Review: Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold

Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold

Published: Baen, 2012

Series: The Vorkosigan Saga

Awards Nominated: Hugo Award

The Book:

“Ivan Vorpatril has a relatively peaceful job as an assistant to Admiral Desplains.  His personal life, though, becomes much less peaceful when he reluctantly opens the door to his cousin, Byerly Vorrutyer of Imperial Intelligence.  Byerly has the seemingly harmless request that Ivan, ever the ladies’ man, work his charm on a certain lady that may be in danger.

Ivan is not the sort to leave a lady in harm’s way, especially a very attractive lady, but he soon learns that Tej and her blue companion Rish are in much more trouble that he bargained for.  Ivan makes a brilliant and unexpected move to ensure Tej’s safety, but his tactics may leave the two of them stuck together for quite some time…” ~Allie 

This is the 9^th book I’ve read of the Vorkosigan Saga, so I am nearly two thirds of the way through reading the entire series!  I’ve been trying to read them in internal chronological order, but I’m also reading the latest ones when they show up in the Hugo nominations. I still recommend Shards of Honor/Barrayar as the best introduction to the saga, but Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance seems designed to also give a kind of crash course intro to the universe.

This is part of a series, so there may be spoilers of the series.  There are a few slight spoilers of this book as well, since I was unable to find a way to discuss it that avoided them entirely.

My Thoughts:

In long-running series of any media format, the growing wealth of information on the universe, characters, and notable events may eventually become a barrier to new fans, or even old fans that haven’t read the books in a while.  This saga ranges over a couple of decades of published novels, so I can see how it might be past that point for some readers.  I feel like this novel fills the role of a recap story, designed to revisit and remember characters and events for old readers, and to introduce them for new readers.  The current-time plot is a mix of a romantic comedy and a heist story, with plenty of humor and fun dialogue.  The story seems a little constrained, though, by the intent to touch on as many topics from previous novels as possible, and this also sometimes made it feel a little crammed with information.

The protagonist this time around is Ivan Vorpatril, who I find hilarious, though he is the sort of person that would annoy me to tears in reality.  He’s basically a friendly, professionally un-ambitious pick-up artist.  He has kind of a laid-back cheerfulness that I’ve always thought plays well against Miles’ energy (though Miles makes only a small appearance in this particular novel). The second viewpoint character is Tej, a new addition to the Vorkosigan Saga.  In a lot of ways, Tej’s story, being taken in by a Vor and having to deal with Barrayaran culture, is very similar to situations from earlier novels in the series.  Tej was nice as a match to Ivan’s personality, but she was not a particularly engaging character for me.  While the story was entertaining, there also seemed to be something missing.  Bujold’s novels usually say something interesting about societal norms or gender, but Ivan and Tej fall pretty well in line with a pretty standard romantic narrative.  It was still fun, but just a bit more lightweight than I expected.

In addition to Tej and Ivan’s romance, the story contains a pretty funny heist subplot, and a lot of meet-and-greeting. The first part of the story, where Ivan and Tej meet, was probably my favorite—it was really funny, but Tej also seemed to be in real danger.  After this section, though, the stakes drop considerably.  Tej and Ivan attend a fairly constant stream of dinner parties, afternoon tea, and other social gatherings, where she is able to meet and react to many of the various characters of the Vorkosigan Saga universe as they explain various bits of personal and political history to her.  The heist subplot kept things interesting, but I would have to say this is the lightest novel I’ve yet read in the series.

My Rating: 3/5

Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance is suitably funny and entertaining, but it’s a bit more fluffy than what I would call the usual Vorkosigan Saga novel.  It’s mostly a romantic comedy featuring Ivan Vorpatril, with a small dash of intrigue thrown in from the side of his romantic lead’s ambitious family.  While I enjoyed the novel, I felt that it lacked Bujold’s usual examination of gender or social norms, switching in traditional ‘guy/girl’ jokes instead.  Tej and Ivan cover of lot of ground in introducing characters and events from the series, which made me feel as though this were intended to be a kind of series recap story.  It’s a fun, lightweight novel, but it’s nowhere near my favorite of the series (which is still Barrayar, so far).

