“So, have you become a security risk, Vorpatril?”
“I don’t know, sir,” said Ivan, as honestly as possible. “Nobody tells me anything.” [loc. 4168]
I bought this several years back, but have only just got around to reading it: it was perfect for my customary late-winter reading slump, in which I tend to crave either rereads, cheerful romances or fanfic. I think this is the last of the Vorkosigan books that I hadn't read, but late January in lockdown was absolutely the right time for it.
This is, in short, a romantic novel about a marriage of convenience. Ivan Vorpatril is enjoying his usual comfortable lifestyle -- low-risk employment, bachelor-about-town, content to be treated as an idiot if it makes his life easier -- when his cousin Byerly asks him to engineer a meeting with Tej, a young woman who's fleeing homicidal enemies and, more recently, the local security forces. Tej is alone in the world after a rival House moved in on her family: her only companion is her friend Rish, a genetically-engineered dancer with blue skin. Tej has reached the end of her resources when Ivan offers marriage as temporary protection, and Rish gets the benefit of his protection too. But Byerly has an agenda of his own: and when figures from Tej's past collide with Vor high society, the consequences are ... unexpected.
Ivan, here, is a very Heyeresque hero: good-looking, courageous, kind-hearted and much less stupid than his behaviour might suggest. (Someone online compared Ivan to Prince Harry, his loutish youth behind him, marrying an 'unsuitable' bride now that the social pressure for a grand wedding has lessened. Brilliant, except I just don't see Ivan as a redhead.) He has never shown any sign of wanting to be married before, but thinks he might be enjoying it. Byerly, on the other hand, whose effete habits and air of dilettantish dissolution conceal an excellent brain and a surplus of secrets, is more of a dark horse, though it's harder than he expects to deceive Rish.
Confession time: I do not find Miles Vorkosigan himself especially engaging. The books in this series that I've enjoyed most tend to be those which focus on other characters. (As we shall see.) And it's a very long time since I read A Civil Campaign, so I'd forgotten all about Byerly Vorrutyer -- who, to be fair, is not a major character therein. But despite Captain Vorpatril's Alliance focussing on Ivan, Byerly was the character who appealed most to me.
I very much enjoyed Ivan and Tej's romance, and Byerly and Rish's ... liaison, and the heist, and the further insights into Vorish society. Also, as usual with Bujold, there are strong themes of feminism, prejudice, misunderstandings between parents and children, and the disastrous effects of boredom on intelligent minds. I am happy to report that there is not much Miles, but a great deal of Alys and Simon, herein. Great fun, and an excellent excuse to indulge in a reread of a few more Vorkosigan books ...
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