Cetaganda (Vorkosigan Saga) by Lois McMaster Bujold, Lois McMaster Bujold

From the Publisher

Cetaganda is the latest installment of the Hugo-award winning adventures of Miles Vorkosigan, in which Miles and Cousin Ivan go to Cetaganda to play the part of sprigs of the nobility doing their diplomatic duty by good old Barrayar. The idea is that they will gain diplomatic polish on this simple mission, but when the Cetagandan empress dies naturally and her lifelong attendant dies unnaturally - apparently a suicide, but there are rumors - Miles and Ivan find themselves in the thick of it. Miles tries to play detective in a strange, complicated, and deceptively alien culture. Meanwhile, handsome and lascivious Ivan manages to get himself involved with several women at the same time - all of whom are TROUBLE from the word go. Miles had always wanted to save the Empire - it was just that the Cetagandan wasn't exactly the empire he'd had in mind...

Publishers Weekly

The power to engineer a civilization's genetic destiny fosters new variations on old struggles for political power in this entertaining space-operatic entry in Bujold's long-running Vorkosigan saga. Miles Vorkosigan, hero of Mirror Dance (winner of the 1995 Hugo Award for Best Novel), is on a diplomatic mission to represent his home planet at the funeral of the dowager empress of the Cetaganda empire when an encounter with an assailant leaves him with a piece of computer software. This proves to be a bogus duplicate of a key to the Cetagandan genome, which each new empress manipulates to produce offspring. With the help of a member of Cetaganda's matriarchal ruling haut, Miles and his cousin Ivan dodge inventive assassination attempts to determine which of the empire's eight governors has tried to pin this ``theft'' on them in the hope of usurping control of the genome. With her usual skill, Bujold addresses timeless issues of human identity through the personal dramas of her characters, most notably Miles, a deformed mutant whose insecurities afford him insight but sometimes obstruct his investigations. Set in a vividly realized world where Machiavellian intrigues are played out behind a facade of aristocratic discretion, this novel, like its predecessors, blends high adventure with wry commentary on the seemingly unbridgeable gulf between human ideals and political realities. (Jan.)

Library Journal

When an unexplained death mars the funeral ceremonies for the Dowager Empress of the Cetagandan Empire, Barrayaran agent Miles Vorkosigan finds himself unwillingly drawn into a dangerous game of internal politics and affairs of the heart. Swashbuckling adventure laced with wry humor acts as a camouflage for the author's incisive and gentle irony in the latest addition to the popular "Vorkosigan" series. A good choice for sf collections, particularly where the author has a following.

BookList

Having won his creator the latest best novel Hugo for "Mirror Dance" (1994), Miles Vorkosigan returns. Filling in some of Miles' earlier career, Bujold takes him, at age 22, to the capital planet of the Cetagandan Empire, whose minions have been favorite villains in Bujold's universe for years. Miles is traveling with his handsome but dumb cousin, Ivan Vorpatril, and immediately upon landing, falls victim to a nasty practical joke. Thereafter, matters become complicated beyond any plot summary's capability to do them justice, but the whole story, lighter in tone than "Mirror Dance", is as witty and well-handled as is usual for Bujold. It shows us the elite, at least, among the long-lurking Cetagandans; develops the characters of Miles and Ivan; and demonstrates why Miles' military superiors frequently wish he could be shot. In the wake of Bujold's new Hugo, even greater swarms of readers will flock to this book and swell even more the number of her fans--which is only what she richly deserves.

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents