Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, by Lois McMaster Bujold: Book Review

[rowyn]

I finished this book a couple of weeks ago. I'd actually forgotten that I bought it back in February, so it was a nice surprise to find it with my Amazon books.

Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen is in Bujold's Vorkosigan setting. The Vorkosigan books are mostly action-adventure sf, but some of the books don't fit in the "action" category. A Civil Campaign, for example, is a romantic comedy bordering on farce. This newest novel is mainly a romance, but it's much less drama-filled than the typical romance. The central protagonists are solidly middle-aged and, more importantly, mature. The reader never seriously fears that they will make stupid choices based on flawed analysis. They are afflicted with some doubts and indecision, but they doubt sensible things and dither over reasonable options. Even when the outcome was uncertain, I never thought, "oh, this is going to end in disaster if they make the wrong choice." They're smart people. There are good reasons for both paths. They'd be okay.

I really enjoyed reading this novel, especially now, when I'm in the middle of writing The Sun Etherium. TSE's main romance also proceeds fairly smoothly, and the main challenges the characters face aren't life-or-death either. So it was nice to see Bujold making it work. GJ&TRQ isn't her strongest work, certainly, but it's solid and fun and I loved seeing a middle-aged couple get to be the romantic leads.*

There were some elements that didn't work as well for me. It felt like Bujold was ret-conning in Jole's importance in the lives of Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan over the last 14 or so books. I don't remember Jole being mentioned before, actually, and am kind of wondering if he was (as an extremely minor character). On the one hand, the last 14 books were about Miles and I can quite easily see him being completely oblivious to his parents' private lives. On the other, it did not really feel like Bujold had always intended Jole to have been part of their lives. I'm happy enough to have him in the backstory, I'd just be happier if there'd been prior hints about his presence there.

Anyway, this is a solid 8 and I am happy to keep recommending and reading Bujold's work.

* I tried doing this in The Moon Etherium -- the protagonists are both over 50 -- but since the characters in TME are unaging, they don't come across as middle-aged as strongly.

Comments

[patti ludwig (from livejournal.com)]

I recalled the name, & recently pulled out "The Vor Game"; in the story where Miles is sent to the arctic base, Jole is with Aral in Simon's office, when Miles is literally called onto the carpet. Miles has a moment of envy over how Jole's "the perfect recruiting poster officer" and brilliant, unlike his much maligned cousin Ivan.
Does that help?

[archangelbeth]

I think Jole shows up in one other place -- I recall a review where the reviewer went looking for Jole mentions, and while he might've been a sneaky retcon, it does hang together plausibly. (A bit like Imperial Auditors, really!)

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when you're immortal, 50 could seem like you're still a KID. :)

[danceswithlife]

Jole shows up in Captain Vorpatril's Alliance as well. But more than that, it's clear from the beginning of the series that Aral is bisexual, that Cordelia knows it, and doesn't have a problem with it, even though early in their marriage (in Barrayar) she categorizes Aral as monogamous. But that's within the first year of their marriage. Couples adapt to each others needs, especially when the resident Betan wants her husband to be happy.

My sense is that the groundwork for a poly relationship is there early in the series. Did she plan it from the beginning? Probably not, although I think she held it as potential early on. I'm glad she choose to get it out there in this book. It helps break more barriers, especially if it wins a Hugo.

I adored this book. But more than the possible retro poly relationship what stuck me here (and some in CVA as well) is how obnoxious a git Miles is at times. I think Bujold makes this more plain when telling stories from the point of view of not-Miles :-)

[alltoseek]

I was so disappointed in GJ&tRQ. The title had such promise! I thought "Gentleman" Jole was going to be like a Wild West rascal type (Sergyar is basically like the Wild West, or could be, but Gregor and the Vorkosigans have such a tight rein on it, that nope). So I thought, hijinx! Adventure! Outsmarting each other! Witty banter! But nope. Just dull dull dull. And the ending was so obvs. The only doubt was in Jole's mind, and it was tedious to slog through it. It was all very realistic (I mean the basic plot (such as it is) and the dithering, not that Cordelia's running a whole planet that apparently has no problems more serious than are faced by any given small town in the US, and mostly even less troublesome than those) but I live boring real life every day, I don't go to sci-fi to get more boring realism, ugh.

About the ret-con: Jole was introduced in The Vor Game and mentioned in Capt Vorpatril's Alliance. Both of those were published towards the end of her writing in the saga, tho Vor Game takes place chronologically next after Warrior's Apprentice. By then Bujold had got Ethan of Athos published, but her publisher was like, no more Planet San Fransisco! So while she seems pretty LGBTQ+ positive herself, her publishing adventures were limited. So I suspect she did mean Jole to be their third, or however you want to term it, but she wasn't going to say anything explicit, not least because it would have blown Miles' top off, and he was busy enough in Vor Game to not need any distracting thoughts about parental sexual activities churning around *g*

Another point: There was a lovely fanfic series all about Aral/Jole/Cordelia, written well before GJATRQ. Bujold interacts quite freely with her fandom, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to find she read a lot of Vorko fanfic, including that one. Or at least knew of it's existence.