Good science fiction comes in many different forms and genres. You have hard science fiction (bouyed by speculation and imagination, but grounded in hard-core science), fantesy, cyberpunk and more...and you have Space Opera. Space opera is not concerned overly with building its worlds or concepts on scientific fact (or if it does, it clothes itself rather loosely in the robes of scientific fact) but with ideas, characters, and grand situations. For example, Star Wars is the classic space opera movie.
Diplomatic Immunity by Lois Bujold is space opera at its best, but in good conscience I cannot recommend you read it...without reading at least some of the prior books in the series. They are all damn fine reads.
Diplomatic Immunity is the latest in the Miles Vorkosigan saga. The plotline drags newly married, honeymooning Bayarran Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan ("The Emperor's Voice"), now retired from active service due to (repeated) injury, headlong into yet another fray, negotiating a diplomatic dispute at an isolated space station that rapidly escalates into attempted assassination, consipiracy and murder.
Filled with Bujold's usual combination of intricate plot, action, humor social commentary, Diplomatic Immunity is, like the other books in the series, hugely, entirely character-driven. The science in this science fiction is just the window-dressing for a terrific character. Miles Vorkosigan is one of the best characters that any author could hope to create - namely one that springs fullblown out of the page right at you. Miles, crippled at birth by an "invitro" assassination attempt, is physically constrained by both brittle bones and a dwarvish stature, but compensates by being brilliant, energetic (almost maniacal at points), duty-driven and almost psychotically determined. As one character aptly describes: "He's not short. He's...concentrated." For sheer personality, Miles is fabulous. Throw in a well-plotted set of devious foes (both foreign and domestic) into the universe, stir well...and you have one great space opera.
Article comments
1 - Phillip WInn
Bujold is on a short list of writers whose books I will pick up based solely on the author's name. I don't think she's ever written anything bad, and the Miles Vorkosigan series is truly a masterwork.
Thanks for the review!
2 - Jim Woosley
Pretty good review.
I would recommend that people new to the series start AT LEAST with A CIVIL CAMPAIGN, the immediate prequil to Diplomatic Immunity. That novel is IMHO the best in the series on all counts -- excellent characterization, pacing, romance, science, humor...
For other reading: The two novels Shards of Honor and Barrayar, collected as Cordelia's Honor, gives the historical background of everything else and introduces Mile's mother, the second most fascinating character in the series. The current story arc began with Memory and continued through Komarr before ending in ACC and DI.
Mile's military career is covered chronologically in the (original novels; I don't remember how they've been tied in every case when reprinted in anthologies) novels Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game, Cetaganda, Borders of Infinity, Brothers at Arms, and Mirror Dance.
Incidentally, I also agree that John Ford's The Final Reflection is probably the best Star Trek novel, and the humorous follow-up, How Much for Just the Planet, in the top three. (