Miles in Love by Lois McMaster Bujold

Miles Vorkosigan is the son of a hereditary noble on the planet of Barrayar, Aril Vorkosigan. His mother, Cordelia Naismith, is from the planet of Beta, and worked for the Explorer Corps. When his mother was pregnant with him, she was subjected to a teratogenic gas attack that caused Miles problems in the womb. He was removed to a portable machine that acted like a womb, but his bones were affected and would always remain weak and breakable. Because of this, Miles grew to be of short stature, but through various operations, his weak bones have been replaced by synthetics, rendering him just as sturdy as other people, and perhaps more so.

Perhaps to compensate for his weak body, Miles was always strong of mind, and has one of the twistiest minds for strategy and military planning. Denied entrance into the military academy on Barrayar due to his physical problems, Miles ran off with a friend of his from the estate, was captured by pirates in space and succeeded in defeating the leadership and wresting control into his own hands. He renamed the remains of the force the Dendarii mercenaries and set Elli Quinn, one of the members who hadn't wanted to be a pirate, in charge while he returned to Barrayar. He could have been thrown in jail, for one of the rules for the Vor Lords on Barrayar is not to have a personal military force, but Miles somehow cleared it with the head of Imperial Security, Simon Ilyan. Most of the time, he let the Dendari go their own way under Elli Quinn, and very occasionally led them himself, under his nom-de-guerre Naismith.

But an injury on a mission gave Miles problems with Seizures, and forced his retirement. Casting about for something to do, he found out who poisoned Simon Ilyan and caused him to be retired from ImpSec. His efforts on that case caused Miles's Cousin and Emperor, Gregor, to appoint him an Imperial Auditor, able to investigate almost any matter.

Miles' first case as an actual Auditor is written about in the first book to make up this compilation volume, Komarr. In Komarr, Miles and his mentor, an auditor named Vorthys, are sent to the planet of Komarr to investigate an accident that destroyed the giant solar mirror that was being used to slowly terraform the planet of Komarr from something cold and dead to more earth-like. While there, he met Vorthys's niece Ekaterin, a woman in a deeply unhappy marriage to a man who was slowly sucking all the happiness out of her. Through no fault of Miles', the man who was Ekaterin's husband died on Komarr, and Miles found himself falling in love with a woman who was as damaged emotionally as he was physically. She, in turn, felt warmth for him, but her history made her want to swear off love forever.

The next story, A Civil Campaign, surrounded the marriage of Emperor Gregor to the woman he loved, Laisa, from Komarr. The return of Miles' clone-brother, Mark and his love kareen Koudelka, a friend of Ekaterin's, combined with a scheme by a scientist to add to the amount of food being produced on Komarr with an engineered insect called a Butterbug, which eats any sort of plant matter and vomits up a yogurt-like substance that is full of calories and safe to eat, no matter what sort of poisonous plant matter went into its making, and it all adds up to nothing but trouble for Miles and his romantic hopes. But can Miles win Ekaterin anyway? Or will it fall to her to propose to him when she finally realizes what she wants?

The last story in the book is the only one new to me that I hadn't read before. "Winterfair Gifts" is a short story centered around Miles's own wedding to Ekaterin. House Armsman Roic is the nominal lead character, whose perceptions are the one the story is filtered through.

The guest list for Ekaterin's "small wedding" is a mere 120. Perhaps small by Miles's standards, but impossibly huge for Ekaterin. Despite the fact that she is recieving help with her wedding from her aunt, 'The Professora", her soon-to-be mother-in-law and Miles' Aunt Vorpatril, the stress of the event has driven her to several emotional breakdowns and even more bouts of physical sickness. The arrival of several newcomers, including Elena Bothari-Jesek and the Jump Pilot Arde Mayhew, are no cause for alarm, but one of Miles' invitees, Sergeant Taura of the Free Dendari mercenaries, gives Roic pause, as she is taller than him by well over a head and shoulders, and possesses nails just this side of being claws, and a set of impressive fangs that give even him pause.

With the new arrivals are presents for the Bride and Groom, including a blanket that is warm, alive and purrs, and a set of fantastic pearls set in a triple strand necklace. Soon after opening the presents, Ekaterin is ill again, badly enough that she is throwing up. Roic, meanwhile, is sent off to squire Sergeant Taura and Lady Vorpatril to the dressmakers, a prospect that fills him with horror. But after witnessing the amazing transformation in Taura after she switches from bright pink outfits to deep green, even Roic finds her more interesting and impressive to look at. But an incident with a child alarmed by Taura's appearance has her trying to become invisible.

The next morning, Roic is asked to go running with Taura in the morning, and he finds out that she's in much better shape than she looks. After their run, he shows her the garden where the wedding will be taking place and finds himself getting more interested in her. But an unkind remark about mutated monsters (the Butter Bugs) robs her of all joy and leaves him kicking himself for having hurt her.

Later that night, Roic is startled to see Taura going through the presents given to Miles and Ekaterin and stealing the pearls. He is stunned by her thievery, thinking that he liked her, and offers not to mention it if she puts them back right away. But what she tells him makes his heart grow cold. Due to her mutated enhancements, she can see something that looks like dirt on the pearls, and while she doesn't know what it is, she thinks it might be to hurt Ekaterin. Given that the pearls were from Elli Quinn, she's afraid that Elli might want to hurt Miles because she is losing him permanently to marriage. If that's true, she doesn't want to hurt Elli, and she hopes she can just make them disappear...

Roic tells her Elli may not have sent it, since she supposedly also sent the living fur blanket, and the blanket with a dirty limerick, which, even Taura agrees, is more her style. Roic takes the pearls to ImpSec, and their analysts, with the determination to find out who would want to hurt Miles and Ekaterin. But it all ends happily, and Roic and Tauara find a bit of joy together for the midwinter festival.

I've liked all the Miles Vorkosigan books, and this one was no exception. Miles is a charming figure, but the charm is mostly a mask covering his own feelings of inadequacy because of his short stature. Nowhere is this more clear than in the third story. Even though it would kill him to do so, Miles offers to let Ekaterin out of the marriage if she doesn't truly wish to go through with it. But Ekaterin is most definitely not going back on what she really wants, and she turns down his offer.

It was also nice to see Taura again, as she is a fun figure who is all woman despite her strange appearance, and it was nice to see someone else realize it besides Miles. So, all in all, a wonderful story that was just as good and well-done despite being short. I may have to pick up this book just for the short story, as the other two books I already have.

If you haven't read a Miles Vorkosigan story, it's high time you started, and while you may want to start with the volume collecting the stories of Miles' mother and father, Cordelia's Honor, this is also a good place to start, as Miles begins to grow up and finds a true, deep love for the first time. Wonderful books, amazing author, what's not to like?