Man, this is a fun story. Now, this blog is likely to have a bit of a tendency toward praising the books I’m reviewing, but this isn’t that surprising…given that I’m primarily reviewing books I already own, and haven’t gotten rid of.
Anyhow, with that minor disclaimer out of the way, let’s get down to business!
Jinx on a Terran Inheritance (and it’s sequels) make up a really fun trilogy. The plot is this: Hobart Floyt, a minor bureaucrat on an Earth devastated by interstellar combat and an amateur genealogist, suddenly finds himself and inheritor (actually, an Inheritor) of an unknown inheritance from a man I’ll describe as an interstellar tyrant. The Earth bureaucracy, rather shy of interstellar travel (more than a little bit xenophobic) allow him to travel largely out of pure greed, wanting to have access to his inheritance.
The politics surrounding the nature of his inheritance and the reasons for the inheritance are highly significant…but also provide rather a lot of information about the overall plot for the trilogy which is probably left absent in these comments.
At any rate, the story is well worth reading, and I recommend it!
The whole series of science fictional novels concerning Miles Vorkosigan are very well worth reading. Fun, exciting, etc. This particular volume is the first one I read, and, in my opinion, among the best. This is where the adventure starts.
Thankfully, these volumes don’t waste too much time trying to explain their physics. I feel that this can be one of the worst mistakes for science fiction to make, since (practically speaking) most authors a) don’t have enough experience with astrophysics, propulsion, etc., for their logic to be altogether convincing and b) since no means of “faster than light” travel actually exists, they always need to make something up. Making something up, while brilliant in the abstract, sometimes falls apart a bit when explained in too much detail.
Anyhow, the key elements of the story: Miles Vorkosigan is from a planet with a ruling society made up of a military caste, in which he is a cadet member. The planet, isolated from interplanetary trade and travel for many centuries, has a historical problem with mutation. Miles, while not a mutant, is significant…ah…stunted in growth due to an assassination attempt prior to his birth.
This particular story revolves around his failure to be accepted into the military, and his subsequent adventures while trying to prove his worth to his society.
A sadly deficient description, but it doesn’t give anything significant away, either.
Filed under Reviews by Joe