Diplomatic Immunity

by Lois McMaster Bujold

Baen Books, 2002, $25.00, 311 pp

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The newest Miles book is somewhat of a throwback to the older books where he's involved in adventures – Miles is on his way home from a honeymoon and is intercepted by Emperor Gregor's message directing him to Quaddie Space (from Falling Free) where a Komarran trade fleet is being held for various violations. As an Imperial Auditor, he is told to sort it out.

When he gets there, he discovers a tangled mess of confusion and incompetence. What's really behind it all is much more sinister, of course, and by the end of the book Miles is dealing with a terribly dangerous situation. (He does, of course.) In spite of that, the tension never seemed all that real to me.

Diplomatic Immunity is worth reading, but it's not in the same league as, say, A Civil Campaign or Memory.