Book: Memory
May. 27th, 2009 04:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livAuthor: Lois McMaster Bujold
Details: (c) 1996 Lois McMaster Bujold; Pub Baen Books 2001; ISBN 0-671-87845-X
Verdict: Memory is heartbreaking and very satisfying.
Reasons for reading it: It's in the adored Miles Vorkosigan series, need I say more? Besides, when I reviewed Mirror dance, everybody kept telling me how wonderful it is.
How it came into my hands: My wonderful Beau lent it to me just in time before I exploded of anticipation.
The first hundred pages of Memory absolutely broke my heart, and in so many ways. I have just reread The color of light which is mindblowingly good, but I think Memory actually comes close. The brief scene between Miles and Elena is fantastically poignant. And the whole slow, unbearable progression where all Miles' flaws come together to create a chain reaction of disaster. He suddenly stops getting away with incredibly stupid plans through his amazing good luck and ability to salvage the most disastrous situations. His habits of always trying to pull one over his superiors, and of stringing along all kinds of characters who are in love with him, suddenly come back and bite him with full force.
After that opening which was wonderful and at the same time completely unbearable to read, the story settles more into the typical Miles frame, where the situation is world-threateningly dire and he comes up with some off the wall yet brilliant scheme to sort things out. But the set-up makes that adventure part far sharper, it's no longer a cosy swashbuckling romp, I really believed that Miles might not succeed this time. And his utter despair seems real, in sharp contrast to all the usual Miles emo wallowing. The horror of what happens to Illyan is also portrayed extremely well.
In some ways the latter part of the book feels a little too glib, as if Bujold drew back from the full horror of what she'd set up and took the easy route of a happy ending. But that's only by contrast with the opening and middle sections, it's still very good. I am very close to deciding against reading any more in this series, because MD felt like a satisfying ending to everything that has come before. All the strings, all the characters, are tied off somehow, some lives end tragically and others with glory, but pretty much every single one of the major characters (except Mark) has an emotionally satisfying outcome. It's particularly amazing to see Miles as an integrated adult, achieving something even greater than what he thought he wanted. Since there are couple more books still to go, I probably will succumb to temptation and read them because they're likely to be enjoyable, but I almost wish MD was the last in the series, because I fear that anything after that triumphant ending is going to look like self-fanfic.
I really can't say whether this or Mirror Dance is the stronger book. I think I'd probably take Memory to the proverbial desert island, if I had to choose, just because it picks up so many echoes from the rest of the series and has such a great payoff. I think my favourite is still the short story collection Borders of Infinity, but only by a hair.
Details: (c) 1996 Lois McMaster Bujold; Pub Baen Books 2001; ISBN 0-671-87845-X
Verdict: Memory is heartbreaking and very satisfying.
Reasons for reading it: It's in the adored Miles Vorkosigan series, need I say more? Besides, when I reviewed Mirror dance, everybody kept telling me how wonderful it is.
How it came into my hands: My wonderful Beau lent it to me just in time before I exploded of anticipation.
The first hundred pages of Memory absolutely broke my heart, and in so many ways. I have just reread The color of light which is mindblowingly good, but I think Memory actually comes close. The brief scene between Miles and Elena is fantastically poignant. And the whole slow, unbearable progression where all Miles' flaws come together to create a chain reaction of disaster. He suddenly stops getting away with incredibly stupid plans through his amazing good luck and ability to salvage the most disastrous situations. His habits of always trying to pull one over his superiors, and of stringing along all kinds of characters who are in love with him, suddenly come back and bite him with full force.
After that opening which was wonderful and at the same time completely unbearable to read, the story settles more into the typical Miles frame, where the situation is world-threateningly dire and he comes up with some off the wall yet brilliant scheme to sort things out. But the set-up makes that adventure part far sharper, it's no longer a cosy swashbuckling romp, I really believed that Miles might not succeed this time. And his utter despair seems real, in sharp contrast to all the usual Miles emo wallowing. The horror of what happens to Illyan is also portrayed extremely well.
In some ways the latter part of the book feels a little too glib, as if Bujold drew back from the full horror of what she'd set up and took the easy route of a happy ending. But that's only by contrast with the opening and middle sections, it's still very good. I am very close to deciding against reading any more in this series, because MD felt like a satisfying ending to everything that has come before. All the strings, all the characters, are tied off somehow, some lives end tragically and others with glory, but pretty much every single one of the major characters (except Mark) has an emotionally satisfying outcome. It's particularly amazing to see Miles as an integrated adult, achieving something even greater than what he thought he wanted. Since there are couple more books still to go, I probably will succumb to temptation and read them because they're likely to be enjoyable, but I almost wish MD was the last in the series, because I fear that anything after that triumphant ending is going to look like self-fanfic.
I really can't say whether this or Mirror Dance is the stronger book. I think I'd probably take Memory to the proverbial desert island, if I had to choose, just because it picks up so many echoes from the rest of the series and has such a great payoff. I think my favourite is still the short story collection Borders of Infinity, but only by a hair.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-28 06:59 pm (UTC)Did you dislike the Auditor concept, or that it was slid into place in this book without prior warning? It felt out of place that the concept was introduced quickly, but good that Miles gets to play detective.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-29 04:07 pm (UTC)