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eldabeNOT finished with Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, but I'm going to have to finish it next week as I've run out of time.
I'm at the scene where Miles is interrogating poor Jole in the stacks of concrete. And Jole is like "WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE A DAD?!?!?!?!" and Miles totally misses his only clue. Good job, Miles.
Reactions so far!
1. In the first chapter, when it was confirmed that Jole was Aral's...lover? Boyfriend? Whatever. I literally yelled "FAN MYTH FREAKING CONFIRMED!" and started laughing hysterically for an hour.
And then I got to the scene where it's discussed that Aral always suspected his father might have killed his first wife and now I'm officially dubbing this book "I Read That in a Fic That One Time."
(Also Alex. Waiting for him to be like "I'M NOT GOING TO BE COUNT. GIVE IT TO HELEN!" and then running off to live his life with fewer politics. Not none, his dad is Miles.)
2. Man, LMB is a really interesting writer. She tends to let her storytelling update with real-world politics, which is fascinating as it doesn't always click perfectly in the universe. Like, this book is the one where polyamory becomes normalized and accepted, but despite all the comments about Beta Colony, we only ever had one hint towards normalized polyamory before. And frankly, Beta still has a traditional marriage system for child-rearing, as far as we can tell. Also, where did the Women's Auxiliary come from? There was NO HINT of it before!
Plus! She is clearly writing from a very different place than she used to be. Miles's (and Cordelia's!) early days were all about war and politics and intrigue and DEATH and adventures! Now, it's a lot more domestic, with a splash of mostly-lower-stakes politics and tidying up of character's love lives. Which isn't bad, just different.
Considering this is another life ending/life beginning book, it does lack the gravitas of Memory. That book was painful and wonderful and dug into stuff that this and Captain Vorpatril's Alliance mostly brushed past. Which is probably why my copy of Memory is basically falling apart while CVA is pretty pristine. (Note to self: Buy a new copy of Memory. My dog-eared one is signed.)
3. This isn't one of my top books, but I am enjoying it! It's making me smile, and I'm actually SUPER ANNOYED at the concrete company and I actually would enjoy 300% more political intrigue family crap (GREGOR. WHAT ARE YOUR CHILDREN LIKE).
But...I would also like a bit of, IDK, danger? I know that Barrayar+empire is pretty settled down these days, but Falling Free was terrifying and it was mostly about space mining politics, so I know you can do it LMB. I honestly think this is more about LMB being less interested in those sorts of stories these days, which is fine, she can have my money. (see #2)
Then again, a book of Cordelia and Jole (OLIVER! HIS NAME IS OLIVER! ♥) bemoaning how idiotic they are because babies are HARD YO would be hilarious.
tl;dr Not done, careful with spoilers.
ETA: Definitely forgot things from earlier books. Time for a full re-read? :D
I'm at the scene where Miles is interrogating poor Jole in the stacks of concrete. And Jole is like "WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE A DAD?!?!?!?!" and Miles totally misses his only clue. Good job, Miles.
Reactions so far!
1. In the first chapter, when it was confirmed that Jole was Aral's...lover? Boyfriend? Whatever. I literally yelled "FAN MYTH FREAKING CONFIRMED!" and started laughing hysterically for an hour.
And then I got to the scene where it's discussed that Aral always suspected his father might have killed his first wife and now I'm officially dubbing this book "I Read That in a Fic That One Time."
(Also Alex. Waiting for him to be like "I'M NOT GOING TO BE COUNT. GIVE IT TO HELEN!" and then running off to live his life with fewer politics. Not none, his dad is Miles.)
2. Man, LMB is a really interesting writer. She tends to let her storytelling update with real-world politics, which is fascinating as it doesn't always click perfectly in the universe. Like, this book is the one where polyamory becomes normalized and accepted, but despite all the comments about Beta Colony, we only ever had one hint towards normalized polyamory before. And frankly, Beta still has a traditional marriage system for child-rearing, as far as we can tell. Also, where did the Women's Auxiliary come from? There was NO HINT of it before!
Plus! She is clearly writing from a very different place than she used to be. Miles's (and Cordelia's!) early days were all about war and politics and intrigue and DEATH and adventures! Now, it's a lot more domestic, with a splash of mostly-lower-stakes politics and tidying up of character's love lives. Which isn't bad, just different.
Considering this is another life ending/life beginning book, it does lack the gravitas of Memory. That book was painful and wonderful and dug into stuff that this and Captain Vorpatril's Alliance mostly brushed past. Which is probably why my copy of Memory is basically falling apart while CVA is pretty pristine. (Note to self: Buy a new copy of Memory. My dog-eared one is signed.)
3. This isn't one of my top books, but I am enjoying it! It's making me smile, and I'm actually SUPER ANNOYED at the concrete company and I actually would enjoy 300% more political intrigue family crap (GREGOR. WHAT ARE YOUR CHILDREN LIKE).
But...I would also like a bit of, IDK, danger? I know that Barrayar+empire is pretty settled down these days, but Falling Free was terrifying and it was mostly about space mining politics, so I know you can do it LMB. I honestly think this is more about LMB being less interested in those sorts of stories these days, which is fine, she can have my money. (see #2)
Then again, a book of Cordelia and Jole (OLIVER! HIS NAME IS OLIVER! ♥) bemoaning how idiotic they are because babies are HARD YO would be hilarious.
tl;dr Not done, careful with spoilers.
ETA: Definitely forgot things from earlier books. Time for a full re-read? :D
no subject
Date: Feb. 14th, 2016 05:50 (UTC)I think I have my copy somewhere in my apartment, I'll go digging for it, when I have time.