Memory: A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

Book number twelve (in chronological order) of an eighteen book space opera series. However, some people call this a military science fiction series. There are several other books and short stories in the Vorkosigan Universe. This series won the Hugo and Nebula awards for best series in 2017. Also, several of the individual books in the series have either won awards or been nominated for awards. This book was nominated for the 1997 Hugo award for best novel. I have read this book at least twice. I reread the well printed and well bound new MMPB published by Baen in 1997 that I just rebought on Amazon (the sixth printing !). I have rebought the rest of the books in the series in MMPB.Admiral Miles Naismith (aka Miles Vorkosigan) took a needle grenade in the chest while rescuing his clone brother Mark a year earlier. Even though he was cryogenically preserved for three months, his brain suffered damage. Just enough so that he experiences a seizure every month or so. And when one is wearing an armored space suit with a high powered laser and has a seizure, watch out ! And unfortunately, he failed to disclose this new medical status change to his superiors.Vorkosigan Saga (Chronological) by Lois McMaster Bujold1. Dreamweaver's Dilemma2. Falling Free3. Shards of Honor4. Barrayar5. The Warrior's Apprentice6. The Borders of Infinity (The Mountains of Mourning, etc)7. The Vor Game8. Cetaganda9. Ethan Of Athos10. Brothers in Arms11. Mirror Dance12. Memory13. Komarr14. A Civil Campaign15. Diplomatic Immunity16. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance17. CryoBurn18. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen

Memory is, ironically, among the more memorable Vorkosigan books. Bujold's writing and dialogue are as sharp as ever, but in this book we encounter the beginning of Miles' transition from swashbuckling space pirate to something more adult, in many senses of the word.Many book and TV series' that are predicated on one main character never take the risk of making profound changes to how that character moves through the story. But in this book, both Miles and the series itself begin to evolve into something more adult than they have been for the last 8 books. Its a subtle thing, but to make those kinds of changes to a character as compelling as Miles Vorkosigan, and do so successfully, is a remarkable testament to the storytelling skill of the author.

Any book with Miles Vorkosigan as a main character is worth the read...let me amend that, any book written by Lois MeMaster Bujold is worth the read. Her characters are astounding in their depth and personality and her story lines are not to be faulted. A very satisfying read!

Huge stretches of this book are insanely boring.That's not really how you want to start your book review, necessarily, but it's true. Miles has a long layover on a luxurious starship with an eight-foot tall supersoldier. Yawn. Miles loses his job and is depressed about it. Double yawn. Miles spends a week in the countryside to help get over it. Triple yawn. We even see poor Miles Vorkosigan, dreadnought of the spaceways, buy frozen dinners in a grocery store like he was a poor dumb animal.But there is a purpose to all this, a reason why things happen, and a startling surprise or two. Without giving too much away, what Bujold is doing here is reorienting the saga, pointing it away from where it has been and giving it new life. There was, I suppose, only so many more space-missions that Miles (in his own right or in the persona of Admiral Naismith) could go on, and he's given a new challenge here, and he lives up to it. Miles is at his best when he's being overbearing, obnoxious, and audacious, and he is able to find another way to channel these very specific gifts into a new, more Barrayan role.I started out hating Memory, and I came to enjoy it. Stick with it. It seems boring at first, but it makes up for it.

After 'A Civil Campaign'.As usual, wrap-ups are a bit foreshortened, but the investigation flows wonderfully, and Miles growth as a character is terrific.

If there were a higher rating, I would have chosen it. Bujold is a brilliant writer, and is at her best with the Vorkosigan saga. Since I have just finished it, _Memory_ is my favorite. It seems at first to be about a most complex and surprising turning point in the life of Miles Vorkosigan. In addition to what would already have been a fascinating story, Bujold layers in complex and surprising turning points for at least three other favorite characters. She does a superlative job writing ends that are wrenching and beginnings that inspire.If you haven't started it yet, you might want to begin with _Shards of Honor_ , the very first of the Saga, or _Warrior's Apprentice_, which starts Miles' story. (Those are also my favorites.) Even if you choose to embark on your discovery of the Vorkosigan Universe at this point, you will encounter characters you will want to spend time with again and again. You will be absorbed by the history and culture of a world you can't wait to visit again. You will become involved in stories that are layered, intriguing, humorous and wistful.I cannot recommend this book and this series enough.

