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The FDA needs to add Bujold novels to its
list of controlled substances. They’re too damn addictive.
I recently locked myself out of my
apartment. I was stuck sitting around for a couple of hours
until someone with a spare set of keys could come by.
Fortunately, I had a stack of books available to me.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the book I’m currently reading
(MIDNIGHT SUNS by Karl Edward Wagner). So, rather than start
something new, I picked up KOMARR by Lois McMaster Bujold: I’d
read it before, so I figured I could dip into it and then drop
it again to go back to my Wagner.
Six hundred pages and a sleepless night
later I’d finished re-reading not only KOMARR, but A CIVIL
CAMPAIGN as well.
Sigh.
I’ve talked before about all the things
which make Bujold, arguably, the best SF writer working today,
but they bear repeating:
(1) The smooth, perfectly natural use of
her science fiction. After finishing A CIVIL CAMPAIGN I actually
thought to myself, “There was scarcely any science fiction in
this novel at all.” And then, after another moment, “Except
the functional sex change. And the bioengineered bugs. And the
uterine replicators.” All of which the plot is directly
dependent upon. Not to mention the clones, gene therapy, hover
cars, automatic traffic systems, stunners, wormholes,
terraforming, contraceptive implants, and force fields which
you’ll find laying around.
Whoops. Guess there’s quite a bit of
science fiction in there after all.
The reason people say this type of thing
about Bujold – and why even my subconscious will occasionally
spew up such thoughts – is that Bujold is simply masterful in
her ability to create a world utterly of the future yet, at the
same time, utterly believable in its organic detail. You
literally don’t think about the uterine replicators, clones,
and terraforming as being particularly remarkable because Bujold
makes them seen perfectly natural.
And, of course, that’s pretty dang
remarkable.
(2) The detailed, believable, and moving
portrayals of her characters. Bujold is one of those authors
seemingly incapable of producing cardboard characters. Even the
bit parts who show up for no more than a page or so are given a
unique identity, personality, and presence. And her main
characters are drawn with a depth and humanity which make them
either beloved or hated without ever hitting a false note.
(3) The compelling and well-paced plots.
Bujold’s books are, quite simply, page-turners. The compulsion
to find out what happens next simply never lets you go, even
when the book comes to an end. Plus, Bujold never drags her feet
or rushes her tale – she tells the story in precisely the
amount of space it needs to be told in, neither more nor less.
(4) The clean, expressive prose. Reading a
Bujold novel is like looking through a clear window. The
characters and their actions simply present themselves before
the mind’s eye, without obstruction or distraction.
(5) The accessibility. Bujold’s
Vorkosigan novels are the only series in which a new
reader can pick up any single volume and enjoy it fully and
completely. No matter which book you’re reading, Bujold
somehow manages to accomplish the impossible – neither boring
long-time readers with constant recaps nor expecting new readers
to be familiar with her previous works. (The trick seems to be
that, in any given book, the previous continuity is seamlessly
handled like background information would be in any other
novel.)
And, when all is said and done, the sum of
all these strengths is stunningly greater than its notable
parts.
Bujold’s one intermittent flaw as a
writer, in my experience, is her peculiar variation upon the
deus ex machina. I call it her “random meeting in a space
station” plot point. In short, she will occasionally hinge an
entire plot upon – literally – a random meeting in a space
station. This particular flaw crops up significantly in KOMARR,
which results in my grade for that novel being knocked down from
an A+ to a mere A.
A CIVIL CAMPAIGN, on the other hand, is
without flaw. It is a masterful mixture of romance and high
politics played out in a rip-roaring comedy of manners. Several
scenes – including Miles’ infamous dinner – easily earn
the work its place among such classics as Oscar Wilde’s THE
IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. The result is startling unique and
utterly captivating.
As with everything Bujold writes, these
come highly recommended.
GRADES:
-
KOMARR: A
-
A CIVIL CAMPAIGN: A+
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