Aside from the fact that I can never remember which way round her double surname goes, Bujold is one of my favourite fantasy/SF writers, particularly for her Miles/Vor series. A Civil Campaign comes a long way into the Miles book, and is one of most openly romantic of the series, being the one in which Miles courts and wins the fair Ekaterina.
I listened to this as an audiobook rather than read it, and because of that it did take me some time to get into it – it was my first audiobook experience and it took me a while to learn how to listen properly. But by about a quarter of the way through, the audio experience was a bonus: I could start it playing and sink into the familiar tones of the very good reader, like sinking into the familiar world itself.
The other limitation was that I hadn’t read the book in which Miles actually meets Ekaterina, and so was missing quite a bit of backstory. At first I was a bit dismayed with how shy and retiring Ekaterina is – I wanted a strong, bold woman for Miles. But as the story progresses, it’s made clear why she is that way, and her strength also shines through.
The subplots, with the bugs and the transexual and the other pairings, are all a lot of fun, and the resolution of the main romance plot, in the council chamber, is a great moment.
As a straight fantasy genre romance, I think the very early (first?) book in the Vor series which is the meeting of Miles’s parents might work better – there is less backstory and complicated relationships to manage for the reader. But as a romance for Miles, with his readers behind all the way – slapping their foreheads at his stupidity for that garden plan and cheering him on when he starts making progress – this is a great read – lots of banter, lots of fun, and some very telling character moments.
