The blog index informs me that this is our seventh week of quivering in awe and trepidation under the force of Mirror Dance. This is exactly as many weeks as we spent dealing with the entirety of Ethan of Athos, a book that I actually enjoyed. I’ve been taking Mirror Dance slowly in an effort to take on the heinous torture scenes in the middle of it on my own terms, as if I have terms of my own that would somehow make the torture better. In recent days, however, I have come to the conclusion that there’s no butter in this hell, so this week we’re going to power through the hideous part so that we can move on and talk about more pleasant topics. It’s what Alys Vorpatril would do.
Spoilers are welcome in the comments if they are relevant to the discussion at hand. Comments that question the value and dignity of individuals, or that deny anyone’s right to exist, are emphatically NOT welcome. Please take note.
CHAPTER 9: Mark has to play Miles while talking to Baron Fell with the entire Dendarii officer corps in his ear. The Dendarii are doing their best to take advantage of their hostage, Baron Bharaputra, who they hope to trade for Miles. Mark visits the clones he rescued in their on-board refugee camps—Taura is looking after the girls. Mark wonders how to get a traumatized kid to trust him, and Elena tells him that if he ever figures it out, Miles would like to know. That’s a lovely encouraging moment. Mark realizes that Norwood shipped Miles. There were a lot of robots involved.
Torture Level: Quinn seems pretty anguished, and having Mark imitate Miles is kind of the original sin in Mark’s life. But everyone keeps their skin on. 4/10.
CHAPTER 10: Since Miles and his cryo-unit aren’t on Jackson’s Whole any more, the Dendarii trade Baron Bharaputra, whose given name is Vasa Luigi, for safe passage out via jump-point 5. The Jacksonians who retrieve the Baron also return the Dendarii agents Quinn attempted to leave behind in case Miles isn’t off-planet after all. The exchange is interrupted by the clone Quinn dubs Flowerpot, who chooses to leave with the Baron. A second would-be escapee, the blonde girl who Mark thought was intended for a sex-change transfer, is apprehended by the Dendarii. Mark volunteers to return her to quarters, stops by his room to get her a drink of water, and sexually assaults her. He is interrupted by Elena and Taura, who take the clone and confine him to quarters.
Torture Level: I don’t know why Bharaputra bothered—Mark is basically self-torturing. Sexually assaulting Maree, the clone, is a very bad thing. Mark did a good thing in the last chapter, so he had to ruin it, and he had to have some painful flashbacks to his torture at Ser Galen’s hands in the process. Maree and Flowerpot are also clearly victims of other people’s nefarious plans, their minds and bodies warped just as much as Mark’s (although in different ways). I had to read about one of the Vorkosigan boys being sexually frustrated. 6/10.
CHAPTER 11: Confined to quarters, Mark overeats to gain weight. This prevents Quinn from stuffing him into a military uniform for their top-secret meeting with Simon Illyan on Komarr. Elena says he looks like a drowned corpse that’s floated up after a week. Mak says thank you. I have loved every single conversation Mark and Elena have ever had, even the one where she confined him to quarters. They are such a delight. Illyan recognizes Mark, and conveys greetings from Cordelia. I sincerely hope Elena, Cordelia, and Mark are all in a room together at some point. I can’t remember whether or not that happens. Elli fills Illyan in on the news. He makes plans to take over the search and assigns Elena to deliver Mark to his parents’ custody. That’s a little weird, honestly, because he’s 20 and he doesn’t want to go. I’m not sure by what right anyone (except possibly the Dendarii who apprehended him in the commission of a crime) assumes custody of Mark. Elena doesn’t want to go to Barrayar either. Illyan bribes her by promising safety for the clones. I’m surprised she didn’t ask for a pardon for Baz; This is an early indicator of Barrayar’s role in her future plans. Also the clones have a lot of needs. On board a fast courier en route to Barrayar, Mark continues to overeat. He feels panicked about meeting his parents.
Torture Level: Illyan is a breath of non-torturey fresh air. Elena leaves Mark in solitary confinement for days, and the combination of panic and gastrointestinal distress makes him quite ill. 4/10.
