Lois McMaster Bujold's Sci-Fi

[Parson]

Thanks for filling in my blanks. I'm glad the Quaddies made a come back. This thread has made me think about the Vor/Miles series some. As I remember it, I think that as the series started focusing more on the character of Miles, and much, much less on the society and the way things worked and were changing. I found my interest waning considerably. Also I found Miles just too unlikely and unbelievable for a hero.

 

[Vertigo]

Hmmm, that's what worries me. As I say I have only read Falling Free and Shards of Honor so far so have yet to meet Miles. And I do worry that the blurb seems to paint a very unlikely hero, but then I figure I have to give him a chance just because of that!

 

[Pyan]

Also I found Miles just too unlikely and unbelievable for a hero.

Hmmm, that's what worries me.... the blurb seems to paint a very unlikely hero, but then I figure I have to give him a chance just because of that!

That's precisely what makes Miles such a hero, in the truest sense.

It's easy to cut a bloody swath through your enemies if you're two meters tall, have thews like wire rope and a five-foot long magical sword - but if you're crippled from birth, hunched and dwarvish, and have to make your way in a militaristic society that's paranoid about mutants due to a recent nuclear war, and happen to be the only son of the Regent for an insecure young monarch to boot - now that's a set of obstacles that needs a special kind of hero...

 

[Coragem]

That's precisely what makes Miles such a hero, in the truest sense.

It's easy to cut a bloody swath through your enemies if you're two meters tall, have thews like wire rope and a five-foot long magical sword - but if you're crippled from birth, hunched and dwarvish, and have to make your way in a militaristic society that's paranoid about mutants due to a recent nuclear war, and happen to be the only son of the Regent for an insecure young monarch to boot - now that's a set of obstacles that needs a special kind of hero...

Interesting ...

So many successful books basically create a hero with super powers ...

Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Druss the Legend, Caine, Dr Who, certainly Honor Harrington and many more, have all been super heroes in their way.

I suppose many of use like reading about characters who are tall, attractive, super strong and/or super clever. We can kind of pretend that we are that person or live through them ... But having a less obvious sort of hero seems like a good change, every now and then.

Coragem.

 

[Vertigo]

I worry that she might have gone too far in making him an unlikely hero. If he's so unlikely as to be unbelievable then it will fail for me, but I've not read them yet and I do plan to, so I shall have to wait and see...

 

[Parson]

Interesting ...

So many successful books basically create a hero with super powers ...

Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Druss the Legend, Caine, Dr Who, certainly Honor Harrington and many more, have all been super heroes in their way.

I suppose many of use like reading about characters who are tall, attractive, super strong and/or super clever. We can kind of pretend that we are that person or live through them ... But having a less obvious sort of hero seems like a good change, every now and then.

Coragem.

But Miles is "Super" in his own way too. He has a razor sharp intellect and his determination is the stuff of legends. He has the advantages of his birth and significant wealth behind him. Nothing in this guarantees his success, but the raw materials are there. Outside of his physical appearance and strength you would consider him a formidable adversary indeed. Which could be Lois' point in the first place. --- the smart determined person always wins. ---- Dubious in the utmost!