A Civil Campaign
A Civil Campaign: A Comedy of Biology and Manners is a novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, in the Vorkosigan series. The novel is an homage to Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, and other regency romances. (The dedication reads: "For Jane, Charlotte, Georgette, and Dorothy ..." who are likely Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Georgette Heyer, and Dorothy L. Sayers, although some readers believe that "Dorothy" may be Dorothy Dunnett.)
The novel is a direct sequel to Komarr, beginning when both Ekaterin Vorsoisson and Miles Vorkosigan have returned to Barrayar. Miles is head-over-heels in love with Ekaterin, who is--at least on the surface--in love with no one and in fact enjoying being single, living with her aunt and uncle, and attending to her son Nikki. He hires her to design a garden at Vorkosigan House, in the interests of spending more time with her.
One subplot involves Miles' clone-brother Mark Vorkosigan, who has also returned to Barrayar at the same time as his love-obsession, Kareen Koudelka, after a sexually free year on Beta Colony together. Kareen is staying with her comparatively conservative parents and her three sisters, while Mark has brought entomologist Enrique Borgos to Vorkosigan House, along with Borgos's "girls," a genetically engineered species of beetle which produces an edible butter substitute.
A second subplot concerns the wedding of Barrayar's Emperor Gregor to his true love, Laisa Toscane, while yet another subplot concerns various intrigues in Barrayar's Council of Counts, where both Rene Vorbretten and Donna Vorrutyer are vying for seats that they may or may not be legally entitled to hold. Because women cannot hold seats on the Council, Donna takes a trip to Beta Colony, where she becomes Lord Dono Vorrutyer and returns to claim her seat, to the consternation of conservative Barrayar.
Bujold draws all of the plots relentlessly together, leading first to an apex point where Miles holds a dinner party which ends in crises both for Miles and Ekaterin and for Mark and Enrique and Kareen, and eventually to a climax on the floor of the Barrayaran Council of Counts, at which most major characters are present. Both Rene and Dono are confirmed in the Council, Ekaterin calls out a public proposal from Miles, and the happy couple returns to Vorkosigan House, where Mark, Enrique, Kareen, and Kareen's sister Martya are at war with off-planet policemen who are trying to deport Enrique.
Editions
- Baen (1999; ISBN 0-671-57827-8 (US hardcover))
- Baen (2000; ISBN 0-671-57885-5 (US paperback))
- Earthlight (2000 (UK))
Reviews
- Pleasure and Frustration: One Feminist's Reading of Lois McMaster Bujold's A Civil Campaign, by L. Timmel Duchamp
- Dave Langford review at Ansible
- Steven H. Silver review at SF Site