CHAPTER 12: Countess Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan once again proves herself an amazing human being, striking exactly the right note in her first meeting with Mark—neither effusively emotional nor estranged and angry. Which is amazing, given Miles’s current status. She makes it clear that she is Mark’s ally, in part by praising his decision to gain weight. She says it’s very clever of him and he should distinguish himself from Miles in any way he can. Cordelia’s description of Miles is one for the ages, and lays down the idea of diverging personalities as escape mechanisms and safety valves—“Love, we are discussing a young man upon whom Barrayar laid so much unbearable stress, such pain, that he created an entire other personality to escape into. He then persuaded several thousand galactic mercenaries to support his psychosis, and on top of that conned the Barrayaran Imperium into paying for it all.” Mark breaks the ice with Aral by describing the Komarran plot to kill him. Aral is a pretty cool customer too. They discuss the possibility that Mark may inherit the Countship, and the allegedly erroneous claim that House Vorkosigan stands to inherit the Empire.
Torture Level: Aral and Cordelia do not torture prisoners. 0/10. I’m confused about how Mark gets back to Jackson’s Whole from here.
CHAPTER 13: Ivan takes Mark to have a conversation with Gregor. Gregor asks Mark what he wants to be when he grows up. This seems to have been written with the coming events in Memory in mind—Mark conjures the image of a detective inspector with a letter of marque and reprisal.
Torture Level: I think Mark is beginning to feel the weight of Barrayar’s expectations. But he’s doing it to himself. Jackson’s Whole seems a very long way away. 0/10.
CHAPTER 14: Ivan takes Mark to lunch. The caravanserai has been gentrified. What has happened to the thriving culture of midwifery among the caravanserai’s prostitute community? I am not to know. The building where Ivan was born now sells hand-woven carpets. Mark checks for a plaque commemorating Ivan’s birth—there isn’t one. Mark and Ivan are also a delight; no manners, no masks, but no deliberate unkindness either. Why doesn’t everyone treat Miles this way? After lunch they go check out the brass plate commemorating the spot where Padma Vorpatril died. It’s in the middle of the street—for accuracy, says Ivan, “M’mother insisted.” Alys hasn’t had an on-screen appearance in a few books now. She sounds fearless. She knows a good bakery just around the corner from the memorial, and so does Ivan, and now I want a brillberry tart and some nut rolls. While Ivan flirts with the bakery staff, Mark goes for a walk and finds one of the caravanserai’s less-gentrified neighborhoods. He picks a fight. This is so familiar. Mark and Ivan are back-tracing the route Cordelia and her crew came to rescue Miles’s replicator, and now Mark has stopped to have Kou and Bothari’s fight. Everyone is having a good time—Mark’s hand-to-hand combat training seems to have been quite good—until one of the locals pulls a shock stick and Mark nearly crushes his larynx. Ivan and the municipal guard break up the party. That evening, Elena is at dinner. Aral talks about having Mark confirmed as his heir should Miles’s demise be confirmed. The story of Lord Midnight gets trotted out—in this version, the horse pre-deceases the Count rather than being disinherited. Mark retreats to the library after dinner, and accidentally overhears Aral and Cordelia talking about him. Aral is particularly concerned about Mark’s weight. Cordelia explains its therapeutic significance, and says if he keeps packing it on, they’ll buy him a float pallet and some muscular servants. Aral and Cordelia are both entirely consistent with everything they’ve said to Mark’s face, which is nice, since he’s so insecure about what people must think of him.
Torture Level: I’m writing on Sunday afternoon. All of my local bakeries are closed. And the social pressure is ratcheting up. 1/10.
