Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
By Lois McMaster Bujold (Tor, ISBN 978-147678122-8)
Lots of Vorkosigans
Review by Lawrence I. Charters, January 19, 2016
First, let me say that this is a stand-alone work. You need not have read any other works in the series to appreciate this clever, funny, and at times quite intense novel.
The Vorkosigan Saga is a constellation of novels and shorter works centered on the lives of one noble family, the Vorkosigans, on the planet Barrayar. Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, in a twist, centers around Cordelia, widow of the head of the family, Aral Vorkosigan, and takes place on the colonial planet Sergyar. While most of the works in the saga revolve around either diplomatic or military themes, this story is more of a romance between Cordelia and Oliver Joel, a Barrayar fleet admiral and subordinate of her late husband. Plus, of course, diplomatic and military intrigue.
It is a splendid tidying up of many familial strings in the lives of those around Miles Vorkosigan, the usual focus of works in the series, but without Miles. Interstellar politics, intrigue, biology and love, all on a frontier world far, far away.
Update
At the World Science Fiction Convention in 2017, The Vorkosigan Saga won a Hugo for best speculative series. The series began with a short story, “Aftermaths,” in 1986, with the novel Shards of Honor appearing later that year.