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Book Details

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance

78.6% complete
2012
2020
1 time
See 2
25 chapters
Epilogue
Book Cover
Has a genre Has an extract Has a year read Has a rating In my library In a series 
1851
 The Vorkosigan Saga*
#15 of 16
The Vorkosigan Saga*   See series as if on a bookshelf
A series of science fiction novels and short story collections by Lois McMaster Bujold centering around Miles Vorkosigan and his parents Cordelia and Aral.  This is the series in original publication order.

1) Shards of Honor
2) The Warrior's Apprentice
3) Ethan of Athos
4) Falling Free
5) Brothers in Arms
6) The Vor Game
7) Barrayar
8) Mirror Dance
9) Cetaganda
10) Memory
11) Komarr
12) A Civil Campaign
13) Diplomatic Immunity
14) Cryoburn
15) Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
16) Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
Copyright © 2012 by Lois McMaster Bujold
No dedication.
Ivan’s door buzzer sounded at close to Komarran midnight, just when he was unwinding enough from lingering jump lag, his screwed-up diurnal rhythm, and the day’s labors to consider sleep.
May contain spoilers
Ivan ran a toe up Tej’s shin, and began attending.
No comments on file
Synopsis not on file
Extract (may contain spoilers)
Captain Vorpatril returned nerve-wrackingly late after dark, when both sun and soletta had set. Tej forgave him almost immediately for the sake of the several large, heavy, handled bags he bore, from which delectable odors issued.

“We have to talk,” he wheezed, but the two famished women overbore him without much resistance on his part.

“We have to eat. Do you realize you left us nothing but those awful ration bars?” Tej demanded. “That was all we had for lunch. Well, and the wine,” she added fairly. “That was pretty good.”

“I had rat bars for breakfast and lunch, and no wine at all,” he one-upped this.

Rish, whose metabolism was permanently set on high, sped to lay out plates and eating tools on the round glass table across from the kitchenette. The bags disgorged three kinds of pasta, grilled vegetables, a sauté of spinach, garlic, and pine nuts, sliced vat beef, roasted vat chicken with rosemary, salads both leafy and fruit, cheeses, cheesecake, three flavors of ice cream and two of sorbets, and more wine. Tej could only think I do like a man who keeps his promises.

“I wasn’t sure if you had any special dietary things, customs, needs,” Vorpatril explained. “So I tried to get a range. All Komarran-style; there’s a good place just up the street.”

“I’ll eat anything that wasn’t ever a live animal,” Rish avowed, setting-to in demonstration.

“I was beginning to think about compromising on that live animal part,” Tej added.

Vorpatril, she was pleased to see, was a man who appreciated his food. Given the rat bars, she’d begun to picture him concealing a level of Barrayaran barbarism that even the holovids hadn’t hinted at. But the selection demonstrated an unexpected level of discernment and balance. The attunement of his senses couldn’t match her or Rish’s innate aptitude and formal training, of course, but it was far from hopeless. And he seemed unwilling to damage the dining ambiance with upsetting discourse, which suited Tej just fine.

He was still working up to whatever he’d wanted to disclose when he went off to the lav and to shed his jacket and shoes, returned via the couch, sat, and more or less fell over. “Just need to close my eyes f’r a minute...”

 

Added: 14-Jun-2015
Last Updated: 13-Apr-2020

Quotes

So... if you spurned a miracle because it seemed to come too easily, would you ever get another?

Publications

 15-Nov-2012
Baen Enterprises
Kindle e-Book
In my libraryI read this editionOrder from amazon.comHas a cover imageBook Edition Cover
Date Issued:
15-Nov-2012
Format:
Kindle e-Book
Cover Price:
$7.99
Pages*:
432
Read:
Once
Reading(s):
1)   12 Apr 2020 - 16 Apr 2020
Internal ID:
2192
Publisher:
ISBN:
1-451-63845-0
ISBN-13:
978-1-451-63845-5
Country:
United States
Language:
English
Credits:
Joy Freeman - Pages
David Seeley  - Cover Artist
From amazon.com:

Captain Ivan Vorpatril is happy with his relatively uneventful bachelor's life of a staff officer to a Barrayaran admiral. Ivan, cousin to Imperial troubleshooter Miles Vorkosigan, is not far down the hereditary list for the emperorship. Thankfully, new heirs have directed that headache elsewhere, leaving Ivan to enjoy his life on Komarr, far from the Byzantine court politics of his home system. But when an old friend in Barrayaran intelligence asks Ivan to protect an attractive young woman who may be on the hit list of a criminal syndicate, Ivan's chivalrous nature takes over. It seems danger and adventures have once more found Captain Vorpatril.

Tej Arqua and her half-sister and servant Rish are fleeing the violent overthrow of their clan on free-for-all planet Jackson's Whole. Now it seems Tej may possess a hidden secret of which even she may not be aware. It's a secret that could corrupt the heart of a highly regarded Barayarran family and provide the final advantage for the thugs who seek to overthrow Tej's homeworld.

But none of Tej's formidable adversaries have counted on Ivan Vorpatril. For behind Ivan's façade of wry and self effacing humor lies a true and cunning protector who will never leave a distressed lady in the lurch - up to and including making the ultimate sacrifice to keep her from harm: the treasured and hardwon freedom from his own fate as a scion of Barrayar.
Cover:
Book Cover
Notes and Comments:
First printing, November 2012

Related

Author(s)

Lois McMaster Bujold  
Birth: 02 Nov 1949 Columbus, Ohio, USA
Notes:
From the Kindle version of Shards of Honor:

Lois McMaster Bujold was born in 1949, the daughter of an engineering professor at Ohio State University, from whom she picked up her early interest in science fiction.  She now lives in Minneapolis, and has two grown children.  She began writing with the aim of professional publication in 1982.  She wrote three novels in three years; in October of 1985, all three sold to Baen Books, launching her career. Bujold went on to write many other books for Baen, mostly featuring her popular character Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, his family, friends, and enemies.  Her books have been translated into over twenty languages.  Her fantasy from Eos includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife series.

Awards

2012Good ReadsBest Science Fiction Nominee
2013Locus MagazineBest SF Novel Nominee
2013World Science Fiction SocietyHugo Award - Best Novel Nominee
*
  • I try to maintain page numbers for audiobooks even though obviously there aren't any. I do this to keep track of pages read and I try to use the Kindle version page numbers for this.
  • Synopses marked with an asterisk (*) were generated by an AI. There aren't a lot since this is an iffy way to do it - AI seems to make stuff up.
  • When specific publication dates are unknown (ie prefixed with a "Cir"), I try to get the publication date that is closest to the specific printing that I can.
  • When listing chapters, I only list chapters relevant to the story. I will usually leave off Author Notes, Indices, Acknowledgements, etc unless they are relevant to the story or the book is non-fiction.
  • Page numbers on this site are for the end of the main story. I normally do not include appendices, extra material, and other miscellaneous stuff at the end of the book in the page count.






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