CHAPTER 15: I do not remember this book having so many chapters. Mark, Elena, and Aral go down to Vorkosigan Surleau. Kly the Mail is buried in the Vorkosigan family cemetery. Aral introduces Mark to Fat Ninny, and invites him on a hike. The Vorkosigan stables cross-country course is not as challenging as I had imagined, or perhaps this is the novice run. Miles’s cryo-chamber has been found empty. Aral has a heart attack. He doesn’t have his comm link with him. Mark has to run back down the hill for help. He finds Elena and sends her for help, and then the help assumes that Mark did something to Aral, which was kind of what Ser Galen had in mind. En route to the hospital in Hassadar, Aral tells Mark that all true wealth is biological, which seems just as rambly to Mark as it does to me. Cordelia deals with medical staff—“Don’t give me that crap kid, I own you.” I really just want to read Vorkosigan family dialogue forever. They could stop going to space and just sit around the dinner table saying things to each other. Mark tries to punch a window; Cordelia stops him. Cordelia is now in charge of crisis management.
Torture Level: Mark has unlimited access to baked goods. I do not. Aral’s efforts to connect with Mark were fairly agonizing. There was a forced march up a hill and some social aggression from Elena and the medic. 2/10.
CHAPTER 16: Mark goes to the Emperor’s birthday party and gives him a gift. As one does. Cordelia explains that Barrayaran politics is all biological, which makes more sense than what Aral said. Ivan rebuffs Cassie Vorgorov, who rebuffs Mark. Cordelia has a chance to explain her and Aral’s relationship with Jole, but settles for saying that Aral is bisexual. Illyan doesn’t have any good news to convey. Aral’s condition is grave. I had hoped that Mark would meet one of the Koudelka girls here, but he doesn’t.
Torture Level: These kinds of social events are difficult for introverts, but no one is being tortured here. 0/10.
CHAPTER 17: Still the Emperor’s birthday. Apparently, Galen didn’t fill Mark in on Vorish drinking habits. Poor Mark has no idea how stinking drunk he’s supposed to get at this shindig. Kareen Koudelka introduces herself and invites Mark to dance. They have a very nice vaguely romantic time. Is there even a torture scene in this book? Kareen gets carried off to her mama by one of her sisters, and Mark goes in search of Ivan. He finds a Vor bore who knows more than he should—look, now Mark is repeating Cordelia’s life! They are interrupted by a waiter, who Mark is pretty sure is ImpSec, but who blandly denies it. Mark finds Ivan who is very drunk. Ivan misses Miles. After returning home, Mark calls Illyan and then Gregor to ask to be in on ImpSec’s search for Miles. Mark wants to be a fountain. Gregor says let’s see what happens. At least I know how we get to the torture now.
Torture Level: Mark has found a reason to exist. And then he found another one. They’re everywhere. Self-actualization is very much the opposite of torture. 0/10.
I have failed in my efforts to dispense with the Jacksonian torture scenes this week. They’re still lurking out there, but now I have approximately 754 baking projects to buy groceries for.
Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer teaches history and reads a lot.
Was re-reading Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance recently, and Ivan describes the bakery as having gone downhill by then. I guess the reference in Chapter 14 helps us determine when this decline took place, as it seems to be doing fine here.
@1 – Is it really fine, or are Mark’s standards in pastry not that high? When, in his life of being forced at the point of a shock stick to learn to pretend to be Miles, has Mark had the chance to watch some Great British Bake Off and develop opinions about tart crusts?
I am getting through this reread by imagining Mark and Kareen watching GBBO. The old version, where Mary Berry always seems to me as though she is picking losing contestants to load into a wicker man in the Shetland Islands, and anyone who walks into the tent with bought fondant deserves it. (Mark has lots of ideas for cross-promotional sales opportunities, Kareen has a sack of cookies that she’s doling out to Gorge. Howl and Killer are sleeping.) Everyone keeps their skin on.
I’m pretty sure Lady Alys suggests to Ivan that it’s his palate that’s changed, more than the bake shop.
The overheard library conversation is one of my favorite moments in this book. It’s so very Cordelia and Aral, with her being very Betan and practical, and Aral being old fashioned but willing to change his opinion in the face of logic, and both being honest with each other. No wonder Mark was shocked.
