Review: Miles Errant by Lois McMaster Bujold

Title: Miles Errant
Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Science Fiction
Grade: A
Reason for Reading: I’ve fallen in love with the Vorkosigan series, and I think this is the last Vorkosigan omnibus there is. After that, it’s all individual books.

Note: I normally like to write slightly more detailed reviews that contain less fangirl squeeing, but, really, I love this series to distraction so that’s impossible.

This omnibus starts out with “Borders of Infinity”, which ranks just slightly behind “Labyrinth” as my favorite Miles novella. It tells of Miles’s capture in a prison camp, and how he manages to pull off a rather impressive prisoner revolt. There are some very interesting psychological issues presented here, and the setup was definitely intriguinhg.

After that we have the novel Brothers in Arms which I loved a lot. Here, Miles is once again stuck in a situation that gradually spirals out of control. This time he’s on Earth, and he’s dealing with the fact that his identity as Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii Free Mercinaries and Lord Vorkosigan are beginning to be less connected than he’d like. This book also introduces Mark, his clone, who adds another layer of complication.

This book did a lot for the development of Miles as a character and basically I loved it. There was action, adventure and romance, all of which were dealt with well, plus Miles really has some struggles to deal with, not least of which is Mark.

I just finished reading Mirror Dance , the last novel in this collection. After the emotional high I had with Brothers in Arms I was kind of expecting a disappointing story. After all, I’d read some spoilers that indicated that Miles wasn’t even going to be present for most of the book. And there were, indeed, several moments when Mark, whose story this is, lost me as a reader and I had to stop reading, convinced he couldn’t possibly be redeemed after some of the crap he pulled. It’s a testament to Bujold’s writing ability that she made me keep reading despite myself. And anyway, aren’t flawed characters something I want? So I can’t very well bitch when I get them.

Describing Mirror Dance would include lots of spoilers, but I will say that this is very much Mark’s story, and here Cordelia, Miles’s mother, plays a more prominent role, which was very fun to watch as she is definitely, in many ways, the power behind a lot of what happens on Barrayar, a fact few of the characters seem aware of.

I also loved seeing Mark’s growing into his own person. He undergoes a lot, but in the end I was satisfied that he was going to be OK and, well, not so very messed up.

A bit of warning, though– Mirror Dance is a fairly violent book. Some horrendous things get done to our characters, and Bujold doesn’t shy away from the gory aspects.

Overall, I strongly recommend this collection, though I think it’s best to read some of the other Vorkosigan omnibus editions first.