I started my journey into Lois McMaster Bujold's 'Vorkosigan Saga' by reading the first two Hugo winners, 'The Vor Game' and 'Barrayar', which were books six and seven. They were intricate and excellent and the latter especially felt like a worthy winner. Then I jumped back to the first, which I thoroughly enjoyed, even considering that it was a debut. This second is even better and, while it isn't as deep as those two winners, I'd call it my favourite thus far. In addition to the military sci-fi, the space opera and the intrigue, Bujold displays a wry sense of humour that pervades the book. I found myself grinning like a maniac more than once at what was being said and done.

While it was the second book published, within the chronology of the series it's currently  fourth, set seventeen years after 'Barrayar' and eighteen after 'Shards of Honor', but three before 'The Vor Game'. The central character is Miles Vorkosigan, son of Aral and Cordelia, and he starts out trying for officer but fails. He's aced the written tests but a jump from a high point on an obstacle course breaks both his legs. His grandfather Piotr was finally thinking about approving adding his name in front of Miles to adhere to Barrayaran tradition, but that's it for that. And, a few pages later, he's dead and doesn't care any more.

Miles is seventeen here, which means that Sgt. Bothari's daughter Elena is eighteen and Emperor Gregor is now ruling as an adult. Lady Cordelia finally shows up forty-two pages in, then promptly vanishes again. So much for me suggesting that she's the real series lead! She doesn't even follow when Miles realises that Elena's never been offworld so takes her and her father to Beta Colony, where his mum was born. It's here that the shenanigans truly begin, with Miles collecting misfits apparently effortlessly, starting with a mad jump pilot, Arde Mayhew, and a Barrayaran deserter, the former Lt. Baz Jesek. That's how the Dendarii Mercenaries are born.

Before I explore what they get up to, there's a bunch of linguistic stuff to look at. I was shocked at the inclusion of the word "bananarama", which I hadn't realised was ever used outside the band's name. I thought they made it up as a riff on Roxy Music's 'Pyjamarama' but apparently it started something. "The whole point of this bananarama..." The other is a frustrating lack of proofing on behalf of Baen, which seems anomalous. I bridled at one misspelling of "siege" as "seige", only to bump into a second and a third and suddenly everything's "seige", "leige" and "leigeman". There are three in a single paragraph at one point! Later there's a 1 to end "beautifu1". Wow! Suddenly I'm not sure if "perqs" and "creme de meth" are deliberate or not.

But back to the action. Having bought an obsolete starship almost by accident, he then decides to put it to use, taking a job offer from Maj. Carle Daum to transport a cargo to Tau Verde IV, where a war is raging and a blockade threatens to prevent their entry. They're stopped by a mercenary ship that's as both lax and corrupt as you might expect and, when they decide to take Elena along with them, the encounter quickly escalates into Miles gaining control of another ship. Two ships is good. Three ships is better. And it doesn't stop there. Before long, Miles is Admiral Naismith to an increasingly large company of Dendarii Mercenaries and they're collectively making enough of a splash to be noticed back home on Barrayar.

Of course, Miles always wanted to be out there in space. He was fully intending to do it the proper way by getting into the Barrayar armed forces and working his way up the chain. When that failed because of his compromised physical condition, he was forced to change plans but it's hard to see him doing anything but what he's doing. It takes many accidents and coincidences to get him onto this particular path but there's also an inevitability to it. It's hard to imagine him, even as young as this, doing anything routine.

While his father was a legendary naval officer and had already backed up his notable reputation in the previous novel, he also functions very well indeed as a Barrayaran lord. While action seems right for him, so does politics and, as much as he didn't want it, he was an excellent regent while Emperor Gregor grew into his majority. Miles, however, at least at this point, has to be in action and if he can't reach it deliberately, he'll reach it by accident. He'd be bored in politics, even with a talent for saying the right thing at the right time, as he proves in the excellent finale.

Talking of early, Bujold is astoundingly good here. While this may not be as deep as 'Barrayar', it's a heck of a lot deeper than anyone would have expected for a second novel published by Baen as a paperback original. She juggles a considerable cast of supporting characters behind Miles and has many of them grow through story arcs usually reserved for primaries. Sure, we're always here for Miles and the story inexorably revolves around him, but Elena Bothari, Bel Thorne and Baz Jesek are well drawn characters given real progression.

And there's that sense of humour, which Bujold displays throughout but puts on hold when a scene warrants a darker tone. My favourite scene may be the one in which Miles, who's merely Admiral Naismith to most of those serving under him, chats with Capt. Tung, who turns out to be a military historian and strategist and a particularly huge fan of Miles's father. He doesn't have a clue that his new boss is Aral Vorkosigan's son and Miles isn't going to tell him but must have been grinning like an idiot inside. The darkest moments surely come for the Botharis and the toughest scenes in the book revolve around both of them.

I knew that I was going to like this series a lot when I read 'The Vor Game', but it's a little awkward because of how it was constructed. 'Barrayar' was impeccable, a book that surely warranted that Hugo Award, even though it meant Bujold had two in two years. This isn't as deep as that one and I guess that makes it a lesser book, but it's so consistently packed with outrageous fun that never falls into flimsy or shallow territory that I like it more. For something this downright enjoyable to also have substantial depth and to do all that as early as an author's second book, is special. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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