Memory

A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

By: Lois McMaster Bujold

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Dying is easy. Coming back to life is hard. At least that's what Miles Vorkosigan thinks, and he should know - having done both once already.

Thanks to his quick-thinking staff and incredible artistry from a medical specialist, Miles' first death wasn't his last. But it does take some recovery, a fact he has been reluctant to admit. When he makes the mistake of returning too soon to military duty, he finds himself summoned home to face the Barrayaran security chief, Simon Illyan.

But Miles' worst nightmares about Simon Illyan are nothing compared to Illyan's own nightmares. Under suspicion himself, Miles must seek out the answers to Ilyan's nightmares or see the inevitable destruction of Imperial Security and, with it, the Empire.

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

©1996 Lois McMaster Bujold (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Science fiction at its very best!" (Rave Reviews)
"As ever with Bujold, Memory is a delight!" (Locus)
"Bujold fans of long standing will justly hail [this] as a masterpiece that contains some of her finest prose and characterization. Bujold continues to prove what marvelous genius can create out of basic space operatics." (Booklist)

Excellent! Fun!

This series is quite enjoyable. I usually read or listen to a fantasy realm setting, but this has been a nice change in pace. The writings are full of adventure, technical intrigue, near-miss romances and innuendos, and of course comedy. I never know if it's going to be serious or hilarious from one minute to the next. Miles as a persona is limited physically but his intelligence and wit keep you enthralled with the question "What's can possibly happen next?". And if your like me and usually guess the ending early, these books provide surprises and twists almost to the very end.

Great book

I've enjoyed all of the Vor series

Excellent story, some bad pronunciations

The reader has since improved his readings by discovering his mispronounced words and correcting then. The Greek sounding names ending in "I" really the him in this book, but in others he gets it perfectly. other than that, the reading was excellent.

One of the Author's Best!

I have been a huge fan of the author since first discovering Shards of Honor and Barrayar in the late 90s. She and Heinlein are my personal top of the sci-fi genre and eagerly picked up every book in this series as soon it was published.

The narrator, Grover Gardener, is as always, superb. I congratulate the Ms. Bujold for sticking with the same narrator throughout her entire series. So many authors change a great narrator as soon as they gain acclaim. The practice is incredibly irritating for the readers and I've quit reading series because of the practice.

That said, I have my personal favorites in her Vorkosigan space opera series I rank Memory
one step down from the above 2 books. I rate this as one of very few 5 star books and absolutely worth the credit.

P.S. My favorite part....both the Emperor, Gregor's, courting/marriage to his Komarran Bride he steals from Dove and Illyan.

Vorkosigan finally

I read every book in the series so far. Starting with Cordelia (his mother) and ending up here. This is easily my favorite. Every book in the series is a masterpiece but this one, it's genius. and to think I didn't even want to read it I wanted to go back and read one that I read earlier. Just to relive it because I like the books that much. But watching Miles finally realize that he could just be Miles Vorkosigan was it a delight. it doesn't matter which one you pick up these books will instantly become a favorite. I suggest reading them in order,but if must go out of order start with this one.

Light years better than Mirror Dance

I have read (listened to) all the earlier books in this series and enjoyed all but the one directly before this one, Mirror Dance, which I hated so much I considered quitting the series altogether. I gave it one more chance with Memory and it was worth it. This is a return to the old formula as well as (I hope) a prediction for the future. The characters all enter new phases of life, batons are passed, childhood things are put away and it’s all held together by a mystery. Aside from the main plot (which would be a huge spoiler so I won’t say anything about it) prominent subplots include: Ivan scandalized by his mother’s behavior, Simon discovering the wonders of GPS, and kittens for everyone. The pacing is a little slower than LMB’s usual and the story is better for it.

You could probably skip the whole 18 hour slog of Mirror Dance and go directly into this one without missing much. I sort of wish I had.

One of my favorites in the saga

Memory does not disappoint. Everything you could want in a Miles Vorkosigan adventure happens in this book. Very well written and a pleasure to read and to listen too.

Possibly my favorite Miles story

I love the whole Vorkosigan saga and cant say I dont like any one of the books. But we all have favorites and this one is mine. Yes, its not so action packed as most of the others, but it strikes a meditative, gloomy and very deep note inside me. It is a more adult book than the other to me, although all of the Miles books have concealed (well weaved) ideas which do not come across to everyone.

Have fun with it, and try to feel the emotions, not only the plot! )

Miles in Midlife Crisis? Simon in Dementia?

