panguitch's Full Review: Cetaganda (Vorkosigan Saga) Books
"I thought they'd never fall asleep." Ivan paused; a slow smirk displaced the snarl on his face. "But they were smiling, when they finally did."
- Lord Ivan Vorpatril, Cetagandan playboy and Barrayaran barbarian folklorist
Premise
The Dowager Empress of Cetaganda has died, and even Barrayar, Cetaganda's traditional enemy, must send envoys to pay due respect. Miles Vorkosigan and his cousin Ivan Vorpatril are of sufficient rank for the mission, and they're young enough not to have anything better to do. Of course, Barrayar should learn by now that when Miles isn't under lock and key he'll find some way to get himself into trouble.
Before they even disembark a strange, bald eunuch stumbles into their orbital transport. He reaches for a weapon but the cousins overpower him. Together with the weapon they confiscate a small electronic key, but the man escapes. Miles tries to puzzle out the significance of the key, but it isn't until the eunuch appears again, dead on the floor with his throat slit in the middle of a huge funeral ceremony, that Miles learns the key sits at the heart of a Cetagandan conspiracy of the highest level, one that involves a beautiful noblewoman. Miles is implicated and his only hope is to solve the murder and save the girl, before whoever is trying to assassinate him succeeds.
Characters
Miles is at his best here. His manic genius and physical deformities make him a perfect protagonist for a mystery. And somehow his ability to come out on top through impossible odds is more credible here than in the grandiose space battles he usually frequents. Moreover, and here I'm undoubtedly revealing more about myself than you care to know, but his impossible infatuation for a woman far above his reach, his sarcastic awareness of his physical deficiencies, and his unmalicious jealousy of Ivan's romantic successes all endear him to me.
Ivan's successes are the main source of comic relief in the book. His Casanovian escapades are as much delightful accidents as skillful seductions. He plays a much larger role here than in previous novels, and I rather came to like him, as much for his loyalty and brother-like relationship with Miles as for the amusement of his Tom Jones-like reputation.
The secondary characters are all well-drawn. There's an excellent patsy, some vapid females, some parental figures for Miles: Vorob'yev is properly exasperated, Mia Maz properly entertained. The haut Rian is a perfect crush for Miles. Her beauty is made real by subtle nuances of anxiety and courage. Perhaps my favorite is Miles's counterpart, Ghem-Colonel Benin, who becomes the type of rival you can trust more than your friends.
I do think an opportunity to more fully flesh the intriguing haut Vio was missed, but overall the characterization in Cetaganda is among Bujold's best.
Mystery
Cetaganda is a wonderful place for a mystery. The people are haughty. The men wear war paint on their faces and the women travel in opaque floating bubbles. There are two ruling classes, the Ghem and the Haut, the military and the aristocracy. The complexities never bewilder the reader, but there are plenty of social and cultural nooks and crannies for clues to hide in.
Bujold has always been adept at the twist, and this plays perfectly into the mystery of Cetaganda. In many ways it's a very traditional mystery or detective story. Miles is brilliant, but loaded with idiosyncrasies. He's motivated by a mixture of compulsion for solving riddles and infatuation for the perplexing woman who has "hired" him. There's a ready-made cast of suspects to sift through, all with means and motive, although it can be hard to keep them straight. And Miles has a sidekick/straight man who serves as a foil for his eccentricities. The trappings of science fiction are unquestionably secondary to the mystery elements.
Recommendation
The lack of interstellar armies clashing with Miles in the middle may disconcert some readers. But Miles's character is entirely at home here, and the power politics underpinning the mystery are also par for the course in the Vorkosigan series. Personally, I found it fresh and amusing. It's a brisk, well characterized science fictional mystery, and I recommend it happily.
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