Review: Redshirts by John Scalzi

Redshirts : A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi

Published : Tor, 2012

Awards Won : Locus SF Award, Hugo Award

The Book :

”Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.

Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces, (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations, and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.” ~WWEnd.com

This is only the second novel I’ve read by John Scalzi, though I intend to finish the Old Man’s War series at some point.  I’m reading this novel in an attempt to get through the Hugo nominees before the end of the voting period (KSR’s 2312 is still looming—I may not get that one finished in time).

My Thoughts :

The entirety of Redshirts is basically a long-running meta-fictional joke.  The title takes its name from a trope of the original Star Trek series, in which red-shirted, nameless extras were constantly killed off, usually to further a protagonist’s plot or to show the severity of a situation. These redshirts, who come into this status after their transfer to the Intrepid, are the heroes of Scalzi’s novel. They have to work together to figure out why their lives are suddenly being manipulated (and destroyed), by what seems to be a crappy Star Trek knock-off science fiction television show.  This resulted in a lot of really hilarious situational humor, as they try to use the nonsensical TV logic to their benefit.  While I did enjoy the humor, I think the story might have worked better in a shorter form of fiction.  Redshirts isn’t a long book, but the joke was already wearing a bit thin by the end.

The style of the book was also very bland, in a way that I think was intended to be a comedic take on bad science fiction.  The sentences were usually short and non-descriptive, and the story was dominated by dialogue.  The characters all had pretty similar, forgettable names (Hanson, Hester, Dahl, Duvall, Finn, etc.), and just about every line dialogue seemed tagged with “<name/pronoun> said”.  This worked well for a lot of the humor, giving the dialogue kind of a deadpan feeling, but it also became very repetitive quite quickly.  I think there is a thin line between writing deliberately badly in a parodic way, and just writing badly. I still found the story funny and entertaining, but I could see it going the other way for other readers. 

As story moves more into the meta-fictional realm, it begins to try to become a more serious kind of story.  I felt like this was a bit undercut by the writing style and the continuous jokes, but it was interesting to see how relatively normal people would react to this kind of an absurd situation.  For instance, one character comments about religious faith: 

 “I mean, you know and I know that in this universe, god is a hack,” he said.  “He’s a writer on an awful science fiction television show, and He can’t plot His way out of a box.  How do you have faith when you know that?” ~p.96

There is some interesting discussion about free will, and whether one can have a meaningful life without it. The story actually draws together to a surprisingly serious conclusion for such a tongue-in-cheek novel.  The three codas don’t seem especially necessary, but it was neat to see more of how the events of the story might affect “real” people.  I enjoyed the humor more than anything else in Redshirts, but I was pretty satisfied by the way the story ended.

My Rating : 3.5/5

Redshirts, as a joke story based on a Star Trek trope, is a fast, light, humorous novel to read.  It isn’t very long, but I kind of got the feeling that the joke might have been better suited to shorter fiction.  The writing is very choppy, simplistic, and dominated by dialogue.  While this style often underlines the absurd humor nicely, it also gets old after a while.  As the meta-fictional elements became more dominant, the story took some surprisingly serious turns (given the ridiculous premise).  I can see how this is a novel that will not be to everyone’s tastes, I got a lot of laughs from its funnier moments.

Review: Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein

Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein

Published: Astounding Science Fiction (Analog), 1956

Awards Won: Hugo Award

The Book:

“One minute, down and out actor Lorenzo Smythe was -- as usual -- in a bar, drinking away his troubles as he watched his career go down the tubes. Then a space pilot bought him a drink, and the next thing Smythe knew, he was shanghaied to Mars.

