oyceter | Bujold, Lois McMaster

And now, I confess to my flist that I think Bujold is just Not For Me. I read The Curse of Chalion a couple of years ago and wasn't too impressed. I've read most of Komarr and Cordelia's Honor, largely because people have told me that Cordelia's Honor is one of her earliest and therefore not best works. Both of the Miles books I ended up putting down when I was smackdab in the middle of the climactic plot moments, and I've never felt the need to pick them back up again.

Bujold being Not For Me is not just "I admire it technically but don't quite understand and maybe a reread will convince me otherwise." I think it's something about her prose or her characters that slides right off me.

Anyway. Ista is the middle-aged mother of the queen; her life has previously been torn apart by the will of the gods, and she's really not all that open to them anymore. She embarks on a pilgrimage, largely to get away from court life, but ends up entangled in a mess of demons and conspiracies in which the gods are trying to guide her to do something.

I like that Ista is a middle-aged heroine and that she's allowed to have second chances and love again. Other than that, I was mostly bored by the book. Despite Ista's horrific past and the presence of demons in this book, I never felt that she or any of the other characters were really in any danger. And I could have put this down at the giant climactic moment and not felt any need to pick it back up again, which is never a good sign.

I'm really not sure what it is. Part of me wants to say that Bujold's characters feel too well adjusted to me; I know people will come in and talk about Miles and how much angst he goes through, but there's something about the prose or the way it's written that doesn't make the angst feel real to me. Ah well.

Links:
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coffeeandink's review
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truepenny's review (spoilery)
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rilina's review

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

largely because people have told me that Cordelia's Honor is one of her earliest and therefore not best works.

I'm confused; you read *some* of Komarr and didn't finish it, and read *some* of Cordelia's Honor and didn't finish it? Also, CH is actually a compendium of Shards of Honor and Barrayar. Shards is pretty much a romance-with-politics-and-action. It was Bujold's first finished work, but sold after The Warrior's Apprentice (the first actual book about Miles). Barrayar was written some years later, and is a political thriller, I guess you would say, with not much in the way of romance in it. It's also much better than Shards, and has one of my favorite scenes in all fiction ("I went shopping." "How much did you pay?" "Too much." [or WTTE]).

I dunno. If the narrative drive of Bujold doesn't capture you (although I wouldn't have thought Komarr was a good place to start, for a multitude of reasons anyway), it doesn't catch you. I'm just not convinced you got the right examples. *grin*

Anyway, Bujold's characters usually start off relatively well-adjusted, have a bad spot, and end up a little better off, and understanding more about themselves. (Even Memory fits this template, and that's about as low as Miles falls.) Also, she doesn't dwell on the angst, it's there in the plot but the characters don't generally spent a lot of time thinking mournful thoughts. They're too busy being shot at or making pithy one-liners.

I'm sorry Bujold doesn't work for you: she's one of my favorite writers, although I'm less enchanted by the fantasies than by the Vorkosigan novels, and I was sorely disappointed in the last Miles novel. I'm waiting on tenterhooks for a novel about Ivan, who really really deserves one. Damnit. But it's okay if Bujold is Not Your Beautiful Cake.

Bujold's characters usually start off relatively well-adjusted, have a bad spot, and end up a little better off, and understanding more about themselves.

Well, except for Mark. Who starts off fucked up, gets some better, gets really really fucked up, and then starts to get better. But he's still basically fucked up. He's just about the only one I can think of who is coded as a protagonist and just generally fucked up all the way through.

I wonder if that means you'd like Mark or hate him?

Hee! It depends, I guess? I have a 50/50 reaction to fucked up characters, though I tend to like them more when they're women for some reason. I think I tend to love fucked-up characters who stoically remain fucked up and don't get emo or alpha bastard-y.

Gee, I wonder who overdosed on romance novel heroes a while ago? ;)

Komarr is where I started Bujold and I found it a good starting point. Totally hooked me, too.

Huh. Okay!

(I just... I have Ekaterin issues that have yet to be resolved.) But if it worked for you, I withdraw my statement.

I think my first Bujold was actually Barrayar, which makes not a lot of sense if you hadn't read Shards...

Maybe I've had fewer Ekaterin issues because I knew her before her predecessors. Though maybe that's irrelevant.

It was the beginning of fresh relationship, though, so I found it a good way to ease into the series. Of course, then I had to read it from the beginning.

My sister's first VORKOSIGAN novel was actually Komarr and she remains convinced to this day that it is a good place for someone to start reading the series. I started with "Weatherman" (which confused me) then Barrayar, then backtracked to Shards of Honor, which ended up working out. (The weird order in my case was because I was reading the serializations in back issues of Analog. It took a friend's intervention for me to realize there was more in book form.)

And

oyceter, for what it's worth, The Curse of Chalion bored me and I am honestly at a loss as to that book's appeal. It's not awful, it just isn't very interesting.

Huh! I think I read Komarr b/c Rachel told me it was one of the few instances of the old "killing off the romantic rival" plot that made things more complicated, not less. Which I appreciate, but given that I didn't really care about Miles or Ekaterin, it just ended up not grabbing me.

Yeah, I'm probably grumpier than was really warranted for the book, except I am a bit reacting in advance to the people who will go on and say, "No, no! You will like it! Really!" And I am just too lazy to read more of her to find out, especially given my to-be-read stack.

Urf, not grumping at you, just grumping in general.

I'm confused; you read *some* of Komarr and didn't finish it, and read *some* of Cordelia's Honor and didn't finish it?

Oops! I reread my sentence up there and realized it makes no sense whatsoever. Anyway, yeah, I read most of Komarr and most of Cordelia's Honor, and for both, I just sort of wandered off at the big plot climax and never really went back. Alas, much of her dialogue hasn't worked for me either. I suspect it's an incompatible style thing.

But hey! This means I can go spoil myself on all the Miles books and finally read fic and whatnot!

Bujold, Lois McMaster - Paladin of Souls

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