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Enjoyable romp with an intriguing society in the background May 12, 2001 (6 of 6 found this helpful)
Cetaganda, is, by Bujold`s own testimony, a rather light-hearted romp, a bit of a step down in seriousness and apparent ambition from Barrayar and Mirror Dance, the two Vorkosigan novels that immediately preceded Cetaganda, and two of her best novels.
This novel is set a few years prior to the action of Mirror Dance. Miles is 21. He and his amiably dim-witted (by Miles` standards) cousin, Ivan, are sent to the home planet of the Cetagandan empire to attend the funeral of the Cetagandan empress. Naturally, no sooner have they arrived (indeed, slightly before their actual arrival) they encounter a mysterious character and come into possession of a mysterious object (i. e. a MacGuffin). Miles being Miles, he does not sensibly report the incident to the Barrayaran Ambassador, nor to the local Imperial Security agent (to be sure, conveniently for the purposes of the plot, this latter person is away on some vague assignment). Instead, Miles bamboozles Ivan into supporting him in an attempt to resolve what quickly becomes a very delicate situation, on his own.
The two face deadly dangers, encounter beautiful ladies of both of the Cetagandan upper classes, and eventually find themselves enmeshed in a plot which threatens Cetagandan internal stability (and thus Barrayaran security, as Cetaganda is a traditional enemy.) A number of the details of the plot and the Cetagandan custom upon which the plot turns are unconvincing, but the book is exciting and entertaining and reads very well. Romance is somewhat backgrounded, although Miles does fall in love (hopelessly) with the most beautiful woman he`s ever seen (why does such a clever individual as Miles seem consistently to rate female beauty so highly? Though to be sure, he is only 21, and I guess us guys are guys, huh?!), and there is an almost perfunctory romance between two minor characters. (Ivan, to be sure, is quite amusingly involved with some beautiful Cetagandan women, and Bujold does provide one quite funny incident involving him and an anti-aphrodisiac: another quite pointed and appropriate (I suppose) comment on male-female relationships results.)
The most serious side of the book is an exploration of Cetagandan culture, which is built around genetic engineering of themselves. This culture consists of the haut, who are the true rulers, and the most highly "engineered", the ghem, who provide the military might, and who are less "engineered" and less controlled (partly to allow for the spontaneous generation of potentially useful traits), the ba, neuter servants who also serve as useful safe experimental objects for genetic changes (safe because they are neutered and couldn`t pass on harmful traits), and, presumably, large middle- and under-classes of mostly normal humans. This society is quite interesting, and Bujold makes some subtle and intriguing observations on the sources of power, and the different kinds of power, in particular the power divisions between the males and females of both the haut and the ghem. However, I think a proper exploration of this society would require a good deal more space, and I would quibble with some of the assumptions, in particular, the Cetagandans don`t seem different enough to me to be the result of centuries of genetic engineering. Also, they seem to be optimizing for feminine beauty (by "normal" standards, yet!), even while sex is completely divorced (no pun intended) from their procreation efforts. I find that hard to believe.
All in all, this is certainly an enjoyable book, though not her best.
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Flashback to a younger Miles Vorkosigan. Jun 2, 1997 (6 of 6 found this helpful)
Although this is (at this writing) Bujold's latest addition to her series about Miles Vorkosigan (one of SF's all-time best characters), chronologically it comes before Mirror Dance and Brothers in Arms. Missing, therefore, is Miles' clone/brother Mark, introduced in the latter. Also missing (and greatly missed) is Miles' alter ego, Admiral Naismith. Without the little admiral, the pace is not quite so bone-breaking and mind-bending, but this is still a very good story, very well told. It will best be appreciated, however, by those who have read the pre-quels. (Start with Shards of Honor and Barrayar, which are about Miles' parents, then the Warrior's Apprentice, The Borders of Infinity andThe Vor Game.) In Cetaganda, Miles and his foppish cousin Ivan travel to the capital of the Cetagandan Empire (perennial cold-war and hot-war rival of their own homework, Barrayar) to attend a state funeral, and they immediately get involved in murder and intrigue at the highest levels of this supposedly more sophisticated culture. The paperback edition of Cetaganda (at least) also includes a 3-chapter teaser from Ms. B's next book: Memory (described in the chronology at the back of the book as: "Miles hits thirty; thirty hits back")
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Amusing light sf-mystery Apr 5, 1997 (7 of 8 found this helpful)
This is another installment in the continuing adventures of Miles Vorkosigan. If you haven't read any of the Vorkosigan stories before, this might not be the one to start with... it assumes some knowledge of the characters and their world, and it's also rather lightweight compared to the other books in the series. You might want to check out "Borders of Infinity" or "The Warrior's Apprentice" first. Still, this is a pretty good book (even lightweight Bujold is well worth reading), with an intriguingly offbeat take on genetic engineering. The Cetagandans are a culture dominated by one of the oldest SF canards of all, a genetically-engineered master race. The novel twist here is that the haut-lords are not your ordinary genetic supermen (super-strong, super-smart, etc.). They have designed themselves to be *aesthetically* superior... intelligent, yes, but more importantly, beautiful, charismatic, and with a superhuman sense of aesthetic appreciation. They rule (quite effectively) by manipulation and charisma rather than force. The interesting result is a warlike culture ruled by, well, movie stars. The book is somewhat flawed by a rather clunky murder mystery, but the Cetagandan culture is interesting, and there are some extremely funny bits. Any fan of Miles Vorkosigan will want this one to round out the collection
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Goes down like bubbly! Jun 21, 2000 (3 of 3 found this helpful)
Want an easy, enjoyable read? Some laughs, whimsical characters, not-at-all-hard SF?
YEP?
Young Miles and his sidekick Ivan stumble through political intrigues in the Cetagandan Empire. Once again Miles is the pint-sized hero who saves the day and Ivan just looks good, charms the ladies and tries to stay out of trouble.
I finished it in less than three days, and if you wanted to, you could do it in one session. I forgot to get off at my trainstation, and that's always a good sign!
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Read me! Aug 3, 2002 (5 of 6 found this helpful)
This isn't the first book. Have you read the first book? If not, you should immediately drop everything and order it. Now. Immediately. Right away. Read the whole series.
Ok, ok. Here's the series:
Shards of Honor
Barayar
(these two books are also combined into "Cordelia's Honor")
The Warrior's Apprentice
Short Story: The Mountains of Mourning
(all short stories are contained in "Borders of Infinity")
The Vor Game
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
Short Story: Labyrinth
Short Story: The Borders of Infinity
Brothers in Arms
The Borders of Infinity
Mirror Dance
Memory
Komarr
A Civil Campaign
Diplomatic Immunity
Now, go start at the begining and read them all through to the end.