CryoBurn

Miles visits the planet of Kibou-daini, on assignment from Gregor. In doing so, he gets involved in shady businesses using murder and cryogenic freezing for their own profit and political gain.

This was a very fun read, and very much in the same vein as the other post-Memory novels (with the notable exception of A Civil Campaign).

Much like all the other Vorkosigan books, which is to say fun sci-fi pulp. Bujold is, as always, great at throwing out an insane amount of chaos upfront and managing to wrap it all up by the end. Didn't care for the beginning so much; it felt sloppily done as-is, and I'd have preferred to see the events leading up to it rather than beginning in medias res. It matters little for the remainder of the book, which was satisfying.

Minor annoyance: a lot of authors seem to feel obliged to implement faux-Japan at some point in their careers and this is Bujold's turn. Fortunately it's limited to modes of address (-san, -sama, -sensei) and doesn't attempt to mimic Japanese culture and so the annoyance remains minor, although one wonders why the author bothers as it has no bearing whatsoever on anything else including the planet's culture.

Short review: Most long series have some weak spots. Even Bujold has some weak spots in some of her other series. I haven't yet read a book that I thought was really all that weak with the Vorkosigan series. This one is formated a bit differently than some, but it is still classic Miles. Set up is that Miles is investigating a business deal that might be trying some political moves, or illegal business moves. But as always it turns out to be much more. There is a twist at the end that will re-start the series again. Only complaint is that his family was basically out of scene throughout the book.

Full review on my blog at http://www.mrshields.com/cryoburn_by_lois_mcmaster_bujold/