At a risk of repeating myself, this is my favourite Miles book thus far.I have discovered that, despite preferring space opera over the other subgenres of scifi, I rather the Vorkosigan books full of political intrigue and set on Barrayar than the action adventure/space setting installments. I also prefer Lord Vorkosigan over Admiral Naismith, and Memory is truly the first book that focuses on the Vor Lord instead of the admiral for quite a while.The opening chapters show the medical side effects and debilitating seizures Miles has been enduring following his ‘death’. His ill health, and his concealment of it, forces Miles to yield his command of the Dendarii fleet and return to Barrayar.Soon after Miles's arrival planetside, his Impsec boss, Simon Illyan, has a memory chip (which was implanted in his brain years ago) go haywire. Illyan’s mental and physical health declines at such a rapid rate that he needs to resign his commission, leaving Miles without any chance of reinstatement when Illyan’s successor does not appreciate Miles’s... unique qualities. Miles does not, of course, let that stop him and the book's mystery plot is that of Miles investigating whether or not Illyan’s chip was sabotaged deliberately.Although I always enjoy Miles solving a mystery, I found a lot of this book incredibly sad. Both Illyan and Miles have to discover what type of men they will be without their military personas. Somehow LMB makes all this introspective reflection and searching for identity far from boring. As LMB showed in Mirror Dance, Illyan and Miles have a lovely pseudo father/son relationship, and she raised the poignancy level in Memory again by showing us the respect and love they share. *sniff* I also loved how the situation evoked memories for Miles of his grandfather. *sniff*It’s not just the Miles and Illyan show, my other favs Ivan, Gregor, Galeni and Taura get some quality scenes and we even get a couple featuring Cordelia and Aral (happy sigh).Amongst the tears, LMB includes her trademark humour, a lot coming from a hilarious new character, Miles’s stand in driver-cum-butler Martin. Ivan is, of course, still the brunt of several jokes and I pretty much laughed out loud at Miles offering him a cat and his reaction to one of the romantic subplots (might I just add, this romance was the cutest!).Memory was another of the longer books in the series but again, like Mirror Dance, I flew through it, probably ignoring real life far too much to find out Miles’s fate (for now). And of course I'm now sucked in to starting Komarr immediately.5 out of 5 obviously

Miles can no longer escape into his alternate identity, and endures the consequences of being unable to outrun himself.His mentor and handler, Simon Illyan, seems to be acting erratically and Miles is forced by his own anger, conscience, guilt and honour to find out what us going on. He needs authority to act and knows the only person who can give it to him is his cousin the Emperor Gregor. But first he must apologise and grovel.This is a terrific novel. The characters and the plot are so well realised and written, and the whole thing is just a pleasure to read. The first few times I read each of Lois McMaster Bujold's books I gobble them down with gluttonous speed, but with repeated reading I gradually slow down and take immense pleasure in her language, humour and sly detail. The same applies to this novel.Time extremely well spent.

easy reading and the story was quite compelling, i didn't want to put it down till i finished it, lost a lot of sleep to finish it :)

Enjoy this author

Everyone makes mistakes, even Miles. Some reviewers find his mistake at the start of this book unconvincing: I don't. Some reviewers say that the book is slow and/or mundane. Well yes, a lot of it is, because it's from Miles's viewpoint and once he has lost his double life, from his viewpoint the world is slow and/or mundane. Days stretch without end or meaning.So this is not an adventure novel like Admiral Naismith's, it's a novel about identity, finding it, losing it, and the relationship between memory and meaning. I think it's a wonderful book. But it is slow, especially coming after the breathless horror of Mirror Dance, So read it knowing what you're getting!