Vorkosigan Saga - Brothers In Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold

Published - 1989

If his enemies would just leave him alone, Miles Vorkosigan (alias Admiral Naismith) decided bitterly, the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet would collapse all on its own. But his enemies were plotting a more deadly fall.

For some unexplained reason the Dendarii payroll is missing and the orders from the Barrayaran Imperial Command are being delayed by Miles's superior, Captain Galeni. What connects the impeccable insufferable Captain Galeni and the Komarran rebel expatriates on Earth anyway? But the most deadly question of all before Miles is more personal: are Miles's two identities, Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii and Lieutenant Lord Vorkosigan of Barrayar, splitting apart along the lines of his divided loyalties? And who is trying to assassinate which version of him?

When Miles unravels the answers, then the complications really begin.

One of the reasons I enjoy the Vorkoisigan series is the ever-shifting tones of the stories. I think it would have been very easy for Bujold to have created Miles and his mercenaries cause havoc on missions. Instead we get a more textured universe and Brothers in arms is a great example of how Bujold twists classic SF tropes and can add a layer of emotional depth that military SF often isn’t known to have.

Miles Naismith of the Dendarii Free Mercenary fleet have been fleeing the mighty Cetagandan fleet’s surprise attacks for some time after the events of the previous book. They end up on the original homeworld for humanity Earth where Miles parks his damaged, injured and unfortunately broke mercenaries and also has to put on his other role the junior officer Lieutenant Mile Vorkosigan working in the empire’s embassy. Miles wants to find money for his fleet; his embassy boss wants him to follow orders and these two worlds of Mile cross over and create a lot of havoc. Miles quickly learns sometimes telling lies can be sometimes actually expose strange truths.

Loved this story for a few reasons. Firstly, the way the story twists from what feels initially like it will be comical tale Miles in hot water with his grumpy new boss plus a smattering of romance turns to being a much darker tale of family feuds, war crimes and genetic experiments. A bit like Miles itself his manic happy go lucky persona hides a lot of planning, pain and deeper thoughts. We return almost to the history of the first tales with a exploration of what the Vor did to the planet Komarr and how a truly vile act led to rebellions and even now terrorism. Even though Mile’s father Aral was innocent this is another story of how the actions of the past create the future and often risk it. Bujold expertly does this with Captain Galeni. As the story develops, we find this very by the book officer is actually a rare Komarran in the Barrayan military. As his story develops, we get what this story is actually about - revenge versus reconciliation and we see Galeni’s character is far more complex than you’d initially think.

Added to this is we get a really interesting look at Miles. Here we see him juggle his two identities and this creates not just a comedy of errors as he tries to eb in two places at once but also explores Miles the young man who craves adventure love and freedom to do what he wants with Miles the son of a Vor lord who also loves his family, honour and respects a culture that’s slowly trying to do better despite knowing that due to his disabilities many feel he is not worthy even of life. There is a huge internal tension in Miles and this book explores that and it makes the unusually quick witted and freewheeling Miles panic to know he can’t have both worlds as he wants. This is interestingly done with Mile’s smart idea of creating for a newscaster the history of Miles Naismith as a strange piece of genetic warfare – yes, he uses an evil twin plot. But the master stroke is we suddenly find that the Ceteganadans DID create an evil twin. I loved that Bujold made Miles’ joke a centrepiece of the plot but then actually we get a serious look at does nature and nurture influence how someone develops. Again a level of complexity the initial storyline didn’t suggest and is wonderfully overturned.

I also liked the appearance of Elli Quin Mile’ right hand leader in this mission. She’s extremely capable at leading the troops but also dealing with Miles very gently but firmly explaining their relationship will never lead her to being confined to Barrayar. Their relationship is strangely quite balanced and I’m looking forward to seeing how this develops even more in future tales.

Overall a lot of fun and I needed that this week!