Review from Badelynge
These three installments in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga are something of a mixed bag. Although they follow on from each other in the general chronology the publication order was quite different and were published over the span of a decade or so. They all use the field of genetics to fuel the plot and themes.
In Cetaganda Miles tries his hand at another bit of detective work. He's on a diplomatic mission to Cetaganda with his 'a bit thick but handsome' cousin. He's not even off the shuttle before he's knee deep in intrigue, and murder, dodging potentially fatal traps as he goes. Spending time in Miles head is always enjoyable and fun. I also enjoyed trying to imagine how beautiful the Cetagandan Haut women were. Probably similar to trying to imagine what Galadriel looked like - an enjoyable exercise but ultimately a futile one.
Don't start Ethan of Athos thinking Miles is in it. You'll only be disappointed. The little guy is mentioned quite a bit though and one of the major characters is Elli Quinn, some might remember her from The Warrior's Apprentice. The main protagonist is this chap Ethan. He lives on a male only planet inhabited by blokes who live in superstitious dread of women (otherwise known as uterine replicators with legs). The fun starts when he has to leave his home planet in search of a replacement supply of ovarian cultures to replace the failing existing cultures, without which his society can't reproduce. Massive culture shock ensues (women everywhere). Ethan soon gets up to his neck in problems he's not really equipped to deal with, problems that he's going to have to rely on a woman to overcome. Enter Elli Quinn. It's all quite light hearted but very amusing.
Labyrinth is a novella which features Miles back at the helm of the Dendarii cruiser Ariel. Before too long everything goes pear-shaped and Miles finds himself in big trouble. And if being trapped in a dungeon with a sex mad teenage werewolf doesn't qualify as big trouble I don't know what does. As fun as ever but still finds time to ask a few questions about what it is to be different. ( )

This book is an omnibus of two books and a novella. It is the second omnibus chronologically of Miles Vorkosigan's adventures. It is still early enough to jump in without losing too much - though her humor builds on character a great deal. All three of these books deal very closely with themes of genetic manipulation.

Cetaganda is a story about Miles Vorkosigan and his cousin Ivan and how they save the Empire - The Cetagandan Empire (aka, the badguys). It did a great job of outlining a culture we only had the vaguest notions about in previous works, and making them human, and inhuman, in delightfully believable ways. One last comment: kitten tree - lol.

Ethan of Athos is set very much in the Miles Vorkosigan universe - featuring the lovely Ella Quinn, who appears in the first book and in many later stories - but does not include everyone's favorite non-mutant midget himself. It does include a planet on which male chauvinist religious extremists have decided to live on their own - without women. Start filling in blanks yourself. I have to say, for not including any of my favorite regular characters, this is one of my favorite books of Bujold's. It has one of the most unique concepts I've run across, and some of the most well constructed telepaths.

"Labyrinth" is perhaps my least favorite of Bujold's shorter works, which speaks to the extremely high quality of her other stories, rather than any low quality of this one. Features the introduction of Taura, and who doesn't love Taura? ( )

Full review:
http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2009/... ( )

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http://www.leftfield.org/~rawdon/book... ( )