Diplomatic Immunity

I probably say this every time I read another Miles Vorkosigan book, but this one (I think) is my favorite. There is just enough of Admiral Naismith action to remind me of the books that featured that side of Miles, and yet we see the more mature, married and about to be a parent side of Miles, too. I also enjoyed the echoes from other books--Bel Thorne, the quaddies, and the haut ladies of the Star Créche--woven into this new story.

Two things that especially struck me--no, three. First, although Miles does not have the relationship with his "team" the way he did with his Dendarii Mercenaries, he still puts their needs and safety above his. Secondly, Bujold emphasizes Miles' ability to see the bigger picture and all its implications. show more He truly is able to put himself in the place of the "other", or perhaps he sees the "other" as more like himself than different. This is true with both the Quaddies and the Cetagandans. And thirdly, although we see it indirectly, Ekaterin is blossoming into her role as Lady Vorkosigan. I would have loved to have seen more directly her actions while Miles was incapacitated.

10/10 rating!! show less

Summary: Miles and Ekaterin Vorkosigan deferred their honeymoon for a year after their wedding, but they've spent several months touring the nexus while their first children gestate in uterine replicators back on Barrayar. They're on their way home to be present for the birth when Miles's duties as Imperial Auditor intervene, and they are diverted to Graf Station to handle a budding diplomatic disaster. Graf Station is in Quaddiespace -- home to a race of four-armed humans genetically engineered to be ideally adapted to zero g. A Komarran trade fleet with its Barrayaran military escort had docked at Graf Station, but when one of the Barrayaran officers went missing -- presumably murdered -- his fellow soldiers reacted badly. Now the show more Quaddies have impounded the ships and are holding a number of Barrayaran troublemakers as prisoners.

Miles is tasked with keeping the situation from escalating any further -- a tricky business when the Quaddies' fiercely proud independence runs up against the Barrayaran prejudice against genetic mutations. He has some unexpected help from the Betan hermaphrodite Bel Thorne, dismissed from the Dendarii mercenaries after the debacle on Jackson's Whole, and now working as a Portmaster on Graf Station. But the deeper Miles digs into the matter of the missing crewman, the more complicated things become... and if the assassination attempts are any guide, there is someone aboard Graf Station who desperately wants to keep the truth hidden at any cost.

Review & Recommendation: The problem with having such a long series is that inevitably some of the books are going to be better than others, and the problem with having the best books in a series be in the middle is that it's hard to sustain that level of awesomeness indefinitely. But the good news is that while Diplomatic Immunity doesn't quite match up to the brilliance of Mirror Dance or A Civil Campaign, neither is it a far drop. It's a solid, fast-paced mystery with plenty of twists and turns and a solution that fits but is never obvious -- and one that Miles solved before I did, which was important when he's billed as a brilliant tactical mind. My least favorite part about Memory, the previous Vorkosigan Saga mystery, was how oblivious Miles was to the answer that was staring me straight in the face; in the case of Diplomatic Immunity, though, I was constantly kept guessing, right up until the very satisfying end.

The other problem with having such a long series is the temptation to keep bringing back characters and elements from past books. In this case, I didn't mind so much, although there is a slight sense that Miles now knows everyone in the universe, since he seems to be unable to go anywhere without running into a familiar face. I thought it was nice to see Bel again, and nice that it got more character development here than I remember it having in most of the previous books -- and I got a little smug thrill every time I recognized a tie-in to Falling Free, the prequel that introduces the Quaddies. (The line about the Quaddie ballet -- performed in zero g -- and how the dancer playing Leo Graf was "supposed to dance like an engineer" in particular made me chuckle.) But I can see how the constant references to past books might be distracting or confusing for a reader who was primarily interested in the mystery.

My main gripe with the book was how quickly Ekaterin was shunted to the sidelines. She's an awesome character, one that I've quickly come to love, and she proved in Komarr that she's well able to handle herself even in tense and deadly situations. While I can understand her decision to keep her life and her work separate from Miles's career, I also feel like this book could have been written so that she had a more active and helpful role to play, rather than spending some time looking at the Quaddies' gardens before being banished to a separate ship "for her safety." The previous two books spent so much time emphasizing the point that she wanted to be in charge of her own destiny, I would hate to see her become Miles's sidekick rather than his partner.

Actually, my main gripe with Diplomatic Immunity is that now that I've finished it, I'm down to less than twelve hours of Vorkosigan Saga listening left. The audio production was flawless as always, and Grover Gardner captures Miles's voice like no one else could. But it's bittersweet -- as much as I enjoyed this book, and as much as I've absolutely loved the Vorkosigan Saga as a whole, I'm not ready for it to end. 4 out of 5 stars. show less

Diplomatic Immunity has Miles put on his detective hat once more, this time in a foreign galactic nation where he doesn't have his Imperial authority. His first order of business is to establish a peace between the visiting Barrayarans who believe an officer was murdered, and the native Quaddies who were the victims of a surprise military assault because of the former. Working with both sides, Miles uncovers a plot involving a third galactic power, and must apprehend the agent and prevent a galactic war with Barrayar serving as the scapegoat for the incident. I enjoyed this one, as Miles was forced to negotiate his way through a diplomatic impasse with both sides having reasonably self-interested positions. It was also difficult to tell show more what was really going on until the end, keeping the reader on his toes. show less

The first Miles Vorkosigan book that really showcases him as a proper grown-up, a responsible, married career man. And shocking, Bujold actually manages to sell me on it: Miles has truly changed over the course of the books.

