panguitch's Full Review: Lois McMaster Bujold - A Civil Campaign: A Comedy ...
Women threw themselves at Admiral Miles Naismith. But Naismith is dead, and Miles Vorkosigan, no longer an interstellar undercover agent, can never return to that persona. In his true self Miles has had rather less luck with the ladies. In fact, the only woman he ever really pursued turned down his proposal using the time-honored petition for friendship sans privileges. Now, as if gluttoning for punishment, Miles goes and falls in love with a married woman.
Make that a recently widowed woman. Ekaterin's husband happened to die just when Miles was visiting them. Rather convenient that. Which is one reason Miles is hesitant to openly court her. Suspicion would be unavoidable. An even better reason is Ekaterin's mourning period. Miles can't risk spooking her. But wanting to keep her near (he isn't, after all, the only one on the female-starved planet of Barrayar with his eye on her) he commissions her to design a garden for him.
Wooing a woman without her knowing it is difficult at best. And all Miles's friends and family seem to want to do is tease him about approaching this romance like a covert military operation. Granted, he does keep making a fool of himself. But they're not doing much better with their own problems. His clone brother Mark, if he values his hide, can't let his girlfriend's family know what he's been doing with her. Duv Galeni is on the rebound after the Emperor stole his girlfriend. Gregor, said emperor, and his fiancée, said girlfriend, have to survive the hoopla that necessarily surrounds a marriage ceremony for the ruler of three worlds.
The one man who we might count on to land his lady without a hitch, Miles's cousin Ivan, comes up with the worst luck of all when the old flame he falls back on proves to have become biologically incompatible. At least for Ivan's tastes.
As if all this wasn't murky enough, some critical votes are upcoming in the Council of Counts, and the politicking threatens to get personal for Miles. While the only skeletons in his closet may be the ones his enemies imagine there, if anyone takes a look under his furniture they might be shocked by the unsightly creatures he has swarming in the shadows.
The principle difference between heaven and hell is the company you keep there. - Simon Illyan
If Miles's former mentor is right (and even Illyan has been bitten by the love bug) then courtship could be seen as an attempt to create a personal heaven. Miles's problem is getting all the bedeviling distractions out of the way.
Lois McMaster Bujold is in the top of her comedic form for A Civil Campaign. While she makes sure to weave humor through all her books, only Cetaganda comes close to being as consistently funny as A Civil Campaign. The comedy is made all the sweeter by the romance. It's hard not to ruefully love in Miles the same bungling awkwardness we've all felt when making a play for someone special.
The characterizations are up to Bujold's normal par, and several develop so subtly as to almost go unnoticed. Ivan's chagrin at Miles's not levying him for his schemes (Ivan usually complains about just that) is delightful, as is the turnabout he earns in the end. In general, although the men are the provocateurs, it is the women who come out on top. Ekaterin proves quite capable of making decisions without Miles having to sneak his courtship past her. Kareen Koudelka proves able to handle her family's shock at her feminist liberation, much to Mark's relief. And Lady Donna, who gives Ivan the shock of his life, proves equal to the challenge of wresting her birthright from the male heir in a rigidly patriarchal society. Cordelia Vorkosigan's satisfaction at all this social progress is palpable.
Any such themes are most definitely subordinated to Bujold's primary purpose, which is to indulge in some fun with the wonderful characters she has created. There's plenty of embarrassment in A Civil Campaign, the kind that makes you squirm in delight. But there isn't much action, and only a little intrigue. Because of this it feels like a detour in the Vorkosigan Saga, even if its characters and events are very much at the center of the overarching storyline. In any case, it's a detour worth taking.
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