15/3/22 Reread Cetaganda. Ruefully wonderful as Miles is let loose on the unsuspecting gem-lords and haut-ladies. Ivan as always is a wonderful foil.

“When fame eludes, notoriety may serve.”2009 review: 3.5 stars. I wish I could write like Bujold. Miles is such a fun character: "a master of chaos" (both causing and capitalizing on).“Obviously, it was his clear ImpSec duty to foil the girl and save the villain. Right. My head hurts.”2020 review: Ditto. While Bujold commits few scientific gaffs so common to science fiction, these stories are written to be enjoyed. Starting with Miles, all the characters are just a few degrees over the top."I wi...

Spaaaaaaaace opera!I've been keeping the Vorkosigan Saga on standby for when I want to dive headfirst into something fun and exciting. Science fiction at its soft best, clever protagonists, funny dialogue. I got all that in this omnibus. I also got plenty of social commentary on gender and sexuality, which is VERY relevant to the gay marriage backlash and all the anti-trans nonsense that's been gong on lately.So the first story, Ceteganda, I would sum up as "Miles being Miles," and it was awesom...

This is the third Vorkosigan omnibus I’ve read, and I’m finally ready to dedicate myself as a series partisan. The books in this collection work wonderfully together, and make for great sci-fi reading.The first novel, Cetaganda, takes place on the homeworld of the titular empire. The death of the Cetagandan empress has brought mourners and well-wishers from throughout the galaxy, including Miles Vorkosigan and Ivan Vorpatril as official representatives of Barrayar. True to form, Miles unwittingl...

This is the third omnibus book containing 3 works in the Vorkosigan Saga by Bujold: two novels, Cetaganda and Ethan of Athos and a short novella, "Labyrinth." This is already quite a few novels into a novel with a complex universe, and so none of these are where I'd start, although Ethan of Athos is a rate standalone--in the same universe, but not featuring any of the Vorkosigan characters. The primary character in these series is Miles. Miles is born with near-crippling physical disabilities, s...

Review from BadelyngeThese three installments in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga are something of a mixed bag. Although they follow on from each other in the general chronology the publication order was quite different and were published over the span of a decade or so. They all use the field of genetics to fuel the plot and themes.In Cetaganda Miles tries his hand at another bit of detective work. He's on a diplomatic mission to Cetaganda with his 'a bit thick but handsome' cousin. He's

4 stars straight down the line. None of it mind-blowingly astonishing, which Bujold is capable of. But at the same time she continues her unbroken streak of 4 stars or better. Thus she is also incapable of writing 'merely good' (3 stars). It is only a question of whether her books are excellent, as in this case, or mind-blowingly astonishing, as was the case with the Vor Game and the first 2 in her fantasy Chalion series.Individual reviews of 'Cetaganda', 'Ethan of Athos', and 'Labyrinth' are fo...

Tehani and I continue our very enjoyable review series of the Miles Vorkosigan saga with the first story from the third Miles omnibus - the novel Cetaganda.ALEX:I really enjoyed this story! Miles - and Ivan - are sent on what ought to be a relatively boring diplomatic mission to bear witness to the Cetagandan Empress' funeral, and of course things go haywire from the first moment. Mischief certainly seems to dog Miles' footsteps. There's an attempt to frame him as part of a conspiracy against Ce...

Early Miles Vorkosigan adventures aren't exactly hard to find but these omnibuses are useful not only by bundling a chunk of these stories together but by helping you figure out which order these stories go in, especially when you start counting the various short stories that ol' Miles has starred in as well (the next volume technically in the sequence "Borders of Infinity" takes a big step toward that, to the point of repeating one of the stories in this volume . . . coordinate your omnibi, peo...

Yes! Finally finished this today. I found all three pieces were terribly interesting reading! Crazy societal explorations and fun reads to boot! As a whole they really complement each other as parts of this omnibus edition! I also appreciated reading Mdm Bujold's thoughts on the two novels & one novella at the end of the book - quite interesting considering how Cetaganda and Ethan were a decade apart in publication order! I hope she continues to churn out more tales in the Vorkosigan-verse - gla...

Really enjoyed this book. The characters are fun and so are the storylines

Can this really be the author of the wonderful "Sharing Knife"? I was only stopped from giving this 2 stars by the story "Labyrinth", and I hate short stories. It was all coloured for me by Miles's disgusting behaviour in Chapter 3 of "Ctegandans".*****************************Seems I'm wasting my time or at least I can't make spoilers work****************************Spoilers***************************************Seems I'm wasting my time or at least I can't make spoilers work********************...

I enjoyed this, as I did the previous omnibus I read. It is comprised of two novels, Cetaganda and Ethan of Athos, and a shorter tale, Labyrinth. All three are enjoyable, but Ethan of Athos is notable due to its complete lack of Miles Vorkosigan, and probably the one I enjoyed the least as a result. It's clear from the way in which Cetaganda feels more like CryoBurn than the stories in the previous omnibus (Young Miles) that it was written later than the other stories, and indeed this proves to

3.75 starsMiles, Mystery & Mayhem is an omnibus edition containing the following three stories: Cetaganda (click here for my review)Ethan of Athos (click here for my review)Labyrinth (click here for my review)Of the three, Cetaganda was my favorite. Ethan of Athos was a good story, but introduced a new character and re-used a minor character for a previous adventure, completely excluding Miles. The omnibus included an informative Vorkosigan timeline.

