One point I always liked about that story was the point she made - legal precedent was subservient to the judgement of the person on the spot. Precedent can guide you, but it doesn’t bind you, and you can’t fall back on it to defend a bad decision.
Because damn it, she has the right to petition her Count for redress of a grievance!
One thing with reading the stories a bit out of order is that some of the character development is mixed up. In this story, Miles spends a lot of self-pity on “Why does it have to be me to handle this? Is this some sort of test?”. But by, say, Diplomatic Immunity, he doesn’t even have to ask: It’s him because it’s his job, and it’s his job because he’s the best man for the task, and he knows he’s the best man for it, and he’s going to do his job, end of.
@ParallelLines , it looks like the next one after this would be Barrayar before I get to Memory. And there will also be some other reading of other series in between: I’m alternating between Bujold and reading for school and (currently) also another series that I got into and want to finish (technically I don’t need to do the reading for school, the expectation is one book out of a list of 12, but like I’m going to let myself get away with just one of them…).
One of the recurring points in the series is that the miracle tool has limits, requires extensive training to do right, and is such a serious step to take an experienced investigator will hesitate to use it in some cases.
Nothing wrong with taking your time and savoring a good book/series or three.
One of my regrets when reading the series for the first time years ago was that most of my friends read either harder scifi or fantasy mostly. I was the only one who read military scifi or more blended material.
So I didn’t have people to TALK about my thoughts on the subject.
So looking forward to sharing those thoughts as you move through the books.
I’ve started re-reading them, too, largely because of this thread. But at the moment I’m stalled because I’m reading Hugo nominees.
(Reading Hugo nominees is good for me. It forces me out of my comfort zone, and introduced me to new authors. I found one i liked enough to buy more books last year, and there’s a new one this year I’m going to pursue, too.)
I’d like to re-read as well, but sadly my list of purchased but not read books is, like my Steam games library, a bit overfull.
When I read, I want to sit and read through as much as possible, often omitting sleep and other responsibilities. Which is bad when I’m adulting.
And with Miles, much like Pringles in theory, I can’t stop with just ONE you know.
Yeah, that other series I mentioned, I indirectly got into because of the Vorkosigan books. When I got to “The Borders of Infinity”, the easiest collection to find it in was an anthology of space opera from a bunch of other authors, and one of the other stories, the story itself had issues (it was fantasy trying and failing to be science fiction) but I could tell that the writing was great, so I looked for actual fantasy stories by the same author (Nnedi Okorafor, the Akata books).
Which also actually ties into the reading for school, because I’m on the committee that picks the list of summer reading books, and it’ll be a great fit for next year’s theme.
If anyone wants to talk about the Hugo nominees, i started a thread
And now finished The Vor Game. Initial thoughts:
1: General Metzof got off way too light. I was looking forward to his comeuppance. Just being shot in the back by someone he thought was his tool was too anticlimactic.
2: Cavilo is definitely going to end up a thorn in Miles’ side again at some point. But I’m guessing as an uneasy alliance, not as an outright enemy.
3: Am I the only one who suspects that there are other reasons besides politics why Gregor has not yet chosen a bride, and why he was resistant to Cavilo’s charms?
Two of my favorite quotes from the series are in that book:
You realize, Gregor, you did this? Sabotaged the Cetagandan invasion singlehandedly?”
“Oh,” breathed Gregor, “it took both hands.”
And
Commander Cavilo, both my parents died violently in political intrigue before I was six years old. A fact you might have researched. Did you think you were dealing with an amateur?
Weirdly I didn’t like the book to much when I first read it, I wanted more action and space battles dammit! and was as frustrated as Miles when he didn’t get ship duty.
The later part of the books didn’t manage to alleviate the first impression.
Nowadays I’ve completely reversed that opinion.
Miles and Gregor tag-teaming Metzof with Vor bullshit during the “prisoner exchange” is one of my favorite bits in the entire series
And how the tag-team Cavilo? chef-kiss
Minor, unclear, but still spoilerish material ahead! You’ve been warned.
Low detail but still spoilerers
Yes there are reasons, but not particularly calculated or twisted ones. When Gregor does eventually choose a partner (and there seems to be true affection there) the extended friends and family have a “Oh, of course!” moment after the fact.
I don’t recall them bullshitting Metzof, but I loved Gregor telling him that he was in on the plot, with Cavilo sitting right next to him oblivious.
That might have been the scene I was thinking of - when they open the airlock and Miles has a plasma canon and is going full Richard III, and Gregor just says, “Pfft, he doesn’t have the balls. Watch this!” and just walks onto the rescue ship?
I thought it was Metzof in the other airlock, but it’s been a minute.
Ah yes, no, it was Cavilo, not Metzov.
(I re-read the Vor Game 2 days ago, so I have it a bit more clear in memory 
)
Right, I wasn’t thinking calculated or twisted reasons. I was thinking that Gregor is maybe gay or asexual (I don’t know if Bujold anticipated ace orientation, at the time).
OK, yeah, that was great, but I think Metzof was in custody at the time. That particular bamboozling was also against Cavilo (who hadn’t yet realized the previous bamboozlement).
I’m not saying more, even in spoiler-vision, just had wanted to say that Yes, Gregor finds affection, no, the revelations in Vor Game don’t leave him broken in that particular aspect of his life, and that when it’s revealed it doesn’t seem particularly forced.
You’ll enjoy it when you get there.
It’s clear in the five god series that bujold recognizes the importance of an emperor marrying (and producing an heir.) i think, if Gregor were gay or ace, he would find a suitable woman for a companionate marriage with minimal sexual contact, and perhaps some close friends who often spent the night.
It’s a feature of “modern” (in the series) reproductive technology that sex and reproduction don’t have any particular connection. For instance Count VorMuir - from later in the series.
Not to mention Count Dono VorRutyer.