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Miles, Mutants and Microbes (Falling Free / Labyrinth / Diplomatic Immunity)

por Lois McMaster Bujold

Series: Vorkosigan: Publication Order (Omnibus 4,5b,14), Vorkosigan: Chronological Order (Omnibus 1,7a,14)

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5501143,423 (4.23)1 / 15
Two complete novels and a short novel in one large volume: Falling Free--The Nebula Award-winning novel. Leo Graf was just your typical efficient engineer: mind your own business and do the job. But all that changed on his assignment to the Cay Habitat, where children had been bio-engineered to have four arms (and no legs) to function in zero gravity. Now that they're no longer needed, a heartless mega corporation is getting rid of them before they eat into the profit margin. Leo Graf adopted 1000 quaddies--now he had to teach them to be free. "Labyrinth"--When Miles Vorkosigan is captured while on a secret mission to a lawless world, his only hope of escape is an unlikely pair of allies: a quaddie and a teenage werewolf. Diplomatic Immunity-- Miles Vorkosigan and his wife were heading home for the births of their first children, but a major diplomatic disaster is looming at Graf Station, colonized by the descendants of the original quaddies, and duty calls. Unfortunately, diplomatic immunity doesn't carry over to immunity from a very nasty biological weapon. The downside of being a troubleshooter comes when trouble starts shooting back. . . .… (más)
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FALLING FREE:

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold occupies a somewhat confusing place in the Vorkosigan universe chronology. It was the fourth book published — which is interesting to consider in itself — but is a prequel set about 200 years before the other books in the series. Aside from anything else, that means it stands entirely on its own with no character connections to any other books in the series. It does, however, lay some background for a race of genetically engineered people that appear in a couple of other books.

This story follows an engineer who has been sent to a space station to teach a bunch of genetically engineered humans how to weld safely. Through his point of view we encounter the quaddies, who have two extra arms instead of legs for better manoeuvrability in free fall. We also see how the quaddies are questionably owned by the corporation that created them and the extent to which they have been psychologically conditioned to keep working for the corporation. Also, how ripe for exploitation they are as a group. We also see some of this exploitation from the point of view of one of the quaddies, Silver, although she doesn't entirely realise she's being exploited.

This was an odd re-read because the first time I read this book, at roughly the same place in terms of which books I read before and after (thanks to the Baen omnibuses), I had no idea what to expect. The second time, I knew what to expect, remembered not disliking the book but was still disappointed that Miles and/or Cordelia weren't in it. Also, the aspect of the book I remembered disliking was, of course, still there, for all that I came at it from a slightly different perspective. I also noticed that pretty much all the bits I didn't really like were very carefully written and challenged within the narrative itself.

Falling Free is one of the most hard science fictional books in the Vorkosigan Saga. There's a bit of hand-wavey science, but for the most part those bits of science aren't the focus of the story. The story very much deals with the scenario of convenient genetic engineering and the possible consequences of obsolesce thereafter.

This is a good book to read as a standalone if you're not sure whether Bujold's writing is for you. Since it stands alone there's not obligation to keep reading the other books, but they remain an easy possibility for readers who enjoyed this book. And although the iconic character of Miles doesn't appear in this book, the story is still feels like a part of the same universe. It's not my favourite Vorkosigan universe book, but it's not a terrible place to start (for all that I've only ever read it in the middle of the series) and it's a darned good read either way.

4 / 5 stars

DIMPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold is the latest of my re-reads of the Vorkosigan Saga. Chronologically this novel comes after the novella Winterfair Gifts and is one of the last few in the series (so far). Although this was a re-read for me, it turned out that I remembered very little of it from my first read through other than the fact that it features Miles and Ekaterin in Quaddie space. Now that I've actually reread it the new ebook edition cover (pictured here) makes much more sense.

For all that I didn't specifically remember, this is another typical Miles adventure. He's sent in to fix a delicate and slightly odd diplomatic incident and ends up embroiled in a far-reaching conspiracy that would have started a war if he hadn't gotten to it when he did. Classic Miles. We also got to have some closure on a Dendarii character from earlier in the series who hadn't already had a little epilogue.

This was another action-packed read filled with a mystery to solve and lots of conspiratorial threads that eventually all come together into a coherent whole. I suppose I wouldn't call it one of my favourite Vorkosigan books, but it's right up there and I'm not sure why the details of the story escaped my memory to so great an extent. Perhaps it's because by the time I got to reading it I had read a lot of Vorkosigan books in a row and my brain was overloaded? In any case, I definitely enjoyed rereading it and Diplomatic Immunity sits firmly in the category of elaborate Miles problem-solving adventures.

