Captain Vorpatril's Alliance; Lois McMaster Bujold; 2012

I was up until 2am on a work night finishing Captain Vorpatril's Alliance; isn't that enough of a recommendation?

Bujold's latest in the Vorkosigan saga takes us ever-so-slightly back in time to events before Cryoburn.  It's a relatively lighthearted "Ivan, you idiot"**-centric novel that answers once and for all whether this generation's greatest Barrayaran ladies' man will ever settle down (the fact that "alliance" is "dalliance" without the "d" seems particularly appropriate).

While the Vorkosigan saga has yet to regain the heights attained in the mid-to-late 90's, with A Civil Campaign*** its crowning achievement, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance has all the Bujoldian hallmarks: tight plotting with subterfuge, quick thinking, and action at the right leverage points; a great cast of characters that has us rooting for the good guys and the we're not-quite-sure-they're-so-good guys all at once; fan service, largely consisting of the continuing development of "old friends" in the cast of characters, that therefore manages to add to the story; and, of course, putting Our Heroes through hell in a handbasket... though I don't think it spoils anything to say that Ivan only gets lightly singed.

** though, quite brilliantly in the continuing evolution of her characters, this catchphrase is uttered once, by Ivan, silently to himself.

*** this deserves its own post, but for now, will you take a look at the cover art shown on the Wikipedia page for A Civil Campaign?  Is there another writer as good as Bujold whose books get cover art this consistently awful?  Can you imagine Lord of the Rings art showing Frodo taller than Boromir?  That's what this is.