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Captain Vorpatril's Alliance

By: Lois McMaster Bujold
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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Publisher's summary

Audie Award Winner, Science Fiction, 2014

Captain Ivan Vorpatril is happy with his relatively uneventful bachelor's life as a staff officer to a Barrayaran admiral. Cousin to imperial troubleshooter Miles Vorkosigan, Ivan is not far down the hereditary list for the emperorship. Thankfully, new heirs have directed that headache elsewhere, leaving Ivan to enjoy his life on Komarr, far from the Byzantine court politics of his home system. But when an old friend in Barrayaran intelligence asks Ivan to protect an attractive young woman who may be on the hit list of a criminal syndicate, his chivalrous nature takes over. It seems danger and adventure have once more found Captain Vorpatril.

Tej Arqua and her half-sister and servant, Rish, are fleeing the violent overthrow of their clan on free-for-all planet Jackson’s Whole. Now it seems Tej may possess a secret of which even she may not be aware - a secret that could corrupt the heart of a highly regarded Barrayaran family and provide the final advantage for the thugs who seek to overthrow Tej’s homeworld. But none of Tej’s formidable adversaries have counted on Ivan Vorpatril. For behind Ivan’s facade of wry and self-effacing humor lies a true and cunning protector who will never leave a distressed lady in the lurch - making the ultimate sacrifice to keep her from harm: the treasured and hard-won freedom from his own fate as a scion of Barrayar.

Lois McMaster Bujold is one of the most honored writers of science fiction and fantasy, having won five Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards. In 2011 she was awarded the Skylark Award for her significant contributions to science fiction.

©2012 Lois McMaster Bujold (P)2012 Blackstone Audio

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Romantic SF Comedy of Character, Culture & History

Three days into his ten-day mission as Aide-de-Camp to the Barrayaran Chief of Operations on Komarr (a world in the Barrayaran Empire), Captain Ivan Vorpatril is visited by his cousin Byerly Vorrutyer. All By asks Ivan to do is pick up a young lady. What could be simpler? But although 90% of By's life is that of a decadent fop, the 10% of his life as secret informer for ImpSec (Barrayaran Imperial Security) gives Ivan qualms. As his survival mechanism designed to avoid becoming the focus of coups to replace Emperor Gregor, Ivan has spent his 34 years perfecting the art of flying under the radar, projecting an aura of handsome and gormless stupidity so well that he has come to believe that he is slow and ambitionless. But because the woman, supposedly a Komarran citizen called Nanja Brindis, has "Tumbling black hair, bright eyes, skin glowing an interesting cinnamon brown . . . [a] decided nose, determined chin. . . Long legs . . . A nicely full figure," etc., Ivan decides to meet her.

By being By and Ivan being Ivan, Lois McMaster Bujold's Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012) soon has Ivan shot with a stunner and spending the night in an apartment with two beautiful women, albeit in a less pleasant manner than his fantasies would have had it, landed against his will in a complex, politically delicate situation involving the cutthroat Houses (family syndicates on steroids) of Jackson's Whole, a mysterious and beautiful woman, her bioengineered, lapis lazuli-skinned, servant/sister "jeeves" (Bujold's nod to P. G. Wodehouse), and various Cetagandan, Komarran, and Barrayaran agendas.

No Bertie Wooster, Nanja, whose real name turns out to be Tej, is another of Bujold's strong female point of view characters like Cordelia and Ekaterin, and her Jackson's Whole ethos, relationship with her jeeves Rish, and mixed feelings for her scheming, "overpowering, constricting, maddening" family are interesting. The book is full of vintage Bujold witty lines, cultural contrasts, suspenseful situations, and surprising developments. It is fun to see Ivan, who has done his best to duck promotion so as to avoid real responsibility, who has enjoyed a series of girlfriends without the commitment of marriage, who has always hated puzzles, and whose idea of problem solving (unlike the "forward-momentum" of his super-cousin Miles Vorkosigan) is "inertia," get tossed in to the deep end of Bujold's machinations. It's great to read a book about Ivan in which Miles stays mostly off-stage (being mostly on another world on one of his Imperial Auditor jobs).

Although Bujold can write some clunkers ("Ivan Xav stiffened and not in the good way; he was quite limp in that region at the moment"), she writes many more neat lines in the book, like "The scent of him still lingered in the moist air, strangely pleasant and complex, as if his immune system was calling out to hers: let's get together and make wonderful new antibodies," and "I’ve never made love to a wife before, I mean my wife, I mean I’ve never been married before.”

I like Ivan finding Rish "Sort of a cross between a pixie and a python." And Tej finding Ivan "A middling Vor officer of middling responsibilities and middling rank. Just middling along." As Tej discovers, easy-going Ivan is kind and funny and a source of light, a good match for her because she's never wanted " to play the [power] game as her parents did." It's neat how, unlike in most romantic comedies, Bujold puts a wedding near the start of the novel and spends the rest of it detailing what comes after. And once the story gets to Barrayar, there are plenty of cool developments involving experimental "micoborer" dirt-eating, tunnel-making organisms, a subterranean Cetagandan lab, the hideous ImpSec HQ building, and Simon Illyan, the retired former head of ImpSec and current lover of Ivan's long-widowed mother.

However, despite my great enjoyment of this book, I found it, like the other recent Vorkosigan novels after the fine Komarr (1998), a bit light. The recent books (like this one) are romantic comedies of character, culture, and history in which, despite suspenseful scenes and dangerous developments, including near war, criminal catastrophe, and life-threatening crises, most everyone emerges unscathed. I've begun missing the darker strands and more scarring events of the earlier novels.

