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 Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
reviewed by Underview
Original appearance: Albedo one issue 5, 1994
In 1992 the Hugo went to BARRAYAR by LOIS McMASTER BUJOLD. It is now 1994 and PAN have only just got around to publishing it in these islands. Why have we been denied it for so long? The book was first published in the States in 1991 so why the delay?
Well, at least it was worth waiting for. Barrayar is the latest in Bujold's series about Miles Naismith and the Dendarii Free Mercenaries. Though that's a bit misleading as it is a prequel and all the action takes place before Miles is even born.
Barrayar is the story of Miles' mother, Cordelia Naismith, who defeated Aral Vorkosigan in battle, then married him and accompanied him back to his home on the relatively backward planet Barrayar - Cordelia's background is intergalactic high-tech whereas Barrayar's society is almost feudal.
This is the story of an outsider, of extreme culture-clash, of political intrigue and of insurrection. Each strand of the story is perfectly weighted and as with all the best novels it is the people here who are important, the action which serves merely as a backdrop to their lives and desires. But what a backdrop. Murder, intrigue, attempted assassination, attempted infanticide and a planetary revolution jostle for position beside love, honour and duty in a mixture that adds up to unbeatable entertainment. To miss out on Lois McMaster Bujold would be little short of criminal. Be a good citizen, buy this book, or anything else that bears her name.
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
reviewed by Underview
Original appearance: Albedo one issue 9, 1995
The information sheet accompanying MIRROR DANCE by LOIS McMASTER BUJOLD trumpets the arrival of this, the new novel by the triple Hugo and double Nebula award winner. Normally, no-one could complain about a build-up of that calibre. Normally listing awards a mere handful of weeks prior to Worldcon, where the Hugos are awarded, would not be considered much of a risk. But then the word normally doesn't seem to apply to this author.
Now I'm sure no-one is going to complain about the fact that the list is already rendered outdated, least of all the author or the publishers, but the completists among you may wish to note that Lois McMaster Bujold won the 1995 Hugo for best novel for MIRROR DANCE, which was published in the UK on 8th September.
What can one say about Lois McMaster Bujold and her superlative series about the adventures of Miles Vorkosigan that has not already been said before and better? Not a lot to be perfectly frank. As a writer of SF adventure she is unsurpassed at present. Surely no-one will argue that she is the rightful heir to the mantle that belonged to Robert Heinlein.
Perhaps she lacks his startling scientific originality but that is as much a function of the advances in technology that have been achieved in the intervening period between his golden era of the fifties and sixties. Maybe she lacks his thoughtful probing at the edges of the genre, but that is more a matter of her approach to storytelling than any weakness in her abilities or technique.
But there is one area in which she effortlessly surpasses Heinlein and his contemporaries. Yet again, the times can partly explain the differences but without doubt there are few writers of adventure fiction, within SF or outside its boundaries, who can match her for the depth and accuracy of her characterisations. All her stories are about people. It may be considered heretical to claim that the action is mere by-play, incidental to the core of her novels, but strip away the space battles and laser fights from a Vorkosigan novel and you've still got an extraordinarily readable and engrossing story: In BARRAYAR the lead character is Miles' mother, Cordelia and in SHARDS OF HONOUR she shares the stage with his father, Aral Vorkosigan.
MIRROR DANCE drags us deep into the tortured mind of Mark, Miles' clone, who was designed as the ultimate assassin. His training consisted of institutionalised horror and perversity at the hands of a sociopath. The conditioning Mark was subjected to, was designed to produce a cripple not only in body but in mind, suited only to operating within the parameters of the mission for which he was created - the assassination of the Emperor of Barrayar.
The conditioning has been broken and Mark is left on Earth under the close scrutiny of Barrayaran Imperial Security. But there is too much of Miles in him for him to submit himself to what is in effect house arrest. And there are enough differences and individuality in him that he desires to make a place in the world for himself, separate to that he has inherited as Miles' clone.
The story begins simply enough. Mark poses as Miles and commandeers a detachment of Dendarii mercenaries. His plan is to release a group of clones on Jackson's Whole who are being bred as brain transplant hosts. Naturally, as Mark does not possess his clones military capabilities or experience, the mission fall flat on its face. Miles is required to make a rescue attempt but things are so badly screwed not even Miles can get everyone out successfully. Mark is rescued but casualties are sustained. One in particular. Miles.