There is lots more torture in these chapters than the ratings really capture. Poor Mark doesn’t need any external help to be tortured; he generates his own torture inside his mind. This is a quite gut-wrenching book…
I wonder how many time Illyan replayed that moment in his office while sorting out what happened on Miles’ last mission. On the one hand, Miles lied in writing. On the other hand, it gives Illyan the chance to get Miles out alive.
I love this part of the book. (Not the sexual assault and the overeating, but the rest). Starting with the Ilian meeting (we have a problem, no a disaster – no a problem ….) and all other introductions. Cordelia is great – her first conversation with Mark as well as the one with Aral when they talk about the Mark-tank.
Doing so many chapter with the torture level-focus was cool. But it doesn’t help discussing the details of these fun chapters. For example I found it both funny and very touching when all of Miles’ friend cried “brother” into Marks ear. (Chapter 9 where he impersonates him). The fact that all of them thought it out of character for Miles saying “Clone” should have confirmed for Mark that he really was seen as family even if they hadn’t had any further contact.
@8 – I read that part a little differently – as Miles’s friends criticising Mark for his ongoing failure to be Miles. But I agree that it’s a wonderful moment. The relationships between Mark and Miles’s friends are really interesting (and since Mark has no friends of his own yet, they’re kind of all he’s got).
This part of the book is the “Cordelia is the greatest character in Sci-Fi” section. Huge fan.
In re: the bakery: this is before Ivan meets Ma Kosti. He will soon have a very different standard for pastry quality.
@Ellen, I’m disapointed you ripped past these chapters so fast. They are so important to Mark’s growth in becoming Mark.
And as, @10 said, Cordelia has so many wonderful moments.
But typing on my phone is no fun. More will wait.
@9 EllenMCM – On the third hand, Mark is the astute trader here. It does not make sense to emphasize the value of what you want to buy, and Baron Fell didn’t know Miles well enough to detect the false note.
I assume we are using the logarithmic Ryoval scale here, or these faint tremors would barely register.
Shortcrust pastry (in the Barrayaran French style)
2 cups brillberries, plus 2 additional cups to top the baked tart
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch salt
Preheat oven to 470K
Line the bottom of 4x10cm pans with parchment paper and coat the sides of the pans lightly with butter to prevent sticking.
Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Working with your fingers, press the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan and up the side about 2cm high.
Pour the huckleberry filling evenly over the crust and bake for 2400 seconds on the center rack of the oven.
Remove the tarts from the oven and immediately pour the reserved fresh brillberries over the top. The heat from the baked filling will partially cook these berries.
Place the tarts on a baking rack to cool completely.
Remove the tarts from the springform pan and gently transfer to a serving plate.
Sell to passing Vor.
Aral tells Mark that all true wealth is biological, which seems just as rambly to Mark as it does to me
Baron Bharaputra would definitely agree, though!
The story of Lord Midnight gets trotted out.
Just wanted to say that made my morning.
Mark’s encounters on Barrayar are just all around fantastic – everyone is honest and direct with him, which is exactly what he needs. And none of it resembles any of what he actually expects based on Galen’s ravings.
Onward and downward.
@11 – That’s a good point!
@15 – I take it the sugar, flour, etc. are mixed with the first two cups of brillberries to comprise the filling?
These are also the chapters where Mark meets Kareen (Kareen, KAREEN!) at the Emperor’s birthday shindig. She’s delightful. Cordelia notes that, given the choice between two palpable evils and a lunatic, Mark ran after the lunatic. The very first moment Mark is confronted with the product of loving family life, he begins to fiercely long to run after that, by which I mean her, by which I mean Kareen.
Kareen does a terrible imitation of a proper Vor maiden in these chapters, lurking on balconies with second sons, asking blunt questions, and failing to keep flowers properly restrained in her hair. Her Vor maiden imitation is so terrible that her mother is eventually moved to send her sister with a transparent pretext to drag her back to the ballroom. (“Mother wants us for something.”) Mark has no idea what proper Vor maidens are supposed to be like, and wouldn’t care if he did know. Kareen is glowing with the aura of a positive future, and Mark’s desire to surrender to her is strong evidence of his sanity, intelligence, and excellent taste.
