#vorkosigan saga spoilers

[aceofthegreenajah]

Thinking about Mountains of Mourning got me rereading it again for the millionth time. Every time I think, 'surely by now it has no hold of me? I know every turn it takes, can damn near recite parts of it.' And here I am, sobbing.

The story itself is beautiful, the language is gorgeous, but there is also something in the setting that speaks to me personally.

Our family farm is in a community smaller than silvy vale, and has been in the family for at least a couple of centuries. It's in the least populated and most backwater part of the country. And my country itself is small and insignificant, sparsely populated, mostly wilderness. In the eyes of some we may be backwater forest folk, tough as our land and just as stuck in our ways.

And I am a very tied-to-the-earth person. I am at home barefoot in the forest, fishing in the lakes, foraging in the swamps, working with animals, chopping wood. These forests are my forests, this land is my land. I was born on it and if I have to be buried, I want to be buried in it. I've never wanted to leave for better pastures. I've wished I could hold my home and my people up.

So though I cry for the beauty of the language and the message, and the grief of the plot, I also cry for the happy ending that Silvy Vale receives.

[krakenartificer]

#vorkosigan saga#simon illyan <3#love that we get multiple retirement arcs in these books#and at least one (this one. and also alys really) where he really FOR REAL retires#literally no longer doing any job#and then has to figure out what to do with himself#the older i get the more Memory is The Best Book#when you take away what you think is the core of your identity#what’s left?#well#you#and now you have to look in the mirror and figure out what that means (via @southern-continent-skies)

"When you take away what you think is the core of your identity, what's left? Well. You. And now you have to look in the mirror and figure out what that means."

Damn. How many parallels between Illyan and Miles from this book are going to hit me in the face and force me to rethink everything I thought I knew?

Miles losing his covert ops identity and Illyan losing his chip.

Miles going catatonic and Illyan trapped in medbay with no idea what day or year it is.

Miles staring at the dagger and Illyan touching his forehead and saying "I think I'd rather have you cut my throat."

Ivan forcing Miles into the ice bath and Miles choosing surgery for Illyan.

Both of them losing the post and position that gave them a place in society and counteracted the stigma of being disabled/prole.

Both of them sitting at loose ends because they never wanted to retire, and what do you even do if you're not working? What's the point of existence if you're not doing your job?

And the answer -- it turns out -- is love. Come what may, regardless of where you are and what work you are or are not doing ... being there for the people you love, helping them and letting them help you, is what it's all about.

really one of the main reasons I love Memory is seeing Illyan destroyed. Deconstructed. What remains of the imposing head of the Imperial Security when we remove from him what made him imposing and infallible? the answer is: try again, bitch.

[aquitainequeen]

I was thinking about how so many of those with power and authority in the Wasteland are referred to not only by their title, but with an honorific 'the'. So we have The Immortan Joe, The Red/Great/Dark/etc Dementus, and further down there's The People Eater, The Bullet Farmer, The Organic Mechanic, The Octoboss, The History Man. Even some of Joe's trusted subordinates carry this honorific, as the first time we're introduced to Jack he's the Praetorian Jack.

Going back to Fury Road, the same goes for most of the women whom Joe kept locked up in his harem, with a little variation. The Splendid Angharad, Toast the Knowing, The Dag, Cheedo the Fragile.

All of which made me think about Furiosa, who's tried for years upon years to escape the world of the Wasteland and service to the warlords; finally both surrendering to and drawing upon what power and authority she's amassed during that service, in order to have a chance at getting her revenge. How she mutters 'Praetorian Furiosa'. And then when she's ignored, she screams

'I am the Praetorian Furiosa!!!'

[thirdwifeofriversong]

“Unhand Lady Vorpatril!” is such an amazing line/moment— one of the few times when it’s completely clear that miles and ivan are related, however much ivan tries not to be like miles

[inconclusionray]

Miles in Brothers in Arms:

[starfishlikestoread]

I have probably posted this before but. forever delusional about Ship In A Bottle by Fin being such a quintessential Memory song, both from the chip breakdown perspective:

You can fit everything you know In a bottle for you to show Pick your brain apart and put it in And build it again with needles and pins

Oh, captain, make up your mind Before the salt burns your eyes and you run out of time 'Cause you're popping the cork, you get lost in your brain And you lose touch with all the things that made you feel sane

and Miles trying to get out of being fired:

Oh, captain, let's make a deal Where we both say the things that we both really feel I feel scared and I'm starting to sink And I only sink deeper the deeper I think

and Haroche attempting to bribe Miles with the captaincy:

Oh, captain, oh, captain, deal Oh, captain, deal, oh, captain, deal, oh

like!! do you see my vision,,

[utilitycaster]

just an idle weird thought given the proximity of Phineas's breakdown in Midst, Ashton's breakdown on Critical Role, and some stray thoughts I've had about Tula on D20, Suvi on WBN, and that female blorbos post that goes around from time to time; but I feel like that very specific identity crisis/explosive depression spiral re Phineas and Ashton is truly a thing that makes me go oh this character is actually everything is weirdly gendered. It's almost always a man who has it; Ashton is honestly the only example I can think of who isn't a man (though I think Suvi might be headed for this, which is one of the many reasons I love her).