I read the first two books in this omnibus separately and ordered this from the library so that I could read the next in the series Labyrinth. Loved, loved, loved this short story. It's wonderful how someone can appreciate Miles for everything he can give to a person. I saw that somewhat in the appreciation and awe of his crew, but this was more fully explored even in such a short story. Great series!

I give Cetaganda 4 stars and Labyrinth 5 stars. Ethan of Athos, however, was about a 2. No Miles at all unless you count Quinn mentioning him a bit more than natural. And no other Dendarii or Barrayarans in this either. Just Quinn. So far, Ms. Bujold has not disappointed me completely, but this one came VERY close. I will not read Ethan of Athos again. I will keep this book though, because of the other two stories.

This collection was fun. I think the first novel Centagandan was the most interesting. The different worlds and cultures Bujold sets up are very interesting and I think that's the reason why I didn't like "Labyrinth" as much--it was a novella, so there was not as much time for her to develop the other world. Still, very fun and I'll keep reading.

Ethan of Athos was particularly interesting, even without Miles being part of the actual plot, because of all the ideas thrown about. Even if it's not perfectly done, I admire the deft way she writes about "big" concepts about ethics and morality, but always with *people* at the forefront of the arguments, a deep feeling for real emotions.

Each story has some interesting gender complications/issues/ideas.

Really enjoyed Cetaganda but slowed a bit with Ethan of Athos and Labyrinth.

Well, I could almost count this as 3 books, as it's comprised of 2 novels (Ethan of Athos & Cetaganda) and one novella (Labyrinth), but it's all contained in this handy omnibus and so is in actuality bound all together and so one book it is. I enjoyed this read, although not all parts equally so. Bujold is a master of her craft and I'd forgotten how fresh and wonderful her writing is. I do love me a good sci-fi novel but so many can be a bit heartless and dark and grim at times. Bujold enlivens

My youtube channel for book and movie reviews is called MovieFiendzMiles, Mystery and Mayhem is the third omnibus collection of the Vorkosigan Saga. It collects two novels and one novella, a mix of spy intrigue, a standalone story, and another short heist adventure.Cetaganda is the first novel in this collection, a sort of field trip as Miles and Ivan must attend a function on the planet Cetaganda. What ends up being a routine trip ends up having all sorts of shenanigans, involving a murder, esp...

This omnibus editions contains two novels and one novella."Cetaganda" walks us through Miles taking on a diplomatic mission/detective case while attending the funeral of the Empress of (barely veiled) hostile Cetaganda. We are treated to Miles' dashes of brilliance, along with a shiny decadent planet with bizarre power structures."Ethan of Athos" is unusual in that it does not have Miles as a protagonist. Instead, the protagonist is a doctor from Athos, a planet that took the technological innov...

Has the classic characters and hijinks that make this series great, but also throws in some fascinating takes on widely differing approaches to reproduction and power in various societies.First: Miles vs the Cetagandans, wastes no time in getting to action, with early threats on the young Lord's life. Miles creates a secret mission for himself and Ivan tags along to help. They learn all about the haut-women controlled breeding system.Second: Mystery in Ethan of Athos when an expected delivery go...

This is actually a combination of two novels and a short story in the Vorkosigan Saga that each give the reader a taste of the milleu Miles lives in. I urge you to read the books from the beginning to understand what is going on in these. 1st is Cetaganda, where 22yr old Miles is thrust into the internal politics & intrigue of an old enemy system that is currently mostly ignoring Barrayr. The short story is Ethan of Athos which Miles is not actually in, but is mentioned several times by a truste...

One thing I really appreciate about Bujold is that she explores corners and possibilities of society, but isn't ham-fisted with her message. Her writing is more observational—there's a good and a bad side to just about everything, so draw your own conclusions. The three tales in this omnibus have a common thread of social commentary and genetics, supported by generally good stories. Nothing mind bending, but fun to read.Cetaganda: An Agatha Christie "whodunnit?" in space, with much greater stake...

I have the weirdest cognitive dissonance with these Vorkosigan books. My initial attitude toward starting the series, which has persisted with starting every new volume, is apathetic. By this point, that makes no sense, because I really enjoy these books, a lot. If there's any possible explanation, it's that the novella/omnibus format means that there's not an obvious pick-up-where-you-left off point. Maybe it's that cliffhanger urgency that really gives me that itch. But even though I'm moving

I love this author's books, and this one was no exception. The book contains the novel Cetaganda where Miles attempts to solve a murder, uncover a stolen key while negotiating Cetagandan haut politics. The book then moved to a Miles free story about Ethan of Athos. Ethan is a doctor from an all male world looking for ovarian samples to help with reproduction.The final story was Labyrinth, a short story about a case involving Thorne and Miles.This wasn't as funny as some of the earlier books but

Another enjoyable entry in the series, highlighting questions of how the radical advances in genetic and reproductive technology that run through this universe play out in three different worlds. Miles remains a compelling character, who somehow succeeds in all his clever schemes despite overconfidently blundering through everything.

Going through Bujold's 5 omnibus collections. The Universe is developing, but kind of a difficult ride to enjoy. This collection has one weak book (Cetaganda) and an amazing novel and novella (Ethan of Athos, and Labyrith). 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 due to kindness.