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A Review of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Diplomatic Immunity © 2002 by John W. Braue, III and Lynn J. Harris Prior to this book, Bujold’s latest offering was the fantasy The Curse of Chalion, which is generally conceded to be one of her weaker novels. We regret to say that she does not quite seem to have recovered her stride with Diplomatic Immunity. First of all, we comment on the physical quality of the book. Whilst this is an area in which the author seldom if ever has any input, it’s still a matter of concern to the reader; the best novel in the world cannot be enjoyed or even read if the physical substrate on which the words are printed (or recorded) is not up to its appointed task of being handled. The quality of our hardcover copy is quite good, although the stiffness of the binding does not suggest durability to us. Diplomatic Immunity is, of course, part of the Vorkosigan Saga. The reader needs to read the Saga at least as far back as Memory, together with the novel Falling Free and the short story "Labyrinth", to make sense of this book (on general principles, of course, you should read the whole thing). Briefly, the recently rediscovered planet Barrayar has been wrenched out of its quasi-medievalism by various unpleasant events to take its place in the galactic whirl of politics, will it or no. Miles Vorkosigan, the deformed young scion of a Barrayaran noble clan, has been trying for decades to find a suitable way to serve Barrayar’s interests, and has now apparently succeeded in his role as an Imperial Auditor, essentially an extension of the Barrayaran Emperor Gregor’s eyes and ears (and mouth; Miles’ words, by virtue of his office, are considered to be law). These few lines of summary, of course, cannot do justice to the background that Bujold has assembled for her universe. In Diplomatic Immunity, the recently-married Miles and his bride, Ekaterin, are on a galactic honeymoon tour when Miles is redirected by Imperial orders to the Union of Free Habitats, or "Quaddiespace", an area of the galaxy inhabited by Quaddies, a failed genetic engineering experiment of two hundred years earlier. There, he is to use his absolute (over Barrayarans) powers to resolve an dispute, rapidly approaching war, between the Union and an Imperial trade fleet. In the course of trying to resolve the dispute, Miles meets his old friend Bel Thorne, a genetically-engineered hermaphrodite, and the enigmatic haut, genetic engineers par excellence, of the Cetagandan Empire, Barrayar’s ancient enemy. One of the things that we found jarring in this novel is the suppression of Miles’ personality. He is an adrenaline addict, albeit one who has come to realize that his addiction can be fatal (he has in fact been killed once and revived, through the miracles of advanced medical technology and authorial fiat). Granting that he’s getting older, and that some of his goals have been achieved (he’s not only the youngest Auditor in post-Rediscovery history, he’s now married to a sexy, intelligent, and determined woman), his slowdown is disturbing, particularly given his frantic plotting in his last appearance in A Civil Campaign (he devises a Cunning Plan to get married, which he tells to everyone except his intended fiancée). At this rate, he’ll never surpass the achievements of his adored and respected father, Count Aral Vorkosigan. We also do not get a sense of Miles’ actual presence. In previous novels, we saw not only his physical deformities and, more importantly, his own reactions to them, but his emotional state; whether he was anxious, elated, or depressed by the circumstances that he found himself in. We get the feeling that this not really Miles Vorkosigan, that perhaps he and Ekaterin continued on their honeymoon and sent bots or droids in their places to fool everyone into thinking that he’s really taking care of the Emperor’s business. Perhaps Miles is now so self-satisfied by his position that he no longer projects, that he’s capable of not wearing his heart on his sleeve. If so, then Bujold may wish to fall back on her self-proclaimed formula for writing, putting her characters in the worst situation for them that she can imagine. If bad for Miles, it would be good for the reader. The book is also too crowded in incident. It’s a relatively slim work (307 pages in our hardcover edition). Another 50 or even 100 pages, with the additional space devoted largely to the exposition of the elements that make up the novel, would have been welcome. Again granting that apparently unrelated incidents pile on Miles thick and fast, to the point where he is almost overwhelmed by their sheer number as well as by their intractability, still we think that this should be conveyed to the reader by skilled writing, not by dumping him in the same confusing position. This confusion, combined with the lack of a sense that we (and the characters in the novel) are dealing with the real Miles Vorkosigan, may contribute to our lack of a sense of the gripping excitement that we felt characterized previous novels in the Vorkosigan Saga. This seems less like an episode in Miles’ life that we could actually share with him, and more like one of his after-action reports to Imperial Security. The emotional depth has been largely squeezed out of it, leaving something that one reads because it is part of one’s job, not because one cannot put it down. Diplomatic Immunity followed on the heels of The Curse of Chalion and A Civil Campaign far more quickly than we expected. This seeming rapidity may account for some of the flaws that we perceived. If this is in fact the case, then we hope that the next Vorkosigan Saga novel will be a couple of years in the writing and editing, despite the lack of current reading material that that entails. John "Akatsukami" Braue Wednesday, May 22, 2002 |
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