Mind you, in some ways it's also a call back to the early books, with an emphasis on forward motion, madcap adventure and getting in over your head; Miles' adventure ends here with a tense spaceship stand-off and a quixotic pilot that parallels the start of his first adventure - while being entirely different in every way.

A lot of people aren't fond of this book, compared to the others in the series. It was the first I read, and sold me on it. But it is quite different from any of the others - a consequence, I think, show more of being grown-up. It also calls back to a lot of characters and plot points from previous books, but I came into it cold with no difficulty at all. show less

(Fourteenth of 17 (I suppose): Vorkosigan saga (chronological order). Science fiction, space opera)

Miles - Imperial Auditor and thus Voice of the Emperor when necessary - and his bride are returning home from their delayed honeymoon with the happy expectation of hatching their first two children from their incubators when he is diverted by the Emperor to resolve affairs on Graf Station in Quaddie-space on behalf of Barrayar and the Empress Laissa.

According to the Barrayaran military escort of a Komarran merchant fleet, they were trying to rescue one of their number from the space station. However, the quaddies, who have two pairs of arms instead of a pair each of arms and legs and are more comfortable in free-fall, dispute this version show more of events and have impounded the fleet as well as imprisoning the offending soldiers. Meanwhile, the merchants are anxious to be on their way especially as some of them are transporting time-sensitive cargo.

Lieutenant Solian, a security officer with the fleet, is missing, presumed dead. A quantity of his blood has been found, but not his body. And the jump ship pilot, whom the Barrayarans were 'rescuing', wants to apply to Graf Station for asylum so he can stay with his new quaddie love, Garnet Five. Sealer Greenlaw, in charge of Graf Station, wants reparation. But, as always with Miles, things are not as easy as they first appear.

Fortunately, he runs into some old friends on Graf Station - Bel Thorne, ex of the Dendarii Mercenaries and Nicol, a beautiful quaddie who (... well, never mind) - who are willing to see his side of things. And he is also married to a woman who not only understands his quirks but can keep a cool head in a crisis.

I found things a little slow going at first, but that could have been due to my reduced reading time during the week. On Saturday, though, I raced through the last half of the book as events started coming together and time started to run out for Miles and co. I think that's when we see Miles at his best.

I did appreciate the scene with the babies, and I had to empathise. Who in their right minds let Miles become a parent? Or me, either? But my two are now 9 and 14 (gosh, already? But I’m still trying to work out what to do); I don’t know how they survived. Or me, either.

He stared at the two bundles more than filling his lap in a kind of cosmic amazement.

"We did it," he muttered to Ekaterin, now perching on the chair arm. "Why didn't anybody stop us? Why aren't there more regulations about this sort of thing? What fool in their right mind would put me in charge of a baby? Two babies?"...

... He had been the end point of human evolution. At this moment he abruptly felt more like a missing link.

I thought I knew everything. Surely I knew nothing. How had his own life become such a surprise to him, so utterly rearranged? His brain had whirled with a thousand plans for these tiny lives, visions of the future both hopeful and dire, funny and fearful. For a moment, it seemed to come to a full stop. I have no idea who these two people are going to be.

4.5 stars show less

Imperial Auditor Miles and his wife Ekaterin just want to make it home in time to see their babies born (like most civilised people, they're opting for a replicator birth). However, enroute, Miles is asked to stop and investigate a minor incident - Barrayaran troops have apparently created quite a disruption on Graf Station. Miles' diplomatic authority should be able to calm things down.
However, once he gets there, Miles discovers a thornier problem than expected. The issue isn't just drunk-and-disorderly troops, but a host of intertwining issues involving theft, smuggling, a host of political difficulties, any number of suspicious characters, and a chain of connections that may put the peace of the entire Barrayaran Empire at show more risk.

Great fun.

I'm not reading these in order, at all, but before reading this one, at the very least, you should've read 'Cetaganda' - I'm glad that I had. show less

Diplomatic Immunity is part of the science fiction Vorkosigan series that features the undersized Miles Vorkosigan in his many space adventures. In this outing we are invited to participate in the last few days of Miles and his new wife Lady Ekaterin’s honeymoon. They are eager to get home to attend the birth of their first two children. But while still days away from arrival, Barrayar’s Emperor Gregor, calls upon Miles, his Imperial Auditor, to make a side-trip to attend to a diplomatic crisis.

A Komarran merchant fleet has been impounded at Graf Station, after an incident involving a missing Barrayaran security officer. This was further escalated by the behaviour of the Barrayaran military who ran rough-shod over the civilians. show more This area is controlled by Quaddies, a race of genetically engineered, four armed humans and Miles must step carefully to avoid giving further insult. Unfortunately the incident soon becomes one of mass murder, kidnapping, biological warfare and genetic politics taking all of Mile’s skills and knowledge to find a solution that will please all parties.

While I didn’t enjoy this story as much as the previous entry, A Civil Campaign, Diplomatic Immunity was still an excellent read with some great new as well as some familiar and well known characters, a fascinating setting and lots of action. As a long time fan, I am thrilled to see Miles and Ekaterin happy in their marriage and with each other. Diplomatic Immunity proved to be another winner in the excellent Vorkosigan series. show less