"Mountains of Mourning" & The Vor Game

[flourish]

I fail at discussion-starting.

Any initial thoughts on these readthroughs? Here's a couple of mine:

Mountains of Mourning

• This is the first time we actually learn about the Dendarii hill country, but it ultimately becomes pretty important in the series, both as character background for Miles and as a metaphor for Barrayar.
• This is also the first time we learn about the extent to which Barrayar is filled with subsistence farmers. We've heard it before, but it's different to see it. Specifically, until now, we've seen Barrayar as a place that's essentially in the 20th century or a little advanced with regard to technology. Here, we see that those technological advances are actually very recent, and haven't filtered down.
• How much is this based on Appalachia?

The Vor Game

• Apparently, the US armed forces genuinely do have a place that's the equivalent of Kyril Island.
• Is there something special about Miles' affinity for drains? Other than the fact that he's so small. I wonder whether his eventual Lord Auditor status could be considered the equivalent to being a "plumber," the "fix-it man." :P
• It's so clear that this is the other half of The Warrior's Apprentice in theme, not just for Miles but for Gregor. Seeing Gregor in this book makes me regret very much that we don't get to see him in The Warrior's Apprentice.
• Is Metzov intended as a dark mirror of Miles' father? 

What are your thoughts?

I should add: We press on on July 15 to Cetaganda and "Labyrinth," which I think are thematically connected enough to read together.

Comments

[cjk1701]

I'm an unashamed Gregor fangirl (if the Emperor was real, I'd be the kind to have a meticulously collected magazine clippings album, or the digital equivalent) so Vor Game is probably one of my favourite books, never mind the space battles -- which I had to re-read half a dozen times and *still* don't get, but that's me.

As tel pointed out, Gregor was still somebody's puppet in TWA (he thought he was Aral's, turned out he was Vordrozda's) and Vor Game is his coming-of-age story (may a bit like Memory will be for Miles). He finds his own strength when he faces Aral down and wins:

"The most morally dangerous moment for a guardian is when the temptation to become a puppet-master seems most rational. I always knew the moment must... no. I knew that if the moment never came, I should have failed my oath most profoundly." He paused. "It was still a shock to the system, though. The letting-go."

Gregor spends much of his first 25(ish) years being afraid -- first of simply being killed ("Are they going to kill me, too?" he whispered to her.), then of the Imperium descending upon him and suffocating him, then of being played and helpless (and then realising he actually was) and then finding out about Serg and realising that Mad Yuri's heritage is much closer than he thought. Him being watched all the time was a bit of a blessing, all things considered, because he might have done something far worse than just running away (which started, after all, as a suicide attempt gone wrong).

I doubt there's a time in his life where he *isn't* a bit nostalgic for the days he spent simply screwing in light bulbs (Queen Elizabeth II once said that the time she spent living with Prince Philip on Malta, before her father died, was the happiest and most carefree time of her life) but the events of Vor Game teach him that while he cannot escape the Imperium, or at least not without very serious consequences, he can actually *do* something as the Emperor. By the time Memory rolls about, or even earlier, he has not only grown into his role, he also changes the role to fit him and becomes the true leader of new Barrayar -- a Barrayar that Miles can finally accept, and vice versa.

LMB always does this thing, where a person's own perceptions of him/herself contrast sharply with the way others see that person. Gregor in Vor Game is smart, competent, well trained in every aspect, thinks on his feet, and overcomes immense mental and physical obstacles -- while he sees himself as useless, half-insane and weak. It's a painfully sharp contrast, and I would have loved to have seen more of the road in between.

[tel]

I think Gregor's coming of age is only half the story, though. The main focus of the book is what a crap ensign Miles makes :P

[cjk1701]

Yes, but I'm biased and don't like Miles much until Memory, so I chose to pay attention to the non-Miles bits first and foremost. :)

I wonder what kind of ensign Aral was. And what kind he would have made had his older brother been alive and Piotr not there to desperately impress.

[krait]

Heh, yes. I think that "well, there's a start on the insubordination problem" line was pretty telling! :D Miles will never make a good ensign.

(And will probably never be the best at commanding ordinary men; he does his best work, it seems to me, with the extraordinary ones. Be they extraordinarily bad/troubled -- Baz, Arde, Cavilo -- or extraordinarily good and driven -- Quinn, Tung.)