Review: A Civil Campaign

A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Ugh. This was a lot of work to read. Miles continues to be an utter manipulative arsehat to his latest obsession, who he has barely bothered to get to know well enough to realize that she might not appreciate being treated as the objective of a military campaign, rather than a person. And look, the world is full of people being idiots and abusive in their romantic lives - this is half the plot of every sitcom and Shakespeare comedy, ever - and I can read a book where I don't like the main character. But Miles is the sympathetic protagonist of what, 11 books before this one? It's difficult to cope with him suddenly turning into such a total jerk, when we want to keep liking him, and yet I don't enjoy the feeling of being made to like someone who so desperately needs to be slapped.

The book gets a second star because it is still well-written, and Miles does get his comeuppance in the end... and then nearly loses that star again because of the artificial conclusion where everyone forgives everyone and pairs up regardless of reason like the end of a musical comedy, just to make the curtain call balances out.

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