Katherine
Bujold continues the upwards trend through the series. This series has really great characters, some returning, some being introduced, and the situations they end up in involving a complicated web of loyalty, ambition, personal love, and what (or who) is worth breaking the rules and sacrificing something for. The prose continues to be excellent. It’s quick and snappy, but some of the sentences and passages remain incredible to me. I swear I find more great quotes per page in one of Bujold’s books than a lot of others. For example (no spoilers):
> "War is not its own end, except in some catastrophic slide into absolute damnation. It's peace that's wanted. Some better peace than the one you started with."
> “His thoughts were still running like a hyped-up rat on an exercise wheel, spinning to nowhere.”
> “A prairie bird thrumming out a mad mating dance could scarcely have put on a more conspicuous display.”
The Vor Game definitely ramps up the political machinations of everyone in the galaxy, expanding the world while the characters deal with increasingly complex situations. My main issue with the last book, that things were a bit too convenient at times, doesn’t happen on the same level in this one. There are still a few “okay this had to happen for the plot” moments, but they’re much less egregious.
I’m sold, Bujold is a new favorite author and I’ll be recommending her books now!
Bujold continues the upwards trend through the series. This series has really great characters, some returning, some being introduced, and the situations they end up in involving a complicated web of loyalty, ambition, personal love, and what (or who) is worth breaking the rules and sacrificing something for. The prose continues to be excellent. It’s quick and snappy, but some of the sentences and passages remain incredible to me. I swear I find more great quotes per page in one of Bujold’s books than a lot of others. For example (no spoilers):
> "War is not its own end, except in some catastrophic slide into absolute damnation. It's peace that's wanted. Some better peace than the one you started with."
> “His thoughts were still running like a hyped-up rat on an exercise wheel, spinning to nowhere.”
> “A prairie bird thrumming out a mad mating dance could scarcely have put on a more conspicuous display.”
The Vor Game definitely ramps up the political machinations of everyone in the galaxy, expanding the world while the characters deal with increasingly complex situations. My main issue with the last book, that things were a bit too convenient at times, doesn’t happen on the same level in this one. There are still a few “okay this had to happen for the plot” moments, but they’re much less egregious.
I’m sold, Bujold is a new favorite author and I’ll be recommending her books now!
