Komarr

Plot summary

In his new role as Imperial Auditor, Miles Vorkosigan finds himself on Komarr, a planet where his father has an unfortunate reputation, being blamed for a massacre of government officials who had surrendered to him during the planet's conquest. He is there, along with an older, more experienced Auditor, to investigate whether the destruction of a solar power satellite vital to the ongoing terraforming of the planet was an accident or sabotage.

Miles uncovers an extremely dangerous Komarran conspiracy, one which threatens the entire Barrayaran Empire, and is attracted to Ekaterin Vorsoisson, the unhappy wife of a Barrayaran engineer, though he keeps his feelings hidden. The engineer dies unintentionally after the conspirators capture him and Miles.

When Ekaterin and the other Auditor's wife are taken prisoner by the fleeing conspirators, Miles sets out to rescue them. He is surprised and utterly delighted to discover that Ekaterin has a previously hidden talent for inflicting mayhem on her enemies and has already dealt the plot a fatal blow. In a departure from the style of previous Vorkosigan books, the point of view is split between Miles and Ekaterin, offering an outside view on Miles.

Reception

Komarr has had a positive reception from reviewers. Writing for Tor.com, Jo Walton stated that "The plot of Komarr is one of the best and tightest in the series...it’s a perfect mystery, with all the clues in plain sight for a re-read but cleverly misdirected. It also has plausible villains who think of themselves as heroes", and Nicki Gerlach stated in her review for The SF Site that "if this book is any indication of what's to come, it's a chapter in which I'll be very interested indeed."