Timothy Rice
Cryoburn
The world is made by the people who show up for the job.
Rating: 4/5
– Recommended without hesitation
Read the Vorksigan Saga if you like:
Optimistic and character driven science fiction.
Every time I read a novel in the Vorkosigan Saga, I come away galvanized to work to make a difference in the world. The persistent thesis of the series is that individuals and technologies have power to improve our civilizations: we can have a better world, if we’re willing to make it.
More than anything else, Bujold’s work sets me dreaming of a life as a chronic work-a-holic. The passion of her characters for their work and the difference they make inspires me to seek out similarly rewarding and important endeavors for myself. I dream of being rewarded with “a harder job” and aspire to the passion of home and work life demonstrated by Miles and his family. Perhaps such ambitions are unreasonable – these are after all, works of fiction – but I think their pursuit will lead me to a better place.
Cryoburn continues these themes, with Miles embarking to planet where everyone elects to be cryogenically frozen before death, in the hope of waking up in a future cured of illness and mortality. Of course, their abdication of responsibility for the future leaves them vulnerable to those they trust with their preservation, few of whom have their best interests at heart.
While Cryoburn started out a little slow and took its time establishing why this book was necessary, it ultimately delivered all the high points that I’ve come accustomed to from Bujold. Miles is in classic form and anyone who has enjoyed stories of his previous adventures will doubtless find this one entertaining.