Cryoburn | ||||||||
Lois McMaster Bujold | ||||||||
Baen, 345 pages | ||||||||
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A review by Rich Horton
The novel is set on the planet Kibou-daini. Miles has come there ostensibly to attend a
conference on cryogenic technology, but in reality to untangle some suspicious business dealings between Kibou-daini
companies and interests on Komarr, one of the planets in Barrayar's Empire. But things go a bit pear-shaped
when Miles and others are kidnapped. Miles ends up escaping and meeting an 11-year-old boy, Jin, a
runaway, who has settled in a sort of squat for some similarly homeless people -- but this place
also hides a secret cryogenic facility, aimed at serving a few of Kibou-daini's poor.
The driving force behind the social strains in Kibou-daini is their curious system of vesting the voting
rights of people in cryogenic suspension with the companies that maintain their frozen bodies. This has
been further complicated by a secondary market in these votes. And further still by some skullduggery
involving this secondary market, as well as some complications in the maintenance of the suspended people.
Jin is involved because his mother was an activist against the Kibou-daini system, and as a consequence
she was arrested and forcibly frozen. Miles can take some action because his brief -- to investigate the
Komarran dealings with Kibou-daini companies -- impinges on the secondary vote market, but
Miles being Miles, he stretches his brief as far as he can.
So, we have a fairly interesting mystery story, nicely enough resolved. There is also a decent bit of
social science fiction behind it, in the treatment of the Kibou-daini system of cryogenics. Though I
will say I think there is a lot more one could do in investigating the impact of cryogenics on
societies, and I felt that this novel hinted at more interesting questions than it really dealt
with. There is also a nice personal story involving Jin and his family, as well as a hint of
potential romance. Miles in a way is a curiously muted figure in this book -- not that he doesn't
have a lot of scenes, and do some scheming. But his personal life is not a major factor -- we do
get hints of his happy life at home, his four kids, etc. It is only at the very end that Bujold
introduces some really significant news that hints at the next novel to come (or, arguably, puts
a cap on the whole series).
Cryoburn is a fun read, a book I'm happy to have. But it's ultimately pretty minor work. One
might compare it to its predecessor, Diplomatic Immunity, or to an earlier novel like
Cetaganda: a bit of treading water, really.
Rich Horton is an eclectic reader in and out of the SF and fantasy genres. He's been reading SF since before the Golden Age (that is, since before he was 13). Born in Naperville, IL, he lives and works (as a Software Engineer for the proverbial Major Aerospace Company) in St. Louis area and is a regular contributor to Tangent. Stop by his website at http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton. |
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