14 May, 2002
Diplomatic Immunity
Lois McMaster Bujold
2002
311 pp (HC)
This review was posted to the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.written. You can read the discussion here
This is the latest book in Bujold's long-running series concerning the adventures of Miles Vorkosigan. Miles used to be the commander of an interstellar mercenary company, and an agent of the Barrayaran Empire, but he settled down several books ago to become an "Imperial Auditor." In the Barrayaran legal system, that's kind of like Kenneth Star without all the bothersome legal and financial constraints. Basically, he investigates and solves problems for the Emperor (who happens to be Miles' childhood friend).
This book starts with Miles on the way back to Barrayar after galavanting about the galaxy with Ekaterin, his wife of one year, on a belated honeymoon. He receives an urgent message from Emperor Gregor, dispatching him to a station in a far corner of space to clean up a mess involving an impounded merchant fleet, its military escort, and an officer who's gone missing under suspicious circumstances, all of which amounts to brewing intergalactic diplomatic incident. Miles' mission is to sort through the conflicting accounts of what happenned, discover the truth, and extricate the impounded fleet with minimum cost (in political and financial capital) to the Empire. Additionally, he has a personal deadline: he and Ekaterin very much want to get home to be present at the birth of their children. (No, Ekaterin's not pregnant. You see, in the future, humans have been freed of the constraints of in vivo reproduction; babies are gestated in "uterine replicators." Bujold is, as far as I know, unique among SF writers in portraying this as a good thing. Good for her.)
If you haven't read any of the other books in the series, this is probably not the very best place to start, but as usual, Bujold includes enough background material to let the book stand on its own. People who have enjoyed the previous books in the series will enjoy this one-- it's in keeping with the rest of the series, and features the return of one of my favorite characters of yore: the hermaphrodite Bel Thorne, formerly of the Denarii Mercenaries, currently portmaster of Graf Station (which is where Miles has been sent). It also features the return of the four-armed, no-legged "quaddies" from Falling Free, who have established a successful society over the last 200 years.
The first half of the book moves along at a steady pace, following a police procedural model, with Miles sifting through witnesses and evidence, slowly constructing a picture of what's going on. Almost exactly halfway through, however, the plot kicks into high gear when the villain senses that the jig is about to be up, and takes desperate action, putting the lives of Miles, his compatriots, and about 50,000 civilians in great peril. Then, Detective Miles vanishes, and Covert Ops Maniac Miles reasserts himself, after having been on vacation for two or three books. The second half of the book is very exciting. I stayed up way past my bedtime last night to get to the end of the engrossing bit-- that is, the rest of the book, less two chapters.
Those who were entranced with the notion that Bujold was going to turn Miles into Lord Peter Wimsey IN SPACE!!!, with Ekaterin playing the role of Harriet Vane, might be disappointed. Ekaterin plays only a supporting role in this book, much reduced from her prominence in the previous two books, which focussed on Miles' courtship of her. As far as I'm concerned, this is an improvement. Ekaterin is a nice lady, and she's the perfect wife for Miles, but she's a very boring character. There's no fire to her, no excitement. I guess she's supposed to act as a counterpoint to the volatile Miles, but this series is the most fun when Miles is at his most volatile. So, anyway, I was happy to see her get sent to protective seclusion on a military cruiser when the situation on the station became dicey.
While this book doesn't reach the emotional depths of Memory or Mirror Dance (in my opinion, the best of the series), it is a good, fun adventure story which harks back to earlier books in the series, such as The Vor Game and Brothers in Arms. There's also a small bit of quality angst, which is a spoiler, so I'll put it at the end, after the comments link.[1]
However, I do feel that there's one respect in which the more recent books are lacking, when compared to the pre-Komarr books. Originally, this series was about an imperfect hero. Miles was physically infirm in a society which prizes strength. In addition to the difficulties du jour, he had to contend with his own self-doubt and the potential treachery of his weak, deformed body. That made him more interesting than your average space opera hero. Nowadays, Miles is too happy. At this point, his life is perfect. He's got everything he ever wanted: a position of respect and power among his people, a beautiful wife who loves him, his own genetically-perfect children. Even his physical problems have been solved, through years of surgery. All of his major problems are external, and (relatively) easily solved. Miles was a lot more compelling when he had all that angst. Bring back the angst!
[1] WARNING! Spoiler! The good angsty bit comes when Miles discovers that Bel Thorne has been infected with a nasty, likely fatal, plague.