#rucy reads the vor game

[call-me-rucy]

Small Vorkosigang

(I have probably messed up someone's uniform's colours but shhhhh)

[call-me-rucy]

Beginning by the beginning (1)

I guess this is the start of my "The Vor Game" live blog! Full disclosure, I'm already 15% into the book so I'll be using this post (and maybe some others) to quickly recap my thoughts up to date.

The story so far:

Shards of Honor

Barrayar

The Warrior’s Apprentice

The Vor Game (I am here!)

Cetaganda

Ethan of Athos

Borders of Infinity

Brothers of Arms

Mirror Dance

Memory

Warning: I'm reading the Spanish 2019 edition, and I'm a translation nerd so I'll be commenting a lot of that.

For starters, the title in spanish "El juego de los Vor", already lets us know something that the original doesn't explicitely: the "Vor" in the title is plural. Looking forward to those class dramas.

This edition, although very recent, is a reedition of the first one there was so it's fun to read the prologue: "Barrayar, coming soon in the year way way before you were born even". Man, I've already done and loved Barrayar. The world needs more characters like Cordelia.

Anyway, onto the story.

I love books that reward you for remembering specific details. For example, by remembering from passing comments that Kyril Island is somewhere that no one, no one ever wanted to be asigned to. In fact, wasn't someone sent there as punishment? My boy, what are they gonna do to you this time?

"Very good. But your most insidious chronic problem is in the area of... how shall I put this precisely... subordination. You argue too much." "No, I don't."

So fun, I adore him, your honour. I didn't know the notorious "you see your superiors as cattle" conversation was in this book, it was a nice surprise. They're not wrong lol

Miles not ten minutes into the island, already lying by ommision, pretending he doesn't know barrayaran greek: it's a surprise tool that will help us later.

Also, the sentence about barrayaran greek is the first instance so far of the word "barrayaran", which I looked forward to, since sometimes they translate as "barrayarano" and others as "barrayarés". I prefer the first one, so I'm in luck with this book :D

Overall enjoying the Miles suffering so far, I'm very pleased with the evolution of the character, he doesn't seem as wild and desperate as in The Warrior's Apprentice but he's still him.

(To be continued...)

[call-me-rucy]

More problems for Miles: now an spillage, which is a step above sewers, I think. Oh. Mutagenic spillage. Steps below. Definitely below.

So a day in Barrayar is 26,7 hours! I was wondering about that, I think i read Ivan mentioning hour 25 before.

Have I already said I don't like Metzov? I don't like Metzov.

WOW THIS IS ESCALATING QUICKLY. NOW MILES HAS A NERVE DISRUPTOR. OKAY. OKAY. YEAH WE CAN DO THAT.

NO CLOTHES IN THE POLE. OKAY. YEAH WE CAN DO THAT. I know Miles doesn't die here, which is little relief.

"It'll all look different in the morning, anyway." "Yeah. Worse."

This dialogue was so funny!

“Imperial security” Oh, that is good :D “Miles is happy about that”. Oh, that is not good :/

HIGH TREASON?! AGAIN?! He's 20!!! I wonder if he'll set a record, at this rate. "Most high treasons per year".

At least he won't be cold in Vorbarr Sultana...

Illyan! Long time no see! You were younger last I read about you. Was he in "Barrayar"? I recall him in Shards of Honor...

Offhand, Miles knew of no one Illyan feared except Miles's mother. He'd once asked his father if this was guilt, about the soltoxin, but Count Vorkosigan had replied, No, it was only the lasting effect of vivid first impressions.

I see he recalls Shards of Honor as well. Well, he recalls everything, I guess.

"Him". Ay, Aral… OH HES HERE! THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND

Jole??? Is this the Jole I've read so much about in the main tags?? Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen’s Jole? I didn't know he'd be here that early. Then again I also expected Bothari to last a couple more books. It feels unreal that I'm already in book 4.

Aral hugs Miles, peace and love on planet earth

"For that sin, there is no hole deep enough to hide him from my wrath." hbcffhh i love Aral. Though what are you gonna do? Send him to Kyril Island?

MILES RENOUNCING HIS CAREER?!? THAT HE FOUGHT SO HARD TO GET. Excuse me while I go cry in a corner.

[call-me-rucy]

Beginning by the beginning (2)

(I'm sorry these posts until I get caught up are gonna be many thoughts in one place.)

Then we meet Lieutenant Ahn, which the voice reader I sometimes use doesn't know what exactly to do with, so he's "teniente A-Hache-Ene (lieutenant a-aitch-en)" instead.

Franctically googling if an Ensign is ranked higher than a Corporal. If im understanding this correctly, it is! Which, wow. 20, 21 yo is the boy. Makes the relationship with the crew all more interesting.

The boss at the base is a rare character because he isn't kissing the floor Miles walks on, as others tend to do if he manages to get his way in the first five minutes. An intriguing new obstacle, what will our Ensign do?