@14: Great, now I have two rereads going on that keep making me hungry for pancakes and pastries.
(Edgedancer is the other one.)
But that does sound yummy.
@11: Good point about Ma Kosti. Anyone have a good recipe for a spiced peach tart?
@18: and don’t forget the self torture / enjoyment that Mark gets from being near her. I loved the details of his responses to the little flower buds he kept playing with / destroying by turns.
The line “sacrificing their little vegetable lives for her brief glory” has always made me smile.
Just seeing Ma Kosti’s name makes me hungry. LMB is so evocative when describing her culinary delights, I salivate like Pavlov’s dog…
Regarding pastries and sophisticated taste:
Mark will know what he likes, but he will lack a native’s understanding of the nuances of particular pastry styles. So he won’t necessarily know a good brillberry tart from a great one (too much cinnamon, not enough nutmeg) but he’ll know a decent one from a bad one (crust is salty instead of sweet.) Mark is also still very much at the beginning of his eating for comfort/identity habit. A traditional Barrayan pastry would be fraught with meaning, on the one hand, rich in calories, on the other, associated with Miles.
Ivan’s always had access to the best pastries. He grew up around the palace, which only hires the best. Plus, I’m sure Alys was never serving Big Commercial Bakery’s Prepackaged Brillberry Tarts (TM.) The bakery she took him to would be a fairly good one in the right area, not one that was serving pastries that were bad in any way. Not necessarily as good as when she was going out, on purpose, for great pastry. So I’d attribute his change in taste to age and maturity, and outgrowing a growing child/adolescent’s craving for calories, rather than specifically to Ma Kosti’s skills.
These rituals were probably the only time the child Ivan was genuinely hungry, having skipped breakfast beforehand, and the pastries would be doubly appreciated by a growing child, as a sweet breakfast when very hungry, rather than his usual healthy groats. An adult could deal with the hunger and have perspective on the quality. I suspect Ivan was both pampered,, never lacking anything, and raised strictly – you’ll have healthy greats for breakfast, not sweets. The combination of hunger (fasting) and indulgence (sweets for breakfast) would be unusual in his life.
Thinking about it, this may have been the first time Ivan went to this bakery without fasting beforehand, and perhaps the first time he really had a chance to explore the same food with and without hunger as the best sauce.
Re: Koudelka Clan
I find it interesting that here we have Kareen talk about “possible Vor grandchildren” for her parents. Every one of the girls married someone that was not a standard Barrayan man.
Yes, Kareen and Olivia have committed relationships with Vors.
But Mark is an import and Dono was a woman, but Vors both.
Then Deila and Martia marry off worlders.
It really makes me wonder about the standard Barrayan man.
Chapter 13 should not be 0/10. Mark has to sit in a car with Ivan, and Ivan drives the car. In traffic. That’s at least a point right there.
I’m not sure there are different versions of the Lord Midnight story, so much as different emphases. It is entirely reasonable that both “versions” are accurate: Lord Midnight did predecease the fifth Count Vortala, AND said fifth Count made up with his son prior to the Count’s death. If the hatchet was buried after the horse, there’s not even an inconsistency there: Lord Midnight served out his time, and then once they made up, Lord Jacob (or whatever) was re-confirmed rather than the Count putting forward a prospective Lord Shadow or Lord Chieftain. So the story of Lord Midnight the heir ends with his death in the lordly stables, but that of Lord Midnight the legal precedent ends with the Count and his son coming to terms.
One might also note that Aral, who has been a count’s heir for most of his adult life (and desperately wants NOT to be a legal precedent over salic inheritance), gives Lord Midnight’s biography, while Duv Galeni (who has been a precedent, first wave of Komarrans in the Service, first Komarran to head ImpSec Komarran Affairs, etc, but has never been any sort of heir really, let alone a Count’s) gives his case history.
