomacy, and of course great thrills. In re-reading her novels, I always discover something new - like hearing a great song time and again. You wonder "How does she do that?"