panguitch's Full Review: Lois McMaster Bujold - Memory: Library Edition
Miles has already died once. His resuscitation could not cure all the damage, and now, resurrected, he finds himself dying once more as his new, uncontrollable weakness announces itself at the worst possible time. After struggling all his life to have a military career, Miles sees himself discharged as an invalid. Not content with physically incapacitating him, Lois McMaster Bujold also leads her hero through a moral collapse. The pity of his friends and family are bad enough without their disappointment and his personal shame added to the mix. I guess since you only turn thirty once, you may as well go all out.
The last thing a monster wanted was a fellow to follow him around all day long with a mirror.
Memory is a soul-searching book. His parents now living on a different planet, bereft of his mercenary fleet and all military responsibilities, Miles is left alone to haunt the eerily empty Vorkosigan House, his cousin Ivan (of all people) the only barrier to suicide. But through a haze of alcohol and self-loathing Miles begins to notice something. His old boss, Simon Illyan, the man who just fired him, seems to be losing his mind. The malfunctioning Chief of Imperial Security may become more than a liability since the Emperor's budding romance represents a huge security risk. It's a mystery only Miles seems willing to solve.
Unfortunately, the mystery around which this story is structured lacks zip. Bujold does a decent job of teasing you with hints and doubts regarding whodunit, but the plot is considerably overshadowed by Miles's inner dilemmas. Still, the character developments and the mystery do complement each other, and the book does work well, if not powerfully.
You kill me so courteously.
When you have an iconic franchise protagonist around whom you've written a wildly popular and award-winning series of books, the last thing you want to do is change the formula. Life is complicated enough without angry fans throwing bricks through your window. So what was Bujold thinking when she cashiered Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, Imperial Secret Agent and Mercenary Admiral extraordinaire?
Bujold's stunt proves the robustness of her protagonist. Miles is more than a military genius. He is more than a secret agent. He is even more than a deformed cripple who's had to fight tooth and nail for every ounce of success and respect anyone has ever given him. But just what he is beyond these things he himself must learn when they are taken away from him.
Miles has made mistakes before, but they were of a tactical nature. In Memory his errors are ethical, and the consequences trigger a serious mid-life crisis. Beyond the introspective evolution and outward reinvention of Miles, several other characters are seen in new light. Most striking is the change that eventually comes over Simon, who gains surprising dimensions and becomes a source of joy rather than soberness. It's nice to have Duv Galeni return, and his complex relationship with Miles is given a new twist when Miles interferes with the stiff officer's love life. It's also gratifying to see the Emperor move past his inhibitions, and Ivan's mother, Alys Vorpatril, becomes an amusing ball of energy. She nicely accentuates Ivan, and the way Ivan "helps" Miles through this difficult period is enriched by the memory of Ivan's emotional breakdown in Mirror Dance. In fact, much of Memory is dependent on the establishments of earlier books, and its potential as a standalone is less than most volumes in the series.
As a new chapter in the Vorkosigan Saga Memory is essential, portraying the key turning point in Miles's life. In a way it's his coming of age, when the playacting of youth must be put away and the blander realities of adulthood accepted. Of course, Bujold still has plans for Miles, and his early retirement becomes something more like a second career. There's plenty of story left in this character.
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