Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold

The novel “Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance” by Lois McMaster Bujold was published for the first time in 2012. It’s part of the Vorkosigan saga.

Ivan Vorpatril is serving on the planet Komarr and his life seems stable when an acquaintance of his, Imperial Security agent Byerly Vorrutyer, talks to him about Tej, a mysterious girl connected with his investigation. Ivan agrees to help him and contacts Tej with an excuse at work but she doesn’t seem interested in going out with him.

Ivan tries to follow Tej to her house and there the situation becomes much more complicated than expected. Together with the girl lives Rish, a blue-skinned woman who shoots him with a stunner. Tied up, Ivan tries to escape when two men enter the apartment of Tej and Rish. Ivan gives the alarm and the attack is rejected but now he’s involved in an incident that also concerns Jackson’s Whole.

Lois McMaster Bujold wrote many stories in the Vorkosigan saga sometimes jumping back and forth within its internal chronology. For this reason, “Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance” was published in 2012 but is set a few years before “Cryoburn“, published in 2010.

The stories of the Vorkosigan saga sometimes have dramatic tones, sometimes are comedies and sometimes mix these genres. “Captain Vorpatril Alliance’s” definitely tends to comedy and, while generally the stories have as their protagonists the Vorkosigan family and particularly Miles, this one is focused on Ivan Vorpatril, who typically was a comic relief often abused by his cousin Miles.

Ivan is glad to serve with a quiet role in which the major problems are bureaucratic, where he can’t be involved in any of Miles insane plans. The situation changes when he gets involved by Byerly Vorrutyer in his investigation on Tej, a mysterious girl who turns out to hide much more than Ivan could imagine.

The consequence is that Ivan ends up involved in a war inside of Jackson’s Whole and gets into trouble with his superiors, Komarr’s police and the immigration service. To save Tej’s life, he’s forced to go against all his beliefs quickly inventing a plan decidedly unorthodox.

Apparently, years of involvement in Miles adventures had their consequences, for good or bad. Ivan, however, is not Miles and ends up in a story out of his league, an interstellar intrigue that inevitably attracts the attention of the Emperor of Barrayar and little matters that he’s also Ivan’s cousin.

Poor Ivan must juggle political problems but also personal ones because his family is involved at various levels in the affair. In many ways, his meeting with Tej has upset Ivan’s relatively quiet life putting him at the center of a story that proves very complicated.

The plot of “Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance” takes various elements of other stories in the saga and at least part of its ending is far from surprising. The novel was a finalist for the Hugo Award but honestly there are other stories in the saga that are much better.

“Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance” has the advantage of having finally Ivan Vorpatril as its protagonist as previously he was usually forced to assist Miles and be the victim of his criticisms. In the novel most of the protagonists of the saga also appear creating an even greater feeling of familiarity.

After having Miles settle down, Lois McMaster Bujold wrote a novel to fully develop Ivan’s character, his professional story but above all his personal one. Despite being a comedy, it has its dramatic moments and action to give it some pace in a story that would be too slow if focused only on Ivan’s uncertainties in his relationship with Tej.

Lois McMaster Bujold wrote better novels but “Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance” is still funny and has a sense within the Vorkosigan saga. It’s worth reading for fans of this saga.

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