2012 early July books: Bujold and Scott
Jul. 12th, 2012 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melita66Wheee! The electronic advanced reader's copy (eARC) for Captain Vorpatril's Alliance was released a few weeks ago. I did manage to finish it within a few days, but then just fell down on getting this blog entry posted. Lois McMaster Bujold has a long-running series that's mostly about Miles Vorkosigan. He's a medically fragile count's son from a planet named Barrayar. He overcomes his physical issues and to have a wildly interesting life. Anyway, some of the books in the series are about other people like his parents but this new book is about his cousin, Ivan Vorpatril. Ivan, while pretty smart and competent (when he needs to be) has tried hard to not have an interesting life and spend as much of it as possible with "wine, women, and song." In this book, he finally gets his own adventure that doesn't include his cousin. An entry on the lighter side like Cetaganda, it has some lovely-to-me, OMG moments like chapters 5 and 6 and 12. Not a great Vorkosigan book (Memory and A Civil Campaign are my favorites), but any Bujold is miles ahead of a ton of books that are available.
Melissa Scott is now writing new books in the Astreiant series. This series was co-written by her partner, Lisa Barnett, who unfortunately died several years ago. Lethe Press is re-releasing the two existing books in the series, Point of Hopes and Point of Dreams, plus a new novella and novel. The city of Astreiant is divided into sections, "points," and policed by pointsmen and -women. It's roughly renaissance era (guns exist) and magic is real. Astrology does work in this world and plays an important role in the Point of Hopes novel. Nicholas Rathe is an unusual pointsman in that he refuses to take money to solve a case that sometimes leads him to unusual cases because he's known to be incorruptible. In Point of Hopes, he meets Philip Eslingen, an out-of-work soldier who ends up helping him solve a case of missing children. In Point of Dreams they end up working together again on a play-related murder. The new novella, Point of Knives, takes place in-between and fills in some of the gap. Philip and Nicholas are on-and-off lovers because Philip has been hired as a bodyguard by a shady trader so there's some angst that neither one's bosses are happy that they're involved at all. Another fun book, and I'm so pleased that she's continuing this series finally.
Melissa Scott is now writing new books in the Astreiant series. This series was co-written by her partner, Lisa Barnett, who unfortunately died several years ago. Lethe Press is re-releasing the two existing books in the series, Point of Hopes and Point of Dreams, plus a new novella and novel. The city of Astreiant is divided into sections, "points," and policed by pointsmen and -women. It's roughly renaissance era (guns exist) and magic is real. Astrology does work in this world and plays an important role in the Point of Hopes novel. Nicholas Rathe is an unusual pointsman in that he refuses to take money to solve a case that sometimes leads him to unusual cases because he's known to be incorruptible. In Point of Hopes, he meets Philip Eslingen, an out-of-work soldier who ends up helping him solve a case of missing children. In Point of Dreams they end up working together again on a play-related murder. The new novella, Point of Knives, takes place in-between and fills in some of the gap. Philip and Nicholas are on-and-off lovers because Philip has been hired as a bodyguard by a shady trader so there's some angst that neither one's bosses are happy that they're involved at all. Another fun book, and I'm so pleased that she's continuing this series finally.
