Cryoburn

Miles is sent to vet a cryogenics operation which is offering Barrayar a deal to expand onto Komarr which seems too good to be true. He discovers a society oddly warped by hope of immortality and a plot that turns out to be much uglier than anyone anticipated. Bujold does her magic in imagining how a world might be shaped by unintended consequences of new technology. Exploring Kibou-daini reads as fresh, enthralling, and leaves you with a great deal to ponder. The three unreliable narrators are less impressive. It seemed as just when the stride was hit with one, the perspective would be changed to another. The narrative relies on a Dickensian level of coincidence in relationships, which is much more forgivable among the interbred nobility of an interbred backwater world than I found it to be on this strange new world. And while Miles got to the heart of the matter more quickly and cleanly than most would have, it was not an issue that really required the big guns. It felt like a practice run, with too little at stake. I would have actually liked to see him deny his curiosity this time and walk away with the thought "Tragedy, but not my problem to fix. The life of my children's father is worth more than my desire to play hero". Of course that wouldn't make the most exciting narrative, but that just means another character needs to in play. What has brought me back to this series again and again is the real growth that seen in characters over the arc of many books. This book was lacking in growth for Miles and absent of many of the familiar characters that might have grown in the background.