Poor Miles Vorkosigan! Right from the start of Memory (1996), perhaps the fifth novel featuring Miles in Lois McMaster Bujold's entertaining Vorkosigan space opera saga, he is suffering from both the worst physical afflicton in his nearly thirty-year life and the worst self-inflicted debacle in his thirteen-year career. The former involves his being prey to unpredictable, debilitating, and apparently untreatable seizures, rendering him a threat to any action undertaken by his Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. And if the Chief of Barrayaran Imperial Security (ImpSec) Simon Illyan were to learn about it, Miles' sensational career and liberated alter-ego as Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii, as well as his official but modest career as ImpSec Lieutenant Vorkosigan of Barrayar, would be finished. So he writes a false report for Simon Illyan, putting himself in an impossible position. It is unsettling to witness Miles being crushed by circumstances of his own making that leave him apparently without the slightest hope of being able to jury-rig a plan involving improvisation, subterfuge, sleight of hand, b-essing, or any other tool from his usual bag of “forward momentum” tricks.

The promising opening to the novel also provides glimpses of Miles' doomed relationship with Sergeant Taura, the eight-foot-tall, genetically engineered super soldier with a brief built-in life span, his intense but ultimately hopeless relationship with Dendarii Captain Elli Quinn, who will love only Admiral Naismith and refuses to marry Miles Vorkosigan, and his sadly nostalgic relationship with Elena Bothari, who wants to retire from the Dendarii and raise a family with her husband. And as soon as Miles returns to his home in the Barrayaran capital, Bujold summons several interesting characters from Miles' past, including his gormless Cousin Ivan, his former hot-tempered superior in Brothers in Arms (1989), Captain Duv Galeni, an unprecedentedly love-smitten Emperor Gregor, and, most compellingly, Simon Illyan, when his eidetic memory implant chip goes haywire, making his behavior increasingly disoriented and pathetic in a manner reminiscent of the dementia that has wiped out my father's short term memory.

Memory is one of the Miles novels that take place nearly entirely on Barrayar away from his (Admiral Naismith's) Dendarii Free Mercenaries. Miles spends most of this novel in his family castle-mansion in the Barrayar capital, in his family's hill-country estate, or in the daunting ImpSec headquarters (dubbed by Miles "Cockroach Central"). Despite or because nearly the entire book is set on Barrayar and features no space battles or exciting action scenes, Memory is a page-turning novel with an interesting cast of characters and an intriguing mystery. And will Bujold finally have Miles resolve his ever conflicted dual identity as Mercenary Admiral Naismith and ImpSec Lietuenant Vorkosigan?

Some scenes are funny, as when Emperor Gregor offers Miles the chance to play at being an "Auditor":

"I thought you'd like it."
"Like it! It'll be downright orgasmic."
"Don't get carried away."

And some scenes are moving, as when Miles unburdens himself to Simon while fishing:

"I liked the winning . . . . I always got away with it somehow. Any way I could. On the table or under it, I won. This seizure thing . . . seems like the first enemy I couldn't outsmart . . . . "I was beaten . . . . Yet I survived. Didn't expect that. I feel . . . very unbalanced about that. I had to win always, or die. So . . . what else was I wrong about?"

Grover Gardener is his usual professional and appealing self, smoothly reading the novel as though he were born to voice Miles and managing to enhance the text in all the right places and ways without ever showing off or trying too hard to alter his voice for female or old voices. And his clear, dry, DJ-esque voice is as pleasant to listen to as ever.

All that said, I must admit (SPOILER ALERT) that although Bujold had me smiling as the long resolution of the novel plays out, the part of me stimulated by bracingly tragic tales of human self-destruction was disappointed by how ideally she works out the initially devastating predicaments of Miles and especially Simon Illyan, so that they both come out of their afflictions far better than they went into them. And Gregor's doctor love interest appears too more zaftig and not intelligent enough, and General Haroche is not as wiley as he's supposed to be. And I missed Miles' socially challenged clone-twin Mark.

But overall, Bujold is in fine fettle here, writing another solid entry in the Vorkosigan saga, each novel of which feels fresh and fun, because she is so adept at coming up with new ideas for Miles' trials and triumphs.

One of Bujold's Best

Good narration. Great story. A tale of new beginnings for several characters, a soul-searching character-making shake-down, and bone-deep loyalty and friendship. It's a mystery plot, a "who done it" with minor elements of science-fiction (the memory chip, embedded in Simon's brain for decades). I quickly guessed who the villain was, but loved the scenes where Miles set the culprit up to reveal his true colors.

Characters: Miles Vorkosigan, Simon Illyan, chief of Imperial Security (Imp Sec) at planet Barrayar. Various employees at ImpSec. Lady Alyce Vorpatril. Ivan Vorpatril, and several others.

I chuckled several times, mostly at the untrained butler / chauffeur.

Miles takes a trip to his country estate. Wonderful fishing scene.

Miles also goes back to see the hill folk in the Dendarii Mountains, to pay his respects to the baby's grave (relates to scenes from the prequel, Mountains of Mourning).

Oh, and this is where Miles gets his fantastic cook.

Expect just the slightest bit of romance for more than one couple.