A Civil Campaign

A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

By: Lois McMaster Bujold

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Lord Miles Vorkosigan has a problem that all his new power can't solve: unrequited love for the beautiful Vor widow Ekaterin Vorsoisson. Ekaterin is violently allergic to marriage as a result of her first exposure. But, as Miles learned from his late career in galactic covert ops, if a frontal assault won't do, go to subterfuge.

Miles has a cunning plan, which, of course, has to be worked out in between District succession scandals and plans for the emperor's wedding. And if no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy, just imagine what all Miles' friends and relatives can do to his romantic strategy.

Hi-fi sci-fi: listen to more in the Vorkosigan saga.

©1999 Lois McMaster Bujold (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"The latest Miles Vorkosigan adventure has him campaigning in four plots....Bujold weaves all four actions into a seamless whole that her faithful readers may rank among the best books in an outstanding series." (Booklist)

"Bujold successfully mixes quirky humor with just enough action, a dab of feminist social commentary, and her usual superb character development in a sprightly SF romance that her many fans will find enormously satisfying." (Publishers Weekly)

Definitely the funniest of Bujold's books.

But you will be lost if you haven't read all the previous Vorkosigan books. Since I highly recommend the whole series, although they reverse the ratio of action and humor, enjoy.

Finest kind!

One of the finest plotted, funny, touching, funny, suspenseful, romantic, and funny books I've ever read a dozen times or listened to as well! A glorious denouement!

Thoroughly Enjoyable

I really enjoyed this book, laughed out loud several times. Great story, characters and narration

Oh Miles

Sometimes ivan isn't the idiot. Although he tries to keep up. Didn't like perfect Cordelia up in here though.

Miles is in love and it is NOT Quinn

As always, Bujold presents an awesome story about our hero and his exploits. Miles has a new job for Gregor and on his first assignment he meets someone wonderful. Can love happen so fast? My husband and I met in August, got engaged in October and were married the following January. We've been together over 50 years. The answer is yes!

If you follow the Vorkosigan Saga, this story, as usual, is very satisfying. Miles' life is turned topsy turvy and it is all his fault ... HIS fault and no one elses. That knowledge is very eye opening for Miles and he broods about it until he is called by Gregor to discuss his future. He gets a new, challenging job ... one for which he has already proven his talent. And his story continues ...

The performance and originality of the story.

Another in a great series of books. Grover Gardner reads it perfectly. There are a lot of twists in this plot it's not boring and predictable as so many books are.

Great Series

The Vorkosigan series will keep you listening. I enjoyed all of the available downloads to this series and hope they soon make available those that are not yet available. This series combines humor, fantasy, sci-fi, and romance with a unexpected number or twists.

LMB does it again.

Another unique and wonderful story on the Vorkosigan saga. I'm constantly amazed by the depth and breadth of LMB's imagination. I love her characters. I can't wait to find out what happens next. MOVING ON TO THE NEXT BOOK IMMEDIATELY!!!

Romance, politics, and comedy

Originally posted at FanLit.

I was afraid I wasn’t going to like A Civil Campaign as well as the previous VORKOSIGAN novels because, according to the description, the plot takes place all on the planet Barrayar and it deals mostly with relationship issues for several of the characters. Most of the various editions of the book sport covers with couples dancing or getting married. So, yeah, I thought it was a romance novel.

Well, A Civil Campaign is a romance novel, but because it involves the romances of Miles Vorkosigan, his clone brother Mark, and his tomcatting cousin Ivan Vorpatril, it is, thankfully, a lot more than that. Along with the romance, Bujold weaves in a few funny subplots that both entertain and advance the plot of the VORKOSIGAN series on the non-romantic fronts, too.
Miles’ goal in this book is to convince the widow Ekaterin Vorsoisson to marry him. (We met her in Komarr.) Ekaterin’s first marriage was painful and she is not inclined to repeat the experience. That’s just one problem. The other is that Ekaterin is beautiful and a Vor. Since beautiful single Vor women are rare on patriarchal Barrayar (the previous generation genetically selected for boys), they are in high demand. Miles has to court Ekaterin without scaring her away while he attempts to fend off all other suitors and while he tries to maintain his dignity as an Imperial Auditor. Other romances are going on, too. Gregor’s wedding is being planned by Ivan’s mother. Mark is courting one of the Koudelka girls (her father is not pleased!) and Ivan has suddenly realized that while he has been happily carousing for years, all the best girls were getting snatched up.

Meanwhile, since Aral Vorkosigan is off planet, Miles is left with his father’s political duties and the counsel has to deal with a couple of inheritance disputes. One of them involves the problem of patriarchy and the other involves racism. Lois McMaster Bujold has a way of commenting on these issues using humor instead of a hammer — it’s both effective and entertaining.
Along with the all the romance and politics, Bujold serves up a hilarious storyline in which Mark, who now considers himself an entrepreneur, teams up with a brilliant but socially inept scientist to genetically engineer insects that vomit up a cheap and nutritious creamy substance that they hope to market to the universe. They set up a lab in Vorkosigan house and get the lovely Koudelka girls to be their lab assistants. This slapstick storyline is a little over the top, but I thought it worked well as a contrast to the politics and romance. Bujold weaves all of these plots together for a synergistic effect that’s quite pleasing.

There are some niggling little problems with A Civil Campaign, at least for me. One was that I couldn’t muster up the attraction for Ekaterin that Miles seems to feel. I am not sure why he loves her — she’s kind of dull. Also, her reaction to the discovery that Miles was trying to sneakily court her was unreasonable, and his reaction to her reaction was even more unreasonable. This has to do with my second complaint which is that Miles and Mark are both in their thirties but act like they’re eighteen. Miles is an Imperial Auditor, in fact — a very distinguished position in the empire. I forgave their immaturity in previous novels because it seemed like the messes they got themselves into weren’t really their faults. In this novel, though, they don’t have such a good excuse… On the other hand, this juvenile behavior, which culminates in this case in a disastrous dinner party, is exactly what makes the plot so entertaining, isn’t it?

I’m listening to Grover Gardner narrate the audio version of the VORKOSIGAN saga. He’s awesome.

Best of the series

Grover Gardner and Lois McMaster Bujold are divine together. What a team. Both are masters of their craft and elevate each others' work.