[highladyluck]

Would you be so kind as to write a quick little "why you should/shouldn't read" for the Vorkosigan saga? Doesn't have to be specific, but it sounds like you're having a lot of fun over there and I want a reason to join in on another unreasonably long and convoluted-sounding book series. Also it sounds like you're ready to gush about it at a moment's notice

Ooooh, with pleasure! The Vorkosigan saga is a collection of short stories, novellas, and novels written across 30+ years by Lois McMaster Bujold, focused on Miles, the disabled scion of one of the most politically powerful (and progressive) feudal lords of the 3-planet Barraryan empire. Barrayar was a colony planet settled by a couple ethnic/cultural groups from earth (I’ve spotted Russian, French, & Greek and I think there’s a 4th) and they ended up left to their own devices until around 200 years ago when they were discovered by the rest of galactic society (other human colonies).

They have a cultural trauma around genetic mutations due to being atomic-bombed by a neighboring empire about 4 generations ago, and Miles’s life is shaped by the attendant prejudices around this. He isn’t actually mutated but he looks like he is, due to teratogenic damage from an attempted political assassination (chemical weapons + fetus = very short kid with brittle bones & chronic pain). He copes by being extremely desperate to prove himself, and is consequently pretty reckless with his physical body & mental health, but he’s protective of people he is responsible for & puts a very high price on personal integrity. (Reminds me of Rand and Mat, of course.)

There’s some ‘progressive for the 90s’ terminology/attitudes about queer people that are dated at best and wincingly off-base at worst, but that’s really the only complaint I have, and I think that has begun getting better as I go along. (I have similar issues with RJ.) It’s a series very much concerned with the politics of reproduction, in a way that still feels rare in science fiction. The implications of the technology of the uterine replicator on power, gender, sexuality, morality, and culture are explored. Worth noting is that the books also have some heavy torture scenes and occasionally deal with sexual assault. I think it is handled well & is not gratuitous but it’s definitely content warning territory.

The honor-based-checks-and-balances feudal structure of Barrayar is contrasted with various realistically flawed democracies (Komarr tends towards ogliarchy & the Beta colonies are a partially-automated semi-luxurious gay space socialist democracy), the other empire (Cetaganda is like the Byzantine empire if it was built on mad science eugenics), and various other interesting government models (Jackson’s Whole aka the libertarian goblin market, the Quaddie’s ascended engineer’s union, etc). The feudal structure is an exciting place to have the conversations about women’s labor (literally and figuratively), personal expectations, and societal responsibility that Bujold is interested in, because the personal and the political are so dramatically and obviously intertwined there.

In addition to the themes & setting, I’m enjoying it at least partially for the excellent structure of the stories; Bujold never forgets to hang up Chekov’s gun in the first act, but it’s always sneaky so it’s fun to try to spot it. Miles and his entourage are also a delight. These characters try their best, and make realistic mistakes, and are understandable even when you don’t agree with them. I also enjoy how the antagonistic cultures are fleshed out with nuance, much like how RJ introduces the Aiel and the Seanchan as faceless, inhuman enemies and then complicated things by giving them faces & human motivations. (In this analogy, Barrayar is Aiel and Cetaganda is Seanchan.)

For reading order, here’s some tips: https://bookriot.com/vorkosigan-saga-reading-order/

[havendance]

Started Komarr and I have absorbed enough general knowledge about this series online to know that Miles and Ekaterin eventually get together, but does Miles really have to start this out by snooping through her financial files?

[earlgraytay]

So I whizzed through a big chunk of The Vor Game and forgot to liveblog it, apologies!

But I just got to the part where [spoilers]

Miles finds Gregor

in the prison

under an assumed name

suicidally depressed, a prisoner, on the run

and I'm screaming about it

[figsandfandoms]

Re-reading Cryoburn is like... a picture taken seconds before disaster. or like that episode of 'How I met your mother' where the audience can see the numbers counting down in the background, but the characters themselves have no idea.