Just about all of Miles' chest is blown away but they get him into a cryo chamber for later resuscitation. The problem is the cryo chamber is lost. As there is nothing on the chamber to indicate the identity of the body, the likelihood is that whoever finds it will dump the body in order to sell the hardware.
Mark is left with a severe case of self-loathing, a condition he has been well prepared for, and the possibility that he will have to replace Miles not only in the Vorkosigan family but in his place in the Barrayar hierarchy. He may be all that Aral and Cordelia have left of their son. MIRROR DANCE is the story of Mark's search for his own place in the world of the Vorksigans and the broader universe. It is the story of his journey from mind damaged clone to humanity. It is also a cracking adventure of the galaxy-spanning variety. Another winner from the pen of LMB.
The Spirit Ring by Lois McMaster Bujold
reviewed by Helen Ryder
Original appearance: Albedo one issue 4, Spring 1994
A multiple Hugo and Nebula award winner for her excellent SF novels, Lois McMaster Bujold has now forayed into the field of fantasy with her new book 'The Spirit Ring'. This step will introduce her to a new realm of readers and I am sure will only serve to make her one of the most versatile and popular writers of the Nineties. Set in the Renaissance period of Northern Italy, the book is based on a familiar theme, the use and abuse of magic. The use is controlled and licensed by the Catholic Church - the abuse is, as always, hidden in the dark until the unfulfilled lust for power drives it forth into battle.
Fiammeta Beneforte is the daughter of Prospero Beneforte, Goldsmith to the Duke of Montefoglia, a tiny independent dukedom beset on all sides by more populous kingdoms. Montefoglia only retains its independence by careful politics and diplomacy, manipulating treaties and marriages alike for the good of the tiny kingdom. Prospero is an accomplished, though he believes impoverished, craftsman who in forging his masterpieces weaves in the magic spells to form items of great beauty and practicality - his latest commission is a golden salt cellar for his Grace, imbued with the power to neutralise poisons. In his work he is assisted in a minor way by his only child, Fiametta, who suffers from the common prejudice of womanhood. She is only now showing her inheritance of power, but Prospero has been reluctant to train her formally, and instead contrives for her marriage. Prospero is invited with Fiametta to a banquet held by the Duke in celebration of the betrothal of the Duke's daughter to the overlord of one of the adjacent kingdoms, Lord Ferrante of Losaro. Prospero will present the salt cellar to the Duke at that time. The celebration goes tragically wrong as Ferrante, a harsh and devious man, takes the opportunity to overthrow his host and seize power for himself, slaughtering many of the Montefoglia guard and banquet guests in his coup. Fiametta and her father escape, but not before Prospero destroys Ferrante' spirit ring, a source of magical power. As Prospero explains later it is an evil craft, ensorcelling as it does the spirit of a dead person in the ring, bound to do the will of the owner until freed. Ferrante, losing a source of magic, vows revenge on Prospero and when the goldsmith is later killed by Ferrante's men, Ferrante obtains a new spirit...
The book documents Fiametta's struggle to free her father's spirit to travel to its rightful place in the land of the dead, so defeating Ferrante and his pet sorcerer and freeing Montefoglia from the usurper. She is assisted by the traditional hero, the tall, broad, blond and inevitably honest Thur Ochs of Switzerland, brother to the late captain of the Montefoglia's guard, whose death he wishes to avenge. This partnership lends the book a tread of romance, albeit strained, as Fiametta is determined to remain true to HER idea of a heroic husband. The characters of the book are well drawn, and sympathetic. Fiametta is portrayed as arrogant, determined, strong-willed, resolute, but with a stubborn streak which tends to get her into trouble, and an endearing longing to be her own woman in the constraints of 16th century Italian society. Her grief over her father is tempered with her resolve to DO something, and she uses the even-tempered Thur without impunity to get what she wants; her feelings only begin to be questioned when Thur enters great danger.
Historically the Italy of a hundred kingdoms is presented very well, as interrelationships between the mighty of Venice and Milan are compared to the pocket Montefoglia. Of course the Church's influence is a central point of the book, but it emerges with a very human face in Montefoglia's bishop and the restraining influence it has on the abuse of magic. 'The Spirit Ring' is well-paced and the handling of the story is light and deft, even those parts dealing with the horrors of the blackest of magics, where Bujold enlightens but does not drag the story down into the dark realms of over magic fantasy novels. It's overall quality is almost indefinable - the nearest I can place it is to remember a journey to Venice, and to say, "Look at the quality of the light...."
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