And the more my excitement ended the end of the story, the more I began seeing its unconvincing features. Why wouldn't Rish, who has been designed and trained to super powers of observation, including being able to smell arousal, detect that Tej and Ivan love each other, if only because they’re always holding hands and making love? Why wouldn't the hyper alert and nearly paranoid ImpSec have its agents watching and trailing Tej's entire family 24-7? How DO the Komarrans, Barrayarans, Jacksonian's, and Cetagandans communicate with each other, and in what language and with what accents? And isn't there something creepy about Bujold's favorable depiction of imperial colonization, aristocratic power, state surveillance, and fascistic uniforms, despite the presence in her galaxy of freer, more tolerant, democratic, and ideal civilizations like Beta Colony? Although there have been rotten ImpSec and Vor apples and a mad Emperor or two, the current Barrayaran Empire is run by good men who wield their near absolute power with almost too good to be true rectitude, restraint, and accuracy.

If you don't need sublime technologies, outre civilizations, and tragic gravitas ala Peter Hamilton and Iain Banks, if you keep in mind that in her recent Vorkosigan saga books Bujold is writing character and culture driven space opera comfort food, you should like this novel (and I'm sure I'll enjoy every Vorkosigan story Bujold ever writes), though you should probably begin at the beginning of her series, when the books were entertaining with teeth.

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Another gem from the author

While this book stands by itself as a wonderful mix of sci fi, comedy, and romance, its true strength is in its cap on a developing character. In Barrayar, we see him born. In subsequent books, we see him start as a comedic relief background character, and develop into an exceptional main character in his own right as he grows up s lot, but while always remaining himself. Some touching moments that have such weight from the momentum of 16 books worth of development.

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An Ivan Adventure

Excellent addition to the Vorkosigan Sagas. Some twists flips and intertwined story telling.

I recommend it.

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Funny!

I love everything about this series. There's humor in all the books, but in this book it is more! I tend to listen to books as I am falling asleep. Not with this book. I was usually laughing too hard to fall asleep!

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A worthy addition to the series

Who was your favorite character and why?

It was great to see Ivan come into his own. He's always been a favorite of mine as I read and/or listened to other parts of the series. At long last, he takes center stage. We get to revisit other well-known series characters as well.

Which character – as performed by Grover Gardner – was your favorite?

Grover Gardner knows these characters well. It's hard to pick just one favorite.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I wish I had the time to listen through in one setting. I found myself grabbing opportunities to hear just a little more and a little more.

Any additional comments?

This would NOT be the place to begin an acquaintance with the Vorkosigan series. Treat yourself to reading them in order first. Much of my enjoyment depended on the knowing the back story and revisiting earlier acquainances.

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A charming new perspective

Through most of the series, Ivan is the sidekick. Our focus is on miles, and Ivan is less inspired, less driven. In this book, the focus is one Ivan, he is a good man, and quite CREATIVES at need. He just refers not to try all limits and yah himself at all times. An ImpSec agent and a beautiful refugee need Ivan's help, and the consequences are surprising. And hilarious.

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Ivan's book

What did you love best about Captain Vorpatril's Alliance?

The continual in-jokes referring to events in previous books of the series

What did you like best about this story?

The story line sort of suited Ivan... a bit bland on first appraisal but with lots of not so obvious depth

Which character – as performed by Grover Gardner – was your favorite?

Ivan

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

A bit more light hearted than some of the other books in the series - very entertaining

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Ivan grown up

Ducking political machinations has been Ivan’s survival strategy for decades. When Byerly entangles him in an ImpSec investigation will Ivan be able to control the outcome?

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Better Than Expected!

(and I had high expectations because, Lois McMasters Bujold, right?) She did a fabulous job of taking Ivan, who didn’t seem all that heroic in previous books of the series, and making him a hero without changing him at all. Now that takes talent. And of course there were all of the sf elements, the influence of politics, great character development—all the genius that is LMB, and AND a lovely romance. I enjoyed the allusions to incidents in previous books including the references to Miles (both direct and via history involving him) and other characters. I’d feel a bit left out if I hadn’t read them prior to this one. The romance is sweet (non-graphic), of course, though there’s plenty of chemistry. Tej is an interesting character in her own right, especially after meeting her family and getting a load of the dynamics there. This is a long book and I still didn’t want it to end. The epilog was great too. I’m so glad Grover Gardner is the narrator for this series, he always uses just the right emphasis and inflections, distinguishable voices for all the characters (and it’s a large cast, per usual), and is easy to understand.

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Ivan you Idiot!

“Ivan you idiot!” is a phrase that we have come to love over the years. But Ivan is not really an idiot, he is no Miles for sure, but what he really lacks is not intelligence but rather the driving ambition that keeps Miles going like a deranged Duracell bunny. Instead Ivan has something else, an acute sense of the political ramifications that would fall on his head if he just happened to not be an idiot. He has in a sense a vast driving anti-ambition. Ivan is the second in line to the imperial throne, he is the son-in-law to the almighty Simon Illyan and not to mention his connections to all kinds of powerful people including an immensely political, protective and meddling mother. Something other powerful people would exploit in a heartbeat if they could and if Ivan would only let them. So Ivan the Idiot has over the years developed his own unique way of dealing with all these issues when really all he wants to do is live a quiet ordinary life. In the rooms and on the bridges of the starships where the Big Decisions are handled Ivan has made standing around (with selective amnesia and attention disorder) like the wall-hangings or a part of the décor into an art form. Either that, or solve the whole problem by doing his best to oversleep that day.

This is the story of how Ivan, without Miles’s help I might add, gets into trouble, falls in love and much more when his allergy to intrigue clashes with the old Vor-honor. After all, what can a Vor Lord do when there are damsels in distress about, gorgeous ones at that, with unfortunately a whole lot of familial and familiar baggage themselves?

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44 people found this helpful