There's so much talk about orphans and loosing a parent. Miles has so many questions for his father, questions we know he'll never get the chance to ask. The reminder of the Counts and their naming system isn't out of place; they're talking to off-worlders after all. But what was at first just a bit of trivia (or a reminder) for those familiar with the series now becomes a terrible foreshadow.

You want to run into the story and shake the characters. To tell Miles it's not too late but only if he moves right now. But we can't, and he doesn't.

[kellylor]

A few weeks ago I was catching up on the vorkosigan saga tag and saw a fic request where the prompt was a sedoretu with Cordelia/Aral/Simon/Princess Kareen and I thought instantly, why have I not been constructing headcanon sedoretu for all my favorite fictional worlds this whole time?? I mean ok it's because I don't participate in fanfic and also I still don't want to, but I do love working out headcanon nonsense for myself, and also sedoretu.

And ever since then I have had an intrusive thought that will not go away until I write it down somewhere I guess, which is that the most obvious sedoretu in the history of fiction not written by Ursula K. Le Guin is, of course, the Queen's Thief royal couples. It's practically canon already. I mean we have Actual Canon that sleeping with each others' spouses is the primary winter entertainment in the Eddisian court (it also happens quite a bit in the Attolian court, but like 80% of it is just Relius sleeping with everyones' spouses at every opportunity). We have Gen's extremely chaotic bisexual energy. We have, well, everything going on in A Conspiracy of Kings, including Sophos and Gen acting toward each other nearly the same way Gen and Irene do during the marriage/treaty negotiations in the Queen of Attolia.

I also already love the evolution of Irene's relationship with Helen, and it's obvious by The Return of the Thief that they love and support each other. You know, because they are also married to each other.

Shit, out of curiousity I just searched AO3 and got zero results for Queen's Thief fic tagged sedoretu. This is bullshit. Is this going to be my fanfic writing origin story?

[aquitainequeen]

At first I thought Maomao from The Apothecary Diaries would get on very well with Ivan Vorpatril from the Vorkosigan Saga, because they both want to keep their heads down and not get involved in the plot but constantly get dragged into it regardless, despite their internal protests,

but then I realised that Ivan - charming, flirtatious, unwittingly insensitive, invader of personal space, extremely reluctant heir to the throne and horrified at the thought of being Emperor - is essentially Jinshi.

So. Perhaps not.

[highladyluck]

Does any fictional young man actually intend to assemble a mercenary army, or do they all accidentally collect one while trying to run away?

[everlovingt]

One thing I find really interesting about Cordelia as a character is the separation of her reputation and her character, and that it gets called out only subtly in the Vorkosigan saga. Spoilers below the jump.

So, for a good chunk of the Vorkosigan saga, Cordelia is referred to by the other characters (Miles especially, but also Kareen and her parents, Duv, etc.) as the utterly composed, utterly competent, razor incisive, and emotionally controlled Captain and Vor lady that everyone else can only aspire to.

And there’s no question that Cordelia is an amazing woman who has done amazing things.

But.

Cordelia is also a person who fell in love with a self-destructive aristocrat on the other side of a war, fled her home and family, built a new family, watched Barrayar try its best to eat the new family, and came out fighting on the other side.

So, Cordelia is amazing, but she’s also crazy. And she knows it! We don’t see much of Cordelia’s thoughts once we’re in Miles’ narrative, but the book that clinches it for me is Mirror Dance. Miles is missing, presumed dead, and then Mark appears, and then Aral goes through heart failure, and Mark is the one that sees how hard Cordelia is working to hold it all together. Because Cordelia wanted to build a family with Aral and a horde of little babies, and instead Barrayar tried to eat her first son, and now she has one chance to build a relationship with her second son (maybe), and all of three of them are doing their utmost to get themselves killed, and she can’t help that her heart is riding on all of them making it. She is just trying to help each of them by being the partner or mother they need.

She is, as she calls herself, a fool for love. And it’s not a happy thing.

And so I think it’s very special (and is more headcanon than text) that Mark is the one who gets a glimpse of Cordelia in Mirror Dance and realizes that she has an inner life with its own thwarted wants and twisting pains. Because it helps him realize that she’s not perfect and untouchable, and if she can keep moving, maybe he can, too. I’m not sure Miles has ever had this view of his mother.

All of that is part of why I really like Gentleman Jole and the Req Queen. It gives Cordelia a chance to find some ease. And the coda to all of the above is the way in which Cordelia lets go of her fears about baby injuries as she raises Aurelia. To paraphrase Illyan, being Miles’ mother must have been a privilege and a terror. It must be so different to have a chance to pursue happiness.

[inconclusionray]

my firstborn just finished reading Cetaganda. I showed him this post. he grabbed his face in agony, and then grabbed a pillow and started beating me.

Kitten tree is in full bloom

(via)