What a pleasure it
is to return to the adventures of Miles Vorkosigan, or rather those
featuring his
resourceful and compassionate wife, Ekaterin. In
The Flowers of Vashnoi, Miles has inherited a tract of land, the
Vashnoi exclusion zone, that was once a rich agricultural area, a veritable garden.
Now, generations after the Cetagandan war, it’s still radioactively contaminated
and uninhabitable. Ekaterin has gone there to check on the clean-up progress.
One of the methods used is a bug that consumes and concentrates contaminated matter
so that it can be collected and removed from the site. But, as Ekaterin
discovers during her tour of the facilities, a significant number of “radbugs” have
gone missing. And there’s a mysterious, pale figure flitting through the forest
like a wood elf.
This mini-adventure
is paced just right, contained within the mystery plot structure yet evoking
the larger universe of the Vorkosigan novels. It’s lovely to spend more time
with Ekaterin, who tries to take a lesson in leadership from Miles now and
again but falls back on her own innate capacity for insight and her scientific
curiosity.
Bottom line: just
delightful.
The usual disclaimer:
I received a review copy of this book, but no one bribed me to praise it.
Although chocolates and fine imported tea are always welcome.
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