The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
In chronological order, The Vor Game is the fifth Vorkosigan novel—in publication order, it is the seventh! The way Bujold jumped around the timeline is often unreal; she wrote books set seventh and ninth before jumping back to this one. It's one of the many ways, however, that this series reminds me of a favorite series of mine, the Horatio Hornblower novels by C. S. Forester. Forester also jumped back and forth in his hero's life; I'll have to keep reading to find out if Bujold introduces as many continuity errors in the process as Forester did. In my hybrid order, however, The Vor Game is the second book.
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Originally published: 1990 Acquired: January 2022 Read: November 2022 |
There are many ways this series is like Hornblower, and I'll talk about another one in my next post, about Shards of Honor: the other one I want to discuss today mostly focuses on the opening segment of this novel, which was originally published as a standalone novella, "The Weatherman." Following the events of the previous book, The Warrior's Apprentice, Miles Vorkosigan has graduated from the military academy and is sent off to his first posting... to monitor the weather at a forlorn ice-encrusted remote military base on his home planet. But, of course, he eventually ends up in the same kind of dilemma that Hornblower so often ended up in, one where the dictates of military service run up against his personal morality. Can he save the lives of innocent men without violating the chain of command? Like Hornblower, he distinguishes himself with clever, intellectual solutions to his problems. The way he thinks up to get out of this situation is brilliant. I love this kind of thing, a hero who is both principled and clever. That was the moment I texted my friend (who has been pushing the books on me for a decade): "This book is so totally my jam."
Then Miles is off on another adventure. This is also a very Hornblower move, the novel made up of multiple disparate stories, but the next adventure keeps twisting and turning. Soon Miles is hunting down the mercenary group he created in Warrior's Apprentice, and then he's uncovered a vast plot, and now he has a very important dignitary to protect, etc., etc. To be honest, it kind of threw me. I wanted more adventures of Miles in the service! How does he learn to fit himself into that hierarchy? It's a very Hornblower question...
...but you know, while it seems to me Bujold must have been inspired partially by Hornblower, this is not Hornblower. It has its own identity, and its own questions to ask. Once I adjusted to that, I came to enjoy the book much more; I think it's the kind of novel that even though it was good the first time, it will improve on a reread, once you can see how it all fits together. The question isn't how does Miles make himself fit, but it seems to be, where can Miles find that he can fit? At least, I think so! Bujold has wrong-footed me before, and I am sure she will do so again, but I look forward to finding out where Miles is when I next pick up his story, with Cetaganda. (But first, we jump backwards a bit...)
Next up in sequence: Shards of Honor
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