Captain Vorpatril's Alliance

By: Lois McMaster Bujold

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

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

Regency Romance and Ocean's Eleven, all in one!

Grover Gardner's reading brings a lot of nuances to the story. I've recently read a few more of Georgette Heyer's Regency romances, and I have to say that the first 2/3 of the Alliance story (up till Tej's family arriving on Barrayar) is very much like a Regency romance. After that, it's a high-stakes caper all the way. Delightful.

And to top it off, it won the 2014 Audie Award in the Sci-Fi category.

"Ivan, you idiot!" provoked into maturity

Bujold dependably employs faults and cracks in fully developed characters to allow their inherent skewed (in Ivan's case, corkscrewed) points of view to shine new light on Vorkorsiverse imminent dangers, always delightfully looming. Bujold occasionally employs the Russian mythic image of the sleigh ride carrying the wedding party, at night, in a snow storm, chased by a ravening wolf pack. The original dilemma poses the question: who shall the riders sacrifice to slow the wolves and save the rest? In the original, it's the bride, of course, and everybody loses, life, joy, honor, even quarry.
In Bujold's sleigh, tho, the all male driver, guards, and husband and passive female bride are transmogrified to self-examining hero types matched equally with spunky heroines with weapons training. The sleigh, snowy night, and wolves remain, but the author introduces complexity to all the elements; keep your eye on the wolves, as even they may gain your sympathy.
You will meet lots of familiar folks from the "Miles" series, not on a walk down memory lane, but in a whole new adventure. I especially enjoyed Simon Illion, retired chief of security, making Puck-like mis-chief.

nice history lesson

listened to this while gardening. it had been a while since I tapped into this series.. (which I mostly love). great way to get the span characters history and relationships.

Not my favorite by Bujold but still good.

This book has my favorite moments of Ivan, who has largely irritated me most through most of the series. Tej is truly a beautiful character discovering who she is and growing from her trauma into appositive and wild unknown. Rish makes an interesting combination with Byerly. Ivans creative if not impromptu solution to Tej's dilemma was hilarious. I cheered for Tej and Ivan for about half the book until her family showed up. They are more obnoxious than the family of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I got to a point were I was tempted to not finish the book. That's never happened with Lois. I'm usually riveted by every paragraph in a chapter. With this book, I literally had to discipline myself to muscle through. I kept telling myself, "This is Vorkosigan series. It has to get better!" It did get better and had quite an inventive ending. I suppose it was worth it. I hope the next book is better.

I am sad to learn that there's only one more book in the series. Like Game of Thrones I will be like all the other fans just waiting for the next book to get my fix. Lois has taken us on quite a ride and I am sad at the idea of finding a new favorite author to fill my voracious reading appetite.

Fun romp

Miles is off stsge for most of this story. Ivan does just fine! Lots of great one liners.