Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
The nice thing about Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga is that you know everything's going to be alright. There are exciting adventures with misunderstandings and obstacles galore. But at the end of the book, everyone will get their happily ever after.
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen is likely the last book in the saga. Bujold claims to be retired and seem focused entirely on a series of novellas that take place in her fantasy world. But if this is the last one, it's a fitting conclusion. It's slower than the books that came before. The problems here are interpersonal and revolve around fairly low-stakes questions. Or, at least the kinds of questions that people who aren't characters in space operas find themselves facing. Should I take that job? Do I want kids? Will her family be okay with us dating? I know the shapes of these stories, and the optimum outcome, the one Bujold would no doubt pursue, was evident about halfway through the story. But it was still nice to saunter through this happy ending of a book.
The real pleasure here comes from the fact that this is a series capper. Over twenty-plus novels and novellas, Bujold has created a rich world populated by incredible characters. It was lovely to spend more time with Cordelia. I can only wish we had a leader like her on our world. More than any other literary character I've encountered, she's become a role model of sorts to me. She is who I want to be when I grow up, the kind of mother I aspire to be in times of peace and the formidable woman I can only hope I'd be when tested.
And then there's Gentleman Jole. I wish he'd been more of a character in earlier books, though perhaps I should have reread The Vor Game before picking this one up, as I believe that's where he's first introduced. Bujold retrofits his history with Cordelia and Aral, though Miles is self-centered enough for it to be plausible that he never noticed that his parents weren't monogamous. And if the happy ending seems a little too perfect, well that's part of what I read this series for. Everyone gets the happily ever after they deserve: raising kids and studying biology surrounded by friends on a newly settled planet.
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen is likely the last book in the saga. Bujold claims to be retired and seem focused entirely on a series of novellas that take place in her fantasy world. But if this is the last one, it's a fitting conclusion. It's slower than the books that came before. The problems here are interpersonal and revolve around fairly low-stakes questions. Or, at least the kinds of questions that people who aren't characters in space operas find themselves facing. Should I take that job? Do I want kids? Will her family be okay with us dating? I know the shapes of these stories, and the optimum outcome, the one Bujold would no doubt pursue, was evident about halfway through the story. But it was still nice to saunter through this happy ending of a book.
The real pleasure here comes from the fact that this is a series capper. Over twenty-plus novels and novellas, Bujold has created a rich world populated by incredible characters. It was lovely to spend more time with Cordelia. I can only wish we had a leader like her on our world. More than any other literary character I've encountered, she's become a role model of sorts to me. She is who I want to be when I grow up, the kind of mother I aspire to be in times of peace and the formidable woman I can only hope I'd be when tested.
And then there's Gentleman Jole. I wish he'd been more of a character in earlier books, though perhaps I should have reread The Vor Game before picking this one up, as I believe that's where he's first introduced. Bujold retrofits his history with Cordelia and Aral, though Miles is self-centered enough for it to be plausible that he never noticed that his parents weren't monogamous. And if the happy ending seems a little too perfect, well that's part of what I read this series for. Everyone gets the happily ever after they deserve: raising kids and studying biology surrounded by friends on a newly settled planet.
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