We’ve missed an important Ivan growth-moment here, I think. Not just him treating Mark almost-kinda-sorta decently,* but also him having the wit and sense of responsibility to pick up the hospital bill for the man Mark beat before Aral can get there. Granted Aral’s a busy man, but he’s also a man with underlings who actually know how to do that stuff. (Would you know how to get a hospital to accept payment from a third party, in a hurry, without the patient’s knowledge? I’d expect to spend an hour making phone calls before I even got out my credit card, y’know?) Either Ivan’s learned some tricks during his time in Ops, or he moved very fast indeed.
I sorta wonder if Mark’s later fondness for creeping people out doesn’t owe a bit to Ivan. It’s an excellent way to pay him back, isn’t it? And I don’t think Mark would enjoy it so much if it was a purely defensive measure, so he’s not doing it exclusively to defuse the body-attitudes of people like, say, Elli Quinn.
*I mean, Ivan’s a bit of a dick to him, but he’s a dick to Mark-the-actual-person, not to fake-Miles or why-aren’t-you-the-skinny-one. And Ivan has reasons to dislike Mark, you don’t have to get along with everybody. I get the impression that Ivan’s I-definitely-don’t-want-to-be-here-with-you-but-you-are-a-real-person-who-matters deal is actually pretty valuable for Mark. He needs the calibration, just like he needs to see that Aral and Cordelia say the same things about him when he’s not there as when he is.
Ursula @21
I agree with your analysis, though I think you’re missing some aspects of Ivan’s childhood. First, he was a pretty active kid and we do have some history of adventures. If he, Miles, and Elena are wandering far enough afield to find old guerrilla caches in the woods, I can about promise you they’ve wandered far enough to miss lunch a time or too also. (And I don’t think “hiding from Uncle Aral” is an activity he attempted for the very first time at Piotr’s wake, either, so that’s another way to miss a meal.) Second, there’s the military aspect of Barrayaran child rearing. He went to some sort of pre-Academy prep school (Gregor started at 12, I think), and he was involved in some pseudo-military Scouting activity as well, IIRC. With both of those, you’d expect at least the odd bit of “camp food” or the like. So he’s eaten food that wasn’t prepared by a chef before, plenty of times.
@21 and 24, in terms of Ivan being hungry – the 10 year-old in my house is strong evidence that growing boys convert food into limb length by a process that completely bypasses physiological satiation. Even with the best stocked kitchen on earth, such a child’s preferred feeding schedule is a challenge to keep up with.
…and now excuse me, I need to pack my kid a lunch and remind him that ice cream sandwiches are neither breakfast nor second breakfast.
@23:
My vote goes for Lord Maximus. I bet he would be better count then quite a few Vors… ;-)
@22 I think most upper class Barrayaran men have major issues when it comes to women. Enrique catches Martia in part by just complaining about Barrayaran sexism. The ones that don’t probably get caught up by a woman in their immediate circle before they can start dating more widely.
More unpleasantly, given that the Koudelka girls are neither Vor nor rich circulating in high Vor society probably means they aren’t first on most men’s list for wives.
@27: I don’t know.
There’s too many comments like – “The poor boys keep trying to surrender, but none have taken prisoners yet.”
And the massive topic of the “Girl shortage” in their generation.
And while the Koudelka’s aren’t Vor, they are well connected since the girls are such friends with Emperor Gregor and the Vorkosigan clan. I think that would count for much.
But yes, the average level of sexism of a Barrayaran male not influenced by Cordelia, could be very off putting to the girls. While the girls would be very attractive to the average man, the reverse seems to not be the case.
@26: LOL
Re: Ivan – I loved him in these chapters. He’s so real. But the tears on his face were very moving to me. Shows you how much he cares about Miles.
@28 Feh, I can’t articulate what I want to say, I’ll have to re-visit the issue during A Civil Campaign.
These chapters have an interesting set of ways someone can be treated like an actual person. Almost everyone reacts to Mark differently but they treat him like a person (which the notable exception of Quinn, who’s not exactly herself at the moment).
In regards regards to the Koudelkas and their romantic choices, I think Mark nails it when he thinks of the family as “towed towards the future by an ideal of service.” Barrayar’s future is galactic, outward facing, a blend of old traditions and new ideas. The Koudelka’s partners reflect that.
