Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold

Warning: Contains spoilers for previous books.

In Diplomatic Immunity, Miles and Ekaterin are on the final leg of their interplanetary honeymoon and are anxious to return to Barrayar where their two full-term babies (one boy and one girl) are ready to be released from their uterine replicators. But, as usual, something happens to delay their return. In this case, it’s a diplomatic issue — a Komarran merchant ship with a Barrayaran military escort is being held up at Graf Station in Quaddiespace — and Emperor Gregor asks Miles to go straighten it out on his way home. When Miles gets there, he discovers that a Barrayan officer is missing and possibly murdered. His investigation eventually uncovers a conspiracy which could lead to bioterrorism and war.

Some of our favorite characters are missing from Diplomatic Immunity, but fans will be happy to get rea... Read More

Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold

Warning: Contains spoilers for previous VORKOSIGAN books.

Winterfair Gifts is a novella that tells the story of Miles Vorkosigan’s wedding to the widow Ekaterin Vorsoisson. It you want to follow the chronology, it should be read after A Civil Campaign and before Diplomatic Immunity. You will probably also want to first read the short story “Labyrinth” which can be found as a stand-alone or in the novel Borders of Infinity.

This story is told from the perspective of one of Miles’ new armsmen — Roic — who we (or at least I) remember fondly as the tall muscular guard who was nearly naked and slathered in bug butter in A Civil Campaign. Here he recounts the wedding preparations and the arrival of the guests, including many old friends, at Vorkosigan house.

One of the special wedding guests... Read More

The Silver Mage by Katharine Kerr

In The Silver Mage, the fifteenth book in the very long-running Deverry series, Katharine Kerr seeks to wrap up those last few plot points and bring the sequence to a resounding end.

Oh dear. I've followed this series faithfully, to the extent of doing a full re-read in preparation of the release of this final book, and I am more than disappointed with the way Kerr has finished things off.

This series has been limping along for a while, but every now and again Kerr would produce a book that sparkled. This compelled me to keep on reading, but sadly it was rare that Kerr would produce two great books in a row and none of her later books have lived up to the promise of those first four novels.

In this book we deal mainly with Rhodry's storyline. The other ... Read More