The novel “Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen” by Lois McMaster Bujold was published for the first time in 2016. It’s part of the Vorkosigan saga.
Cordelia Vorkosigan intends to leave her role as Vicereine of Sergyar to raise the children she wants to have through in vitro fertilization and automatic gestation following the use of the genetic material of her late husband Aral.
In carrying out her project, Cordelia Vorkosigan also involves Admiral Oliver Jole, who for years has been her husband Aral’s lover. There’s the possibility of combining the two men’s genetic material to give birth to their children.
“Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen” is, at least for now, the latest novel in the Vorkosigan saga, which spans decades of story of the first protagonists, Aral Vorkosigan and his wife Cordelia. It begins about three years after Aral’s death and Lois McMaster Bujold includes what in jargon is called a retcon, a piece of information that in this case is crucial to see Aral and Cordelia’s personal story in a very different way. Aral’s bisexuality was hinted at and Oliver Jole appeared in some earlier works of the saga but in this novel it’s revealed that not only was Oliver Aral’s lover but he was the third element in Aral and Cordelia’s marriage.
A retcon of that kind, above all after so many works in the saga, inevitably has an impact also on the readers’ perception of the protagonists, with consequences on their reactions. For some it may be a revelation that adds a new dimension to those characters’ story, for others it may just be an expedient by Lois McMaster Bujold to have enough material for another novel. It’s really very subjective and the decision to read “Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen” and if so the opinion on it is individual.
Personally, I was puzzled to discover that “Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen” was heavily based on the aforementioned retcon but eventually I decided to try reading it anyway. From the beginning of the novel it’s clear that this is the story of two persons who are still trying to overcome the loss of Aral Vorkosigan and to find a new balance in the relationship between them as Aral was the center of their three-way relationship. There’s an important romantic element but it concerns two mature persons, certainly not a teenage romance, and there’s much more because it also concerns the choice of motherhood and fatherhood.
One of the themes of the Vorkosigan saga often developed in the works in which Cordelia is the protagonist is the contrast between the Barrayar Empire, which was initially technologically and culturally backward, and Beta Colony, more advanced from all points of view. Also thanks to Cordelia, the situation on Barrayar has changed considerably since the days when there was the terror of mutants and children showing signs of mutations were killed. Cordelia can think of having more children from Aral thanks to technologies imported from Beta Colony and offer the same possibility to Oliver Jole without fear.
In a novel in which family is central, the presence of Miles Vorkosigan, a character who has lost the exuberance of his youth years and in turn tries to enjoy his family, is a must. All in all his appearance is quite brief but gives a further dimension to these issues.
In different ways “Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen” could give a conclusion to the whole Vorkosigan saga or at least to Cordelia’s story but exactly because of that it’s full of memories of past events, starting with her meeting with Aral on the planet Sergyar. The various works in the saga contain self-contained stories but there are a lot of internal connections and for this reason reading this novel can have a greater impact on people who have already read the previous ones. There’s a certain nostalgia factor and when Cordelia remembered events from forty years earlier I remembered reading them in the 1990s.
“Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen” is an anomalous novel in many ways since there are no real conflicts among its characters, who quietly make important decisions. The consequence is that the pace is typically calm with just a few unexpected events. It’s a work that seems to give a conclusion to a saga but contains an important discovery about the Cetagandans that could have important ramifications to be told in other novels.
I was afraid that “Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen” was much worse despite having characteristics that I generally don’t like. Lois McMaster Bujold is always good so I think it’s worth reading for fans of the Vorkosigan saga.