"After a bewildered brownian trip around the room" Do people usually know what brownian movement looks like? I'm a physicist so I know, but, is this even in the dictionary? (If anyone does actually read these, please feel free to reply or tag with if you know what "brownian motion" looks like).

If Aral has been Prime Minister for 4 years that means Miles is 20 yo-ish? 19-ish? So young still. (*Thinks about Warrior's Aprentice* SO YOUNG!!)

I'm gonna applaud McMaster Bujold for naming the deathly wind "wah-wah" for no obvious reason. (I was listening the first time I came across this term and thought it was "guagua", a regional version for "bus" in some spanish-speaking places).

"And this guy is going to leave me alone on this island with six thousand armed men, and tell me to go sniff for wah-wahs?" SERIOUSLY, how can this writing be so very well constructed that's funny and serious at the same time??

Another one I had to look up: the vehicle names. Spanish says "gato-veloz" so I thought it would be "fast-cat", but it is instead "scat-cat", which sounds cool as hell.

(To be continued... We're getting closer.)

[call-me-rucy]

Beginning by the beginning (3)

(Almost there! Almost up to date!)

Miles rides his way to the trap, because we as readers can see it's a trap. This is stellar storytelling because we know something is gonna happen but not what exactly so it makes you even more invested.

"But he'd known that would be part of the game when he'd demanded to play." Possible reference to the title. Although in all chances this was written before the book was titled. Either way, I like it!!

Let me tell you, "Miles almost dies drowned in slow-quick-sand" was not in my bingo card for this book. Then again, this is McMaster "Here's a horseback chase in my sci-fi book" Bujold. I do not really have a bingo card for this book, it'd be pretty useless I fear.

Metzov. It'll take a bit for me to remember his name but I'll get to it eventually, specially if he insist on being an ass to Miles. And also women. "Miles wondered sourly if the general would then agree that a woman armed in a technological war might as well be a man."

Miles spoke through his teeth, words jerked out as though by pliers. "Would you have preferred the interview you'd be having right now if I'd permitted myself to freeze, sir?"

Ouffffff, that's some great great dialogue. See, this is why I love Miles.

"He'd simply have to avoid Metzov as much as possible for the next six months." <- Sounds like something that will go very wrong to the point of being funny on a reread but I'll have to wait to be sure.

And thus we are up to date! Because otherwise this post will be shorter than the previous two, I'll add here some fun facts about when I started reading this series:

I say that I'll eventually remember Metzov because one of my first thoughts when reading "Shards of Honor" was "Man, I have to remember this book's title because it I have to search it by its Vor-whatever saga name, I'll never be able to find anything because it's so hard to remember". Cut to me now knowing by heart pretty much all the Barrayaran family trees that have been explained so far. (Though I still sometimes confuse Vorhalas with Vortala but that's the only thing).

This all was because I took the books out the library randomly, I had never heard of this series before but hey, it was sci-fi and the cover looked pretty. (I've come to know that this series isn't really graced with covers as cool as it deserves but here, see? This one was cool enough to pull me in).

I also didn't realize "Lois" was a mostly exclusively female name and then had an "Oooooooh, that actually makes a lot of sense" moment when I finally became invested enough to google the author. Canon FMA fan moment, anyone?

I'm a disaster xD

Anyways, this concludes the recap part of the live blog so from now on the posts will be actually live, shorter and more random, all still in this same tag. (Also, if you followed me just for this you may want to silence the professor layton tag, I'm really annoying about those games). Cheers! <3

[call-me-rucy]

The Vor Game liveblog

By popular demand, I'll be liveblogging as I read The Vor Game!! :D So as not to clog the main tags, i'll be using the tag "rucy reads the vor game". You can already find the first post here:

https://call-me-rucy.tumblr.com/tagged/rucy%20reads%20the%20vor%20game

I don't make any promises in regard of pace, but know that I'll finish it eventually. I'm too deep in now lol.

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Oh! Demoted to ImpSec, that's clever! At this rate Miles is going to get demoted to Emperor somehow. Poor Gregor though. (He was an adult only for a few scenes in TWA* but I don't think I dislike him).

*Do people use initials to refer to books in this series? TWA seemed like a good idea but "B" might complicate things.

"Miles's heart rose in his aching chest for the first time since he'd left Kyril Island". I love this father-son bonding.

"The former Lord Regent was the man who used to take a two-hour lunch every day, regardless of any crisis short of war, (...) with his son who could not walk, playing, talking, reading aloud". OH I WILL CRY!

AND CORDELIA IS HERE TOO! Oh how I love her. The woman that she is!

Wdym "acento betanés"?? If you're doing barrayaran->barrayarano why are you not doing betan->betano??? I think all previous editions had at least the two demonyms use the same termination, this is an unexpected development.

Gregor is here!! I didn't expect him here. It's early in the book, only a third in.