Also worth noting that Duv, aside from his planet of birth and academic interests, has a biography VERY similar to the Commodore’s. One of the girls certainly wanted a man like Daddy.
I don’t think the Koudelka girls’ unconventional marriages are entirely a reaction to Barrayaran sexism, though. There are clearly plenty of exceptions to the rule (Rene Vorbretten seems okay, for instance, and even Ivan, the very model of a modern lout in his youth, seems to have learned quite a bit about actually respecting women). For all that Enrique does have his head screwed on straight in a wider sense, it seems that Martya’s actual married life is likely to be mostly “manage your monomaniac,” which is certainly not something she needed to go far afield to find. (One might note that Barrayar’s “criminal misuse” of Cordelia consists of “manage one sixtieth of a planet and also educate the Emperor,” things outside Enrique’s monomania, instead of “work as a biologist,” something he does care about.) I think she likes Enrique’s poetry, personally.
I suspect, given the girl-drought and the family’s high connections and allies (do you really think Lady Alys couldn’t put them in a room with any Count’s heir in the Imperium?) that the “all your grandkids could be Vor” suggestion wasn’t wholeheartedly taken up, really. They could have found okay Vor fellows if they’d wanted, and if escaping the cage of Barrayaran gender roles was the goal, Kareen’s the only one who seems to have succeeded: Olivia and Delia are definitely performing the roles of Countess and officer’s wife. Unconventional Count and officer, sure, but it ain’t like they dropped out to join the Betan Astronomical Survey or go homestead on Sergyar or anything like that.
I think RiceVermicelli’s got it: sure, Kou and Drou might have talked about Vor grandkids, but they walked that ideal-of-service line, and their girls soaked it up.
The Koudelkas are probably as high-status as it is possible for a non-high-Vor to get. Their father was a key aide to Aral as regent and Prime Minister, their mother a key member of the Emperor’s staff. The girls grew up around the Emperor, they are routine guests at his most intimate social events.
Certainly higher in status than many “ordinary” Vor, those who aren’t Counts or their immediate family. Absolutely higher status than Tien and his cohort. Any mid-ranked, or even medium-high-ranked, Vor would find a Koudelka daughter to be an attractive bride for reasons of her social connections, which are probably as good as any Count’s daughter. And even with the “Vor” prefix, the Koudelka girls would be “marrying down” to someone of similar status to Tien and Ekatrine.
It probably took some years for the Koudelkas to settle into the status we see them with, here. And I suspect the family’s ambitions changed over time, until it reached “the best of the best” that we see the Koudelka girls expecting.
Well, any ambitious midranked Vor would find a Koudelka match advantageous. Can’t picture, say, Hugo Vorvayne really benefiting.
@33 – Or Alexei Vormoncrieff. Some Vor can’t be helped.
To be fair, Hugo seems reasonably happy with his life, and IIRC there’s nothing to suggest his wife isn’t also. He might not need help.
At a guess, Vorbarr Sultana gossip identified Duv Galeni as pulling off a stunning career move when he married Delia Koudelka. She’s beautiful, intelligent, educated, polished, connected. I am sure conversations were had about whether he was able to marry her because of the promotion, or was given the promotion because he was about to marry her.
I am sure those conversations all involve people who never met either Duv or Delia, but I am sure they happened.
The Koudelkas have also picked up an important fact (as well as important attitudes) from Cordelia – with access to Galactic medicine and opportunities, a Barrayaran woman in her 20s does not need to hurry to get a husband; she has time to get an education and to be selective. Though unconventional, the Koudelkas have chosen a husband who is on track to be the first Komarran head of Impsec, a Vor lord of the highest rank, the man who is likely to become the Norman Borlaug of Barrayar, and Mark, who has high qualities of his own.
Chapter 12; Yes, Cordelia takes just the right line with Mark. She keeps the emotional temperature down while making it clear she regards him as a son, is totally on his side, and is ready to give him all the unconditional love and support he is willing to accept. Well played Cordelia!
