I'm starting to get the horrible feeling...

[jeriendhal]

...judging from the early e-arc reviews of Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, that I'm going to wait to buy this one in paperback.

Oh, Lois. Couldn't you have stopped at A Civil Campaign?

Comments

[stasia]

Oh dear. Where are you finding the arc reviews?

Stasia

[jsburbidge.livejournal.com]

From the reviews I've seen - and I haven't read more of the book than the sample chapters at Baen - this is more like a lighter ACC than like DI or Cryoburn. Light rather than weak.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

The most notable one is here. Short Version: This is another Diplomatic Immunity, or worse, Cryoburn not an ACC or Memory, or even a Komaar

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Honest to Aral, I think Lois is seriously tired of the Vorkosigan universe, and would be just as happy to put it down if the fans didn't keep after her.

[jsburbidge.livejournal.com]

My guess is that she's simply got tired of writing the _sort_ of thing she used to write in the Vorkosiverse. She's spent years focussing on romances. (Not just the Sharing Knife books; the latter two Chalionverse books have plots that wouldn't hang together at all without the romance). This is another variant on a romance plot, in a slapstick comic vein.

The review you linked to was far harsher than any I'd seen; the consensus in what I've seen being more positive and some even enthusiastic.

I haven't decided yet whether to get the eArc or wait until November.

[stasia]

*sigh*

I still haven't read Cryoburn. I don't want to know about what happens at the end so I'm just ... ignoring that one.

I have it and I'll read it. Eventually.

Stasia

[the-blue-fenix.livejournal.com]

I would agree with that assessment. It's a definite comedy, even a screwball comedy. But the characters are good and the plot is not predictable.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

If you're wanting a dramatic action plot you'll be disappointed. If you want to see Ivan improvising through various disasters (some self-created) you'll have a great time. I loved it. I was laughing out loud several times a chapter.

That said--it's romance with a comedic flavor. The action is there to force characters to confront their relationship issues. There's a lot of bits that play off of earlier books that are fun for fans but would be noise to a new reader.

Ranking it . . . it doesn't have the problems of the 2nd half of Diplomatic Immunity and it spends more time with the places and people we like than Cryoburn. So I'm putting it above both of them. Does it match Memory or ACC? No. But that's a heck of a high bar.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Lois has been trying to write romances and found the plots being dragged into politics anyway (Hallowed Hunt is the worst of that). Sharing Knife tried to avoid that by flat-out abolishing high-level politics in the world, which had its own problems. So she tried a plot where her characters are desperately trying to avoid the politics. Worked well for me.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

That review was incredibly harsh. Yes, it's fluff, but it's Bujold-level hilarious fluff (it felt like her take on a 1930s screwball comedy), and Ivan's character arc and those of several other characters (one in particular that the reviewer apparently didn't understand At All) are at her usual high level.

I liked it worlds better than Cryoburn, and not just because of the contrast in the endings (or the constant doom feeling I got reading Cryoburn). It's better than DI, IMHO, and about on a level with Cetaganda. Maybe a bit higher than Cetaganda.

But, yes, I hope this is the Vorkosiverse's swan song. She's written eighteen different stories in that universe, after all. It really is time to say good-bye.

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

What Selenite said. I said on another post that nobody wants to put any of the Vorkosigan principals through what would be necessary to approach Memory. And indications are that we don't have to worry about much more. Haven't finished this, but am delighted to have it. Am so happy not to have friends shattered that I'm willing to forego another Memory. I can always reread Memory - and have, several times.

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

I've not read it yet, but my wife finished it tonight and gave it an enthusiastic thumbs-up and suggested to me that I would love it.

So....datapoints.

(Also, while I was disappointed with Diplomatic Immunity, I thought Cryoburn was fine. It wasn't perhaps to the level of Memory or A Civil Campaign, but good grief: if the high point of a series is the threshold for any future instalment, what kind of world would that be?

[ndrosen.livejournal.com]

I'm reading the sample chapters. So far, they're good fun, and I'm going to try to get the full eARC, and read that. And then buy the hardcover, I expect, and maybe get it autographed the next time LMB's path crosses mine.

[xinef.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed it. Much more than DI or Cryoburn. Not as much as Civil Campaign.

[cynthia1960.livejournal.com]

I'm finding it the overall funniest thing since ACC (and some selected bits are even funnier). If Lois decides to give the series a rest, I'm glad I got Ivan's story first before she does.