Brothers in arms

Brothers in arms / Lois McMaster Bujold

That ain’t no clone, that’s my brother

I’ve been having trouble deciding what I want to post about next so I’m just gonna go back to the Vorkosigan series.

Brothers in arms is set more or less directly after the novella Borders of infinity (as opposed to the book of the same title), and is the first in a series of five novels that are fairly closely linked. Borders of infinity is itself the catalyst for this “set”, but it’s not strictly necessary to have read the novella for the rest of this to make sense.

Brief plot summary

After [events of Borders of infinity], the Dendarii Free Mercenaries are forced to stop on Earth for repairs. Problems arise when Miles, technically part of the Barrayaran military hierarchy, is assigned to a desk job while his nominal commanding officer waits for approval to release the funds to cover the repairs to the Dendarii fleet.

Separated from his troops, Miles is forced to conspire with his cousin Ivan to make contact with the Dendarii to prevent mass desertion, mutiny, bankruptcy, and/or the repossession of the fleet by their creditors. All the while, Miles is forced to attempt to reinforce the crumbling wall between his two identities.

Old man’s war

Things have gotten a little fantasy-centric lately, so I figured it’s time for some more sf.

Old man’s war / John Scalzi. First published 2011.

I don’t want to sound like a Scalzi obsessive, but I think he’s one of the best living authors of sf.

 

He’s also a super awesome hew-mon.

 

Anyways, Old man’s war.

 

Brief plot summary

Earth has begun to colonize outer space, but colonization is highly restricted: only those from third-world nations or who have completed military service are allowed to emigrate. The catch? The military only accepts people who are 75 years old as recruits. The Colonial Defense Force also highly restricts knowledge about the universe at large and a strict ban on advanced technology means that life on Earth has not significantly changed from the late 20th/early 21st century.

John Perry, retired ad writer, decides to enlist and ends up discovering that the universe is weirder and more dangerous than he ever expected.