Best in a very funny series: a Regency Romance in Space:
The Miles Vorkosigan series of adventures is far and away the most amusing comedy science fiction series ever written. This is the ninth Miles Vorkosigan adventure, and in my opinion the funniest book in the series.

It is slightly different from the other nine books in the series - the first eight and the last one all have elements of action adventure, mystery and detection. This one, on the other hand, can best be understood as a "Regency Romance" style farce set several hundred years in the future on a planet which in some ways is used to high technology and in others is a quasi-feudal militaristic Empire. In other words, it mimics the style, and has a very similar plot, to the popular genre of romantic novels set in Georgian England during the "Regency" period in the early 19th century. Think Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer meet Star Wars with a hint of "The West WIng" thrown in.

The Miles Vorkosigan stories, and four other books set in the the same future universe, can stand on their own. However, a number of them, of which this is one, will give you something extra if you have previously read some of Bujold's books set earlier on the same timeline.

If you have not previously met Lord Miles Vorkosigan, he is 1) a brilliant intriguer who at one stage was juggling at least three identities; 2) physically very small, having been injured in his mother's womb by poison gas; 3) a former spy for Imperial Barrayan security, former mercenary admiral and present "Imperial Auditor"; 4) desperately trying to find a wife; and 5) hysterically funny to read about.

The book is set in the run-up to the wedding of Miles' cousin, the Emperor, which is shown on the front cover. The handsome, tall man on the cover with his bride is Emperor Gregor, and definately not the hero of the stories, Lord Miles Vorkosigan. Miles is neither tall nor handsome, but he makes up for it in other ways - some of the time, anyway.

Several other people are thinking about love and marriage, including Miles himself, as he is very much in love with Ekaterin who he met in the previous book, "Komarr".

Miles' friend Duv Galeni, his clone-brother Mark, and his cousin Ivan also have their own romantic plans, and their various romantic intrigues collide not only with each other, but with those of various scheming nobles who are fighting over the inheritance of two titles, those of Ekaterin's idiotic relatives, and of two luckless Escobarran policemen.

At one point, Miles' mother Cordelia has to sort out the angry parents of Miles' childhood friends the Koudelka sisters. If you want to understand some of the references here, you will have to read the story of how the previous generations of Vorkosigans and Koudelkas got together, which can be found in the books "Shards of Honour" and "Barrayar." These two books have been published separately, and also together as "Cordelia's honour".

Sound complicated? It is. That's why there is a lot to be said for reading these stories in sequence. Having said that, you can read this book on its own and it is still funny.

The full sequence of books in this Universe is

"Falling Free" (set 200 years before Miles is born)

The story of the romance between Miles' parents:
"Shards of Honour"
"Barrayar"
(Published in one volume as "Cordelia's Honour")

The Miles Vorkosigan adventures:

"The Warrior's Apprentice"
"The Vor game"
"Borders of Infinity"
"Cetaganda"
"Brothers in Arms"
"Mirror Dance"
"Memory"
"Komarr"
"A Civil Campaign"
"Diplomatic Immunity"

And a separate adventure for Miles' friend Elli Quinn:
"Ethan of Athos"

All these books are excellent and strongly recommended.

Something of a departure from Bujold's Vorkosigan series, in that instead of a space opera this is a comedy of manners set on Barrayar. Instead of a military problem to solve, Miles is trying to court the lady -- and recent widow -- he met in the last book (Komarr). Miles being Miles, his tactics are unique and amusing, at least to those watching. He also gets involved in the politics of the Council of Counts.

I found this book vastly entertaining, in a somewhat different way than the earlier novels in this series. The pleasure in this novel is more in the nature of watching the characters interact with each other and with their culture. ( )

One of the few Vorkosigan books that would not work as a stand-alone. This one needs to be read after Komarr. It's a delightful blend of several independent plot lines involving Mile's love life, Mark's latest business enterprise, the latest ramifications of Betan technology on Barryaran politics and the fortunes of the Koudelka sisters.

Very enjoyable and very amusing.

the only reason I gave this 4 1/2 stars rather than 5 is because Komarr was so amazingly good that it's hard to equal it. (If I hadn't just read Komarr first, I'd probably have given this book 5 stars as well) ( )

This is a brilliant and funny comedy of manners masquerading as one of a series of space opera novels. Miles Vorkosigan finally (and veering somewhere between "painfully" and "amusingly") gets the girl. Or vice-versa. His lady love is every bit as stubborn, determined, individualistic, talented and every-inch-a-survivor as Miles. Hurrah! I laughed out loud on the tram.

Not many authors can make me do that.

This is the pay-off novel in the series for me. Miles is talented, charismatic, and the scion of a noble family and has been bounced around the galaxy, working through his apprenticeship and being a journeyman in the service of his planet - but this is really the first time you see him wield all of it in a stunning display of power in the service of the Empire, his family and *sigh* true love (or as close as these things get, anyway).

And finally Ivan gets to (rather painfully for him as well) start to grow up and be Useful. Even the repressed Emporer Gregor gets his "the girl" and a chance at some kind of personal contentment.

A Civil Campaign isn't the final volume of Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga (a sequel, Diplomatic Immunity was published a few years ago, and there's a new book on the way as well), and as far as I know it was never intended to be, but in many ways it feels uncannily like one. Part of that is a result of the subject matter. While the earlier books of the series focused on the adventures and military exploits of the brilliant-but-outcast Miles Vorkosgian in what were often fairly traditional (even cliched) space opera stories, later books increasingly saw the focus shift to the internal conflicts and emotional struggles of the cast. In the three books immediately preceding this one, Miles gained a 'brother', in the form of his troubled clone Mark, was forced to give up the role of "Admiral Naismith", the alternate personna he first adopted in the very beginning of the series, and most recently, in Komarr, was introduced to a potential romantic interest, Ekaterin Vorsoisson. A Civil Campaign continues this trend by doing away with the space opera heroics altogether: focusing instead on Miles' attempts (often painfully awkward) to persuade Ekaterin to marry him. At the same time, his brother Mark attempts to set up a successful business on Barrayar, and the conservative and moderinising factions on the Barrayaran Council of Counts are drawn into a political struggle over the choice of heir of two of the Councils recently deceased members.

A Civil Campaign is also rather different in tone and format than earlier books in the series. Previously, Bujold had written things solely from Miles' perspective, or occasionally mixed perspectives from Miles and a second major character. For this book, however, Bujold opts for a wider range of perspectives: and the various voices and tones of the expanded cast really makes a difference. For the most part this ranks alongside Mirror Dance and Komarr as one of the better Vorkosigan novels. Not everything in the book is flawless: there are some moments of slapstick comedy that don't really work, and cynics might point out that the very basic core of the plot (basically: "Miles tries so hard to be clever he does something really stupid and has to fix it") is actually unchanged from several earlier books in the series.

Indeed, I'd have to say that this book didn't work for me quite as well as Komarr or Mirror Dance did, and the change of genre may prove off-putting to some. And of course, it really isn't a book that will work at all well for a reader not familiar with the large cast of characters and their relationships with each other. That said, I enjoyed it a lot and I think any fan of the series would as well.