But this brings me to a curious point, I really, really liked Corde!ia in Shards and Barrayar when I was seeing her from the inside but I like her a lot less when she’s seen from other povs. I have no explanation for this.
Re: the Koudelka girls as Duv Galeni points out in Brothers a military officer pretty much counts as honorary Vor and anyway there is very little economic or social difference between Proles and the 90% of Vor who don’t belong to a comitial family, the so called High Vor. We know that marriages between Vor and the rising prole industrialists are becoming common enough to worry high Vor cadets looking for a bride. Given their connections the Koudelka girls can have any man they choose to favor. And there are clearly plenty of hopeful suitors.
@38 – this is my first time posting in this reread – in case you’re still checking these posts, just wanted to say that I know exactly what you mean about Cordelia, and I’ve had a trouble explaining it myself. It may have something to do with her tendency to constantly critique and psychoanalyze others. In Shards and Barrayar, this is balanced by the self-doubts that we see from her point of view. But once we’re outside her head, it can come across as smug.
YES! That’s it, Cordelia comes across as smug and rather judgemental and of course hostile to Barrayaran culture. And nobody has a problem with it. Nobody but Gregor seems to be able to challenge her. Cordelia is always right and universally adored. It’s very Mary Sueish.
@41: In-universe, one could argue that anyone with a standard Betan education is going to be considerably more savvy about human psychology than all but the most self-aware Barrayarans; since Gregor got (essentially) a Betan education (from Cordelia) he’s the only guy who can argue with her on an even basis.
Betans would certainly argue that. They tend to the smug and superior.
Cordelia comes across as cold and brittle. Its hard to explain how she inspires such devotion.
(Playing catch up, thankfully these books read fast.)
As a fatty, I’m not quite pleased with the way LMB handles fat. It is a relief to see Cordelia be non fat-shaming and talk Aral into it too. It seems pretty clear that there’s a certain level of fat-shaming going on and it’s part of what makes Quinn mean. She has a reason to be mean, but everyone has a character flaw or 3 and this is hers.
But fat takes time. It doesn’t pile on that quickly. I grant that in the torture of Mark coming up, someone may well have come up with something that speeds it up, but it certainly takes longer than this. Unless I’m mistaken in than he was only left alone for a number of days numbering only about a couple of weeks.
(I am not willing to discuss the health side of this.)
44, Mark may also have metabolic issues arising from his own treatments. Ok, that’s handwaving, but it can work.
Poor little Cassie Vorgorov. Ivan is at his most unlikeably loutish towards her. But she will have her revenge in a couple of books!
I don’t think this is Ivan being loutish, or not just loutish. When else have we ever seen Ivan reject any woman, anywhere? Ivan can’t let himself have a good time while Miles is dead, especially not at the party he and Miles used to work together.
There is certainly some excuse for Ivan’s behavior tonight. However judging by the comments of his mother and later of Count Falco he always treated little Cassie like this. He has a right not to be interested but he can be kind about it.
@44
Even later to the game, but just in case …
I remember it being said at least a few times that Mark has an inherent metabolic issue that Miles does not, because his metabolism is that of the six-foot-tall man he should be and wasn’t affected by soltoxin damage like Miles’ was. Therefore, it’s much easier and faster for him to gain weight than it would be for other people, especially when he sets his mind to it. He also has a binge eating disorder that he doesn’t start getting treatment for until he goes to school on Beta Colony, which is another reason he gains weight so quickly and unhealthily.
It looks like I am in the minority here but Mark basically sexually assaults a 10 year old girl and suffers minimal consequences.
I was ready to punt his ass into the closest sun. Actually scratch that I am still ready to expeditiously send him on his way to a solar furnace.
I have mixed feelings about it considering what happens to him latter in the book but I just can’t extend him any sympathy as Bujold seems to want us to do.
I am contemplating how it affects my reading of the follow on novels or whether I actually want to if he is still framed as a sympathetic figure. I know that I won’t be ever be able to see in that light.
Mark is a totally messed up young man himself. That’s an extenuation not an excuse.