Miles and Ivan and Elena and Gregor. What a picture. I love them. I'll have to draw them, I think. (I'll have to work out the age differences. Gregor, then four or five years, Elena, six months, Miles-but-not-really , some months? weeks? Ivan, some days?, this-time-for-real Miles. I need to reread Barrayar.)

"Gregor had graduated from the Imperial Academy two years before Miles entered it." So five years older? Six? I need to do math, I'll be back.

[call-me-rucy]

Having fullfilled my promise of drawing the small vorkosigang, usual live read returns.

It's interesting that both Gregor and Miles want to do the same thing ("space ship duty") but they can't because almost oposite reasons. Gregor is "too much" and Miles is "not good enough/too much in another sense".

"Do me a favor. Get married, settle down, and have six little Vorbarras real quick." Gregor looked even more depressed.

Man, poor Gregor!! And now Miles also beats him at the game. He's letting him win, this is just too sad.

"I cringe to think of the risks I ran." My boy is growing up :"(

"The job was interesting for a week, while he was learning it, mind-numbing after that." My friends group has a sticker that says "do you have adhd??" on it, and I would send it to Miles rn.

"As a spiritual exercise, he decided to fill his off-duty hours by watching every training vid in the military library." This would merit the "YOU HAVE BEEN INVITED TO JOIN ADHD" sticker. Different one.

DENDARII FLEET MENTIONED, HERE WE GO!!

Omg I understand now why this book came with a map. I'm lost. So utterly lost. Aslund and the Hegen and the Jacksons and Pol and Cetaganda and Komarr...

ADMIRAL NAISMITH IS BACK, BABYYY!! :DDDDD This time with unexpected Barrayaran restrictions but he's off planet!!!

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"But the Vervani have been threatening to break off diplomatic relations with Pol, so the Polians are being extra-cautious." "Pero los vervaneses han estado amenazando con romper las relaciones diplomáticas con Pol, por lo que los polenses están siendo muy cautelosos."

See, this is what I was talking about earlier. Barrayaran is translated as "barrayarano" but a choice was made here to translate "polians" as "polenses" (a perfectly good demonym), and not, idk, "polanos" or "polianos". On the other hand, "cetangandan", as barrayaran, mantained the "-an" demonym, becoming "cetagandano".

Lowkey scared of Metzov now. The lack of information is disturbing. Miles will certainly find another way to know, though.

"The whole ImpSec file system's been made super-secure." Miles 10 seconds later: "I don't think so". He could be the greatest security tester but no, freezing cold post it is.

"If we shouldn't do it, we shouldn't be able to do it." I love him your honour.

The book: "Three months down, three to go. It was getting darker." Also the book: "Page 67 out of 295" (23%) Me: FEAR.

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Victor Rotha. Okay. Hearing his job it doesn't seem very far from what he and Gregor were discussing about being a mascot but oh well. He's free-ish now. Can't wait to see what he does lol

Loving how the writer manages a whole parragraph describing a woman only to end on an "which could mean nothing" note that isn't fooling anyone. Who is sheee?

ADMIRAL NAISMITH! The Dendarii are here! Which is, apparently not good but oh well. Show me Elena! Where's my girlll?

It's interesting to see how different are the views in TWA and TVG in respect with Naismith. In TWA, Naismith was Miles. It was a lie, yes, but it was not really a different person, it was Miles lying whereas now Miles thinks of Naismith as an act, as a role, as if he's not himself Miles Naismith. (If anyone watches Case Closed/Detective Conan, this is a bit like that philosofical Shinichi/Conan distinction).

Livia Nu has a name. Noted.

Miles being seduced but being so paranoid he thinks she's attacking him is so in character I can't even complain.

Oh, she did murder someone! Cool! :D Poor Miles though.

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Ivan has called, and he seems to be living the good life. Ay, Ivan... Poor Miles.

Wait, is it Eye-van or Ee-van? (One duckduckgo search later) Wiki says "ee-VAHN or EYE-van", which is extremely unhelpful. Oh, well. I like "EYE-van" (TV Tropes: Keep It Foreign) so I guess I'll stick to that.

Also, in the end it wasn't murder nor suicide but "death from stupidity"... Or was it? Please let me have Detective Miles. In my mind I'm joining with red thread this body with that throaway line about "Miles figured out where to blow up the base from".

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Oooooh, so this was all an excuse to get Miles in the sewers? My poor boy. And now there's a body.

Is it really a Vorkosigan saga book if there's no suicidal ideation? (See, this is why I can't reccomend these books to friends. That and Vorrutyer and Serg) Although well, maybe it's murder this time. Is the plot a murder mystery?

[call-me-rucy]

Btw, the wiki says Dendarii's pronounced den-DARE-ee, but nopes, too late, they're den-dah-REE forever in my head. I blame Barrayar's Spanish audiobook for that one.