Cryoburn

Lois McMaster Bujold

A Vorkosigan Saga book

Baen Books (2010)

ISBN: 9781439133941

Reviewed by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Cryoburn, by Lois McMaster Bujold, is a book I (and many others) have been awaiting since approximately the end of time. I discovered the outstanding Vorkosigan saga some years ago (gosh at least ten now, I think) with the marvellous comedy of manners A Civil Campaign. I then proceeded to catch up on all the previous books in entirely the wrong order, and with great glee. My first ebook reading (anyone else remember Mobipocket?) came about because of the difficulty of tracking down some of Bujold’s more obscure works, which I believe have since been reprinted, possibly multiple times.

In other words, I’m a fan.

Diplomatic Immunity was the first new release that I got my hands on after I discovered Miles Vorkosigan and his chaotic ensemble of family and friends, and while it pressed a lot of the “oh look who’s back” buttons, it felt ultimately like a bit of a damp squib – like the similarly bleh Cetaganda, it slipped quickly into the ‘Bujold books I’m least likely to reread’ pile, even as I reread Mirror Dance, Memory, Komarr, Civil Campaign, and even the very early volumes with voracious delight.

For most of this decade, Bujold has been writing fantasy, rather excellent examples of the genre, though nothing (it has to be said) that creates the same mad adoration that I feel for Miles Vorkosigan. I very much enjoyed her first two fantasy novels in particular, which did very clever things with magic and worldbuilding and protagonists, but, you know. NOT VORKOSIGAN.