Suddenly he found himself agreeing to the most difficult role of his career: impersonating an important politician who had been kidnapped. Peace with the Martians was at stake -- failure to pull off the act could result in interplanetary war. And Smythe's own life was on the line -- for if he wasn't assassinated, there was always the possibility that he might be trapped in his new role forever!” ~WWend.com

I’ve read a fair amount of Heinlein (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and various short stories), and I enjoyed Double Star. It seemed much lighter and action-focused than other Heinlein novels I’ve read so far.

My Thoughts:

Double Star is a pretty short, fast-paced novel, with a kind of light, not-too-terribly-serious tone that made it a lot of fun to read. I don’t think that Double Star really comedic sci-fi, but it just has an enthusiastic, good-natured attitude that really makes it easy to get caught up in the story.  The novel focuses on the actor ‘Lorenzo Smythe’, the highly skilled—and incredibly conceited—man who gets caught up in the great impersonation.  At first, I thought I would find his narration irritating, since he spends an awful lot of time thinking very highly of himself, or alluding to great works of theatre.  However, his whole character seems to be treated with a certain amount of humor.  Rather than making me roll my eyes, his pomposity seemed to invite laughter.  I also really enjoyed the way his character develops throughout the story.

While I thought Smythe was a surprisingly fun lead, not many of the other characters in the story are very thoroughly fleshed out.  One of the most memorable was the politician’s secretary, Penny.  Penny is the only female in the story, and she’s portrayed as emotional, childish, petulant, and almost entirely motivated by her crush on her employer.  Her colleagues treat her with a kind of friendly condescension, once even playfully threatening to spank her if she didn’t behave.  This was a little irritating to read, but it didn’t bother me as much as some other 1950’s portrayals of women.  For one thing, Penny’s work is actually valuable to her political team, and Smythe’s impersonation would have likely been doomed from the start without her help. For another thing, I have to admit that many of the characters in the story are shown to be more than a little ridiculous.  In this light, Penny seemed silly, as other characters were silly, rather than offensive.

The story was exciting and quickly paced, and I felt that it built tension well. There were some very tense occasions where a failure on Smythe’s part could have been disastrous or even fatal.  I appreciated that Heinlein did not derail the tension with lengthy political discussion, even though the story was about politicians. The politician Smythe impersonates, John Joseph Bonforte, has a strong presence in the story despite his physical absence, and it is through Smythe’s studies of his role that we are shown some of his views.  The main message one could take from this story would be against racism.  This being science fiction, Heinlein did use Martians and other aliens as the ‘other’, but racism is an issue involved both in Smythe’s personal life and in Bonforte’s politics.  Given its temporal proximity to the Civil Right’s Movement, it seems like Double Star must have been particularly relevant to the political environment of the time period in which it was written.

My Rating: 4/5

I think Double Star might be my favorite Heinlein novel to date.  It seems to lean more towards the juvenile end of the Heinlein spectrum, but it still engages with some political issues that were likely especially relevant at the time of its publication.  The story is ridiculous at times, but it is fast-paced and I found it very easy to get caught up in the excitement.  Some character portrayals, such as the childish secretary Penny, are a bit tiresome, but they never seem mean-spirited.  Like most novels, Double Star is a product of time period, but I think it still offers a fun experience for modern-day science fiction readers.

Review: Bellwether by Connie Willis

Bellwether by Connie Willis

Published : Bantam Spectra, 1996

Awards Nominated : Nebula Award

The Book :

“What makes something become a fad?  That’s the question Sandra Foster wants to answer through her research for HiTek Corporation.  HiTek’s bureaucratic atmosphere isn’t making her task any easier. Sandra is constantly derailed by overcomplicated paperwork, meetings, HiTek’s obsession with acquiring a prestigious grant and her supremely incompetent fad-following office assistant, Flip.

Thanks to a mis-delivered package, Sandra gets to know her fellow HiTek researcher Bennet O'Reilly, who works with monkey group behavior and chaos theory.  Sandra is initially interested in him due to his strange immunity to fads, but their acquaintanceship quickly moves towards a closer collaboration.  As their research spirals out of control, Bennet and Sandra search for the link between chaos theory, romance, fads, and a flock of sheep…” ~Allie

I’ve read a lot of Willis’ work, though this is the first book I’ve read outside of her time travel novels (Doomsday Book, Blackout/All Clear, To Say Nothing of the Dog).  Bellwether is definitely characteristic of Willis’ style, but it is also a light, silly romantic comedy.  This is also the third novel I've reviewed for the Grand Master Reading Challenge, hosted by WWend.com, a fantastic website I recommend highly for any fans of speculative fiction.  

My Thoughts :

Bellwether does feature scientists, but it doesn't really seem like a science fiction story.  I can’t help but wonder if it was simply labeled that way out of habit, since most of Willis’ work is science fiction.  Bellwether is mostly a light, satirical romantic comedy about fads, scientific discoveries, and office politics.  Willis’ familiar style is present here, as she draws humor out of obnoxious side characters, miscommunication, incompetence, and all the little frustrations that crop up in everyday life. Bellwether is more in the vein of To Say Nothing of the Dog than Doomsday Book or Blackout/All Clear.  It is by far the shortest and fluffiest Connie Willis novel I’ve ever read, but it was a very pleasant, light read.

   

Throughout the story, Willis includes little facts about real fads and circumstances around unexpected scientific breakthroughs.  I really enjoyed these inserts, though I think this attention to historical and recent-to-publication (1990s) fads dates the book.  It happens to be just the time period to invoke nostalgia for me, but I’m not sure how well this would fly with people who aren’t in my generation.  There are a lot of ‘current’ fads introduced in the novel as well. Most of these are believably ridiculous, but some of them seem unlikely to occur in our current times. I think that it is the nature of fads to become obsolete very quickly, and the fad-focused setting causes the book to be very much a product of its time.

Aside from the fads, there was a lot of satire of office culture.  Having dealt with bureaucracy extensively, I found this satire ridiculously stressful to read.  To ‘help’ their employees’ productivity, HiTek had constant meetings and workshops, and a lot of time was spent describing their required paperwork, which was so ridiculously complicated that it actually obstructed employee progress.   Included in this satire is also one of the major ‘obnoxious characters’, the office assistant Flip.  Flip is a trendy young woman who doesn’t really do anything useful, and instead seems to damage productivity everywhere she goes.  Sandra tries to make the best of things by befriending her, but this only makes her behavior worse.  I think many people who’ve worked in an office environment have probably been stuck at some point with someone as lazy and incompetent as Flip.   

Most of the plot featured Dr. Sandra Foster as she went about her daily life, attempting all the while to find the origin of hair bobbing.  This may sound boring, but I think that describing daily life in a light, humorous way is Willis’ forte.  Sandra goes through children’s birthday parties, cafes, libraries, and HiTek, observing everything with an eye towards fads and absurdities. The romance in the story is pretty obvious and predictable, but adorable all the same.  The conclusion was as chaotic and ridiculous as expected, and the whole story left me in a cheerful mood.  Bellwether is certainly a light read, but it was a lot of fun.     

My Rating : 3.5/5

Bellwether is a satire of fads and office culture and a romantic comedy, but it didn’t really seem like a science fiction story.  The story is much lighter, shorter and more carefree than many of Willis’ other novels, but her style was still here in full force.  There’s no time-traveling Oxford (as in Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, etc.), but her characters still come up against irritating minor characters, minor frustrations, and ridiculous bureaucracy.  The focus on fads, and some of the attitudes of the main characters, left the story feeling firmly set in the 90s, and it will likely feel even more dated to readers who haven’t lived through that decade.  The writing was light and humorous, the characters were likeable or likeably obnoxious, and the predictable eventual romance was very cute.  It may lack the depth and gravity of some of her other works, but Bellwether is a funny, cheerful book that made for pleasant light reading.