A Civil Campaign

With A Civil Campaign the Vorkosigan Saga turns its focus away from galactic affairs to focus on the domestic. Emperor Gregor's wedding is coming up soon. Miles is trying to woo Ekaterin without her knowing, to disastrous results. Mark and Kareen are back from a year of university and trying to figure out how they fit back on Barrayar, both independently and as a couple. And a couple of local counts are about to make history.

This book is absolutely delightful. The centerpiece is a dinner party that is such a beautiful disaster my reading kept getting interrupted by my laughter. Every possible thing goes wrong, and then some more stuff goes wrong on top of it. Leading up to the dinner, everyone is laying in plans to achieve their own goals. Following the dinner, everyone is struggling to pick up the pieces and figure out how to move forward.

There's really a lot to love about this book, which does a brilliant job of calling on the whole history of the series up to this point. There are multiple point of view characters, which is always a delight. Seeing Miles as others see him sheds a lot of light on his character, but it also provides a chance to get inside the heads of some more minor characters like Ivan and Kareen.

The more of this series I read, the more of it I want. I'm sad to only (only, ha!) have 5 or 6 books left. There has been so much development, so many beautiful turns of phrase and wonderful relationships springing up. I may just have to go back and start this series over from the beginning when I finish it.

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