It's not impossible to read this book without having read others — a lot of the plot specifics are explained as the story goes along — but I wouldn't recommend it. It builds on a lot of ideas that were introduced in earlier books, from Miles's past, to the quaddies (in Falling Free) and geo spatiopolitical relations between Barrayar and Cetaganda. There's a lot of history behind this book, even if the specific adventure/problem is very self-contained. I still highly recommend the Vorkosigan series as a whole, just not this book as a starting point.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog. ( )
  Tsana | Mar 8, 2018 |
August 2019 reread:

"Falling Free" - 3.5* - I think that I would have liked it more if I hadn't come to it in the middle of reading the series, as I missed Miles & it suffered in comparison to the omnibus "Miles in Love" which I just finished.
"Labyrinth" - 3.5* - read earlier in the omnibus "Miles, Mystery and Mayhem" so skipped now.
"Diplomatic Immunity" - 3.5* - reread was via this omnibus rather than the audiobook. It was nice to encounter Bel Thorne again!

-------------------------
I think the final book in this omnibus, "Diplomatic Immunity", was more enjoyable to me than the first one, "Falling Free", but that the first one was a better novel overall, one that had something for the reader to think over once the book was finished. "Diplomatic Immunity" was more fun for me because it was the next installment in the serial about Miles Vorkosigan's life and just as with fans of daytime soap operas, I needed my fix. But that having been achieved, there was less substance to this novel -- plenty of action but not as much social commentary.

I am glad that I decided to reread the novella "Labyrinth" that separated the two novels as that was the best part of the whole omnibus! ( )
  leslie.98 | Sep 2, 2015 |
I love Taura. And the quaddies. So much packed into the ideas for those characters! ( )
  cendri | May 30, 2014 |
Follow this link for my review of Diplomatic Immunity

Will come back to this book later in May to read Falling Free to wrap up the series, at least until [b:CryoBurn|7759564|CryoBurn (Vorkosigan Saga, #14)|Lois McMaster Bujold|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266647744s/7759564.jpg|10621859] is released in November.
  mossjon | Mar 31, 2013 |
This omnibus consists of three works in Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga.

Falling Free is marked as the first work in the series, but I don't think it's necessarily the work you want to read first. This is more a prequel to the main timeline of the series. It's known as the "Vorkosigan Saga" because it mostly focuses on the family of that name, and particularly Miles Vorkosigan--who isn't even mentioned in this first standalone story set 200 years before the character that gives this series its name was born. It's also an early work of Bujold, only her fourth published novel, and I think she's one of those writers who only got better with time rather than peaked early. So I'd recommend starting with the omnibus works Cordelia's Honor (centered on Miles' parents) or Young Miles, where Miles finally takes center stage. This is recognizably in the same universe though, and is an entertaining story in its own right. But while Miles Vorkosigan is one of the most memorable fictional characters in science fiction, this merely has likable ones. Leo Graf, an engineer, finds himself teaching "quaddies," a bioengineered species of human with four arms designed to work in free fall who are disturbingly treated like property--and a new tech is about to make their purpose obsolete. The story is good space opera in the tradition of the Heinlein juveniles--but with stronger, more believable female characters. I liked and enjoyed this--but I love lots of the other entries in the series.

"Labyrinth" is a novella set between the events in Cetaganda, the sixth novel, and "The Borders of Infinity." Many of the Vorkosigan stories deal to a great extent on just what it means to be human, to be normal, and to be different. Miles himself is a test of those questions given he was born with physical deformities into a society that prized physical perfection. He's often touchy and bitter about those handicaps as a result. So it was interesting here to see him find a mirror and foil in Taura, an physically strong but emotionally vulnerable girl designed to be a warrior who wishes she was "normal." So when Miles tells her not to try to be normal, but the best she can be, I felt he was certainly speaking as much about and to himself as he was to her. Taura is one of my favorites among the secondary recurring characters in the series.

Diplomatic Immunity is the fourteenth novel in the Vorkosigan Saga, so there's quite a bit of ground covered between the last work and this one. It does tie in closely with the Quaddies we met in Falling Free however. Diplomatic Immunity displays a lot of the hallmarks that makes Miles one of my favorite fictional characters. I wouldn't name this one as a favorite among the novels. I think in the end The Warrior's Apprentice, Mirror Dance and A Civil Campaign are the standouts for me. Which doesn't mean this wasn't greatly enjoyable for anyone who likes a of mix of mystery and space opera. And this particular outing is among the most suspenseful in the series. ( )
1 vota LisaMaria_C | May 22, 2012 |
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Two complete novels and a short novel in one large volume: Falling Free--The Nebula Award-winning novel. Leo Graf was just your typical efficient engineer: mind your own business and do the job. But all that changed on his assignment to the Cay Habitat, where children had been bio-engineered to have four arms (and no legs) to function in zero gravity. Now that they're no longer needed, a heartless mega corporation is getting rid of them before they eat into the profit margin. Leo Graf adopted 1000 quaddies--now he had to teach them to be free. "Labyrinth"--When Miles Vorkosigan is captured while on a secret mission to a lawless world, his only hope of escape is an unlikely pair of allies: a quaddie and a teenage werewolf. Diplomatic Immunity-- Miles Vorkosigan and his wife were heading home for the births of their first children, but a major diplomatic disaster is looming at Graf Station, colonized by the descendants of the original quaddies, and duty calls. Unfortunately, diplomatic immunity doesn't carry over to immunity from a very nasty biological weapon. The downside of being a troubleshooter comes when trouble starts shooting back. . . .

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