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Summary and Reviews of Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold

Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold

Komarr

A Miles Vorkosigan Adventure

by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Critics' Consensus:
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  • First Published:
  • Jun 1, 1998, 320 pages
  • Paperback:
  • May 1999, 366 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

Miles is caught in a race against time to stop a plot that could exile him from Barrayar forever. His burning hope lies in an unexpected ally, one with wounds as deep and honor as beleaguered as his own.

Komarr could be a garden - with a thousand more years work. Or an uninhabitable wasteland, if the terraforming fails. Now the solar mirror vital to the terraforming of the conquered planet has been shattered by a ship hurtling off course. The Emperor of Barrayar sends his newest Imperial Auditor, Lord Miles Vorkosigan, to find out why. The choice is not a popular one on Komarr, where a betrayal a generation before drenched the name of Vorkosigan in blood. In the political and physical claustrophobia of the domed cities, are the Komarrans surrounding Miles loyal subjects, potential hostages, innocent victims, or rebels bidding for revenge? Lies within lies, treachery within treachery - Miles is caught in a race against time to stop a plot that could exile him from Barrayar forever. His burning hope lies in an unexpected ally, one with wounds as deep and honor as beleaguered as his own.

Chapter One

The last gleaming sliver of Komarr's true-sun melted out of sight beyond the low hills on the western horizon. Lagging behind it in the vault of the heavens, the reflected fire of the solar mirror sprang out in brilliant contrast to the darkening, purple-tinged blue. When Ekaterin had first viewed the hexagonal soletta-array from downside on Komarr's surface, she'd immediately imagined it as a grand Winterfair ornament, hung in the sky like a snowflake made of stars, benign and consoling. She leaned now on her balcony overlooking Serifosa Dome's central city park, and gravely studied the lopsided spray of light through the glassy arc overhead. It sparkled deceptively in contrast to the too-dark sky. Three of the six disks of the star-flake shone not at all, and the central seventh was occluded and dull.

Ancient Earthmen, she had read, had taken alterations in the clockwork procession of their heavens-comets, novae, shooting stars-for disturbing omens,...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

VOYA - Paula Lewis
Bujold retains the wit, intelligence, action, and great character development that have made the Miles Vorkosigan series so superior. In Komarr she proves once again that it is possible for the latest book in a series to be as good as the first.

Booklist
The latest Miles Vorkosigan adventure is so understated that only very gradually does the emotional impact we have come to expect from Bujold's novels register. .... Another fine effort from one of SF's outstanding talents.

Publishers Weekly
Bujold continues to grow as a writer, and her work remains among the most enjoyable and rewarding in contemporary SF.

Reader Reviews

Melody

What a wonderful book--and a good place to start this series if you haven't found it before now! Miles has matured if not mellowed and we finally see a heroine capable of handling him with grace. As always, Bujold writes solid well crafted science ...   Read More
Anonymous
Irene Flebbe
This book continues the character development of that most interesting of figures, Miles. I really liked the new love interest, Ekaterin. Give me a strong woman who acts, and keeps her self doubts to herself! Another thing I liked was ...   Read More

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Read-Alikes

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