A fantastic fantasy novel, The Flowers of Vashnoi is about Lady Vorkosigan, We find her working together with expatriate scientist Enrique Borgos on a radical scheme to recover the lands of the Vashnoi exclusion zone, lingering radioactive legacy of the Cetagandan invasion of the planet Barrayar. When Enrique’s experimental bioengineered creatures go missing, the pair discover that the zone still conceals deadly old secrets.

This novella falls after Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance in the Vorkosigan series timeline but maybe read entirely independently. The Vorkosigan saga was the recipient of the first Hugo Award for best science fiction series in 2017.

A brief chapter in the Vorkosigan saga concentrating on Ekaterina with a brief glimpse of Miles here and there. Not at all a starting point for new readers, but fans will gobble it up. This story concentrates on Ekaterina and her scientists on Miles' estate trying to create a bot that will "eat" the radiation that still permeates the land. Not terribly successful so far, and as with all science, often with results that are totally unexpected. Bujold always explores issues and ideas with humor and depth through her wonderful characters and rich plotting. Always a joy. And always leaves you wanting more. Lots lots more.

What a pleasure it is to return to the adventures of Miles Vorkosigan, or rather those featuring his resourceful and compassionate wife, Ekaterin. In The Flowers of Vashnoi, Miles has inherited a tract of land, the Vashnoi exclusion zone, that was once a rich agricultural area, a veritable garden. Now, generations after the Cetagandan war, it’s still radioactively contaminated and uninhabitable. Ekaterin has gone there to check on the clean-up progress. One of the methods used is a bug that consumes and concentrates contaminated matter so that it can be collected and removed from the site. But, as Ekaterin discovers during her tour of the facilities, a significant number of “radbugs” have gone missing. And there’s a mysterious, pale figure flitting through the forest like a wood elf.

This mini-adventure is paced just right, contained within the mystery plot structure yet evoking the larger universe of the Vorkosigan novels. It’s lovely to spend more time with Ekaterin, who tries to take a lesson in leadership from Miles now and again but falls back on her own innate capacity for insight and her scientific curiosity.

Bottom line: just delightful.

The usual disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book, but no one bribed me to praise it. Although chocolates and fine imported tea are always welcome.

A worthy dream!

A tightly worded, short story continuing the lives of Ekaterin, Lady Vorkosigan and Lord Miles set in the Vashnoi exclusion zone, an area destroyed during the Cetagandan invasion of the planet Barrayar. That exclusion zone is part of Miles' inheritance. Underneath this delightful novella beats the complexity of Miles and his world, it's dark history, and recovery. Fans will identify immediately, knowing the stories behind simple statements. Scientist Enrique Borgos and Ekaterin have been experimenting with Brother Mark's bioengineered butterbugs with a view to revitalizing areas that are in restricted radiation zones. The rad bugs have been redesigned to consume vegetation in these areas, absorbing the radiation. Think radiation pooping dung beetles, sort of. Ekaterin had been part of the project helping with their design making them more colorful to represent danger. That color attracts some interesting guests.
Later when Ekaterin ponders the colorful bugs she "dreamed of gardens of moving lights, molten with color, where children, their future-faces as elusive as butterflies, played and were not poisoned." A worthy dream.
But for now a visit to the test site reveals some of the rad bugs have gone missing from the experimental plot. The finding of them opens up more of the past, and a quandary.
We are treated to delightful snapshots of Miles as a father and a husband, via Ekaterin's amused reflections such as trying "not to let her mind sketch parallels with hyperactive toddlers" when thinking about Miles and his energy levels. And then there's breakfast time, "Miles was helping, sort of—both twins seemed more interested in using their food to bomb the Hassadar Count’s Residence cats, swirling under their high chairs, a more entertaining and quasi-military exercise to which Miles had allowed himself to be diverted." Hmm!
I must say reading this novella made me quite nostalgic for Miles type adventures. I feel a joyous reread of much of the series coming on.

A Subterranean Press ARC via NetGalley

An alluring addition to Bujold’s spin-offs from her series about Miles Vorkiosigan, the handicapped kid who became an underground spy and problem solver for a worthy galactic empire. Written in the late 80s and early 90s, they were a great pleasure to me as space opera with humor and fulsome character development (a source of 13 4 or 5-star reads). With a long tour of fantasy novels in the 2000s, starting with the World of Five Gods series, the recent set of Penric & Desdemona novells, and the Shring Knife YA series, Bujold seems to have responded to fans’ hunger for more in the Vorkosigan Saga with some delightful novels that featured Miles’ mother, Cordelia ("Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen") and his friend Ivan Vorpatril ("Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance"). Here we have an exploration of the character of Miles’ wife, Ekaterin Vorsoisson, whom in 1999’s marvelous “The Civil Campaign”, we came to love as worthy of Miles’ adoration due to her grounding of his wild impulses, scientific acumen combined with pragmatism, and empathy for the downtrodden.

The tale here has Ekaterin working in the field on a project to remediate the ecological devastation caused by a nuclear strike taken by one of Mile’s imperial ancestors. With a foreign colleague she is pilot testing the effectiveness of a bioengineered insect in concentrating radioactive wastes to help recover the blighted environment. As at Chernobyl, a lot of flora and fauna are sustained, and Bujold projects a suspense for the reader in what kind of dangerous mutants may have evolved over the decades since the nuclear attack. A mystery emerges over the disappearance of a large fraction of their expensive, experimental bugs. It turns out that some form of humans are resident in the restricted zone. How Ekaterin’s compassion, bravery, and level headedness is applied to resolve their unusual issues is satisfying to witness. Too bad I am left hungry form more. As with short stories I perhaps have to learn to be more satisfied with episodes in human lives to epitomize the bigger picture. I am in a similar state of accommodation to her ongoing fantasy series on Penric and Desdemona.

On the planet of Barrayar, Lady Ekaterin Vorkosigan is working with scientist Enrique Borgos to bioengineer bugs that can clean up radioactive fallout in the Vashnoi exclusion zone, which was attacked with atomic weapons during the Cetagandan invasion 80 years earlier. When some of these bugs go missing, they go searching for them, only to discover tragic secrets hiding there.

While this technically works as a standalone, I suspect it is a much better read for those who are already familiar with the Vorkosigan Saga. This is the first entry in the series I've read, and while I was able to follow the story, it did not connect with me as much as it seems to connect with fans who already know and love the characters.

With that said, this is a good novella. Bujold tackles a difficult topic--the literal and metaphorical fallout of nuclear war--with a gentleness that doesn't evade the devastation. The grace with which she writes is a testament to her skill as a writer. Also, while I already said I didn't connect with the characters as much as other readers, as there's not a lot of character development in this novella, I do enjoy her ability to write strong, mature relationships.

All in all, I enjoyed this novella, but I think I would have gotten more out of it if I'd read other novels in the Vorkosigan Saga first. This has inspired me to check out the rest of the series, though, and I would encourage you to do the same!

A new novella in the Vorkosigan series; in internal chronology it comes after <i>A Civil Campaign</i> (where Miles gets married) but before <i>Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen</i>. The narrator this time around is Ekaterin, Miles's wife, a relative newcomer to his planet, but wonderfully cool and competent. She's working with scientists on a long-term (<i>very</i> long-term) project to clear up the Vashnoi district, which was hit with nuclear weapons eighty years ago and has been uninhabitable ever since. Ekaterin's role is designing a bio-engineered species of bug that eats radioactive materials – yes, they are descendants of <i>A Civil Campaign</i>'s butter bugs! Who probably are my favorite characters in that book, come to think of it.

These new radbugs are not <i>quite</i> as memorable as that, but when they're put in a test plot within Vashnoi to measure their effectiveness, they start disappearing. It turns out that Vashnoi might not be as uninhabited as everyone thought....

<i>The Flowers of Vashnoi</i> is very much one of the lighter and shorter Vorkosigan novellas. It's a pleasant way to spend an afternoon without being particularly memorable. I was a bit annoyed, in fact, that Ekaterin's actions have an easily predictable negative consequence that she is nonetheless shocked and unprepared for when it arrives. Bujold is an author who normally is very, very good at having her characters be thoughtful and aware of the potential unintended effects of their choices, so having a character blunder around destructively and never really regret her own short-sightedness was more annoying in the Vorkosigan series than it would have been somewhere else.

But, ah, well. It's too light of a story to even bother being annoyed by. It was fine. Not great, sure, but fine.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2890990913

For lovers of the Vorkosigen series, each new entry is a treat. Here Ekaterin is involved in a scientific plan to clean up the radioactivity in Vashnoi, a rural district of Barrayar that was bombed during the Cetagandan war. The cleanup plan uses "radbugs", genetically modified beetles, related to the butterbugs introduced in an earlier book, to gobble up radioactive plants and filter out the radioactive components. The bugs and their ejecta are dangerous.

While on a maintenance visit, Ekaterin and the research team discover people living in the danger zone.

Ms Bujold displays her skills, fully developing characters and plot within the very short space of a novella.

With no expectation of another full length Vorkosigan novel anywhere on the horizon, the publication of The Flowers of Vashnoi was a welcome addition to the canon. It's a somewhat unexpected story as the novella focuses on Ekaterin instead of Miles, Cordelia, or even Ivan. Through Ekaterin, Bujold tells the story of the Vashnoi region which is still irradiated from the long ago nuclear bombardment of the district. That's not what the novella is about, of course. This is the story of some of the people who still live in that district, scratching out an existence away from "civilization". It's about survivors, autonomy, doing right, and the responsibilities of power.

It is, as might be expected from Lois McMaster Bujold, a story told with grace and skill and a unmatched smoothness. I've seen an inclination of others to describe The Flowers of Vashnoi as "minor Bujold", but that fails to acknowledge that a "minor" work from Bujold would be a major work from nearly any other writer. Compared to the absolute best of Bujold, perhaps this is "minor Bujold, but it is simply an excellent story told well.

A slight but enjoyable addition to the Vorkosigan universe. Almost no Miles, almost all Ekaterin which may or may not be your cup of tea.

A lot of fun, I was thrilled Bujold (my very favorite author) wrote another story set in the Vorkosigan saga and it was a rewarding read

I didn't know I wanted more butterbugs, but I did, and this novella was an awesome way to get them. I hope we get more of the muties and the bugs. I want to know what happens with them now. The only thing missing in this story/novella, was more of everything.

First of all, I'm delighted that Bujold still has stories to tell in the Vorkosigan universe, especially ones that focus on characters other than Miles. I'll keep reading them as long as she keeps writing them! This isn't her strongest work -- it's a retread of some of the ideas in The Mountains of Mourning starring Ekaterin and Enrique Burgos of butterbug fame -- but for a Vorkosigan fan, it's a lovely visit with old friends.

The Flowers of Vashnoi

The Flowers of Vashnoi by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Flowers of Vashnoi (Vorkosigan Saga, #14.1)
by Lois McMaster Bujold (Goodreads Author)
M 50x66
Lou Jacobs's review May 08, 2019 · edit
really liked it

As expected another diamond in the rough from Bujold. Her ability as an expert storyteller never ceases to amaze ... even with this short novel / novella. This vignette picks up after the events of Captain Vorpatril's Alliance but can certainly be enjoyed as a standalone tale. Rather than continue the saga of Miles Vorkosigan .. we are treated to the inner thinking and actions of Lady Ekaterin. At her urging, scientist Enrique Borgos has further modified the "butterbugs" to ingest radioactive organic matter in the hopes of eventually tackling the radioactive problem of the Vorkosigan Vashnoi holding zone. As a result of the war with the Cetagandans and their use of atomics the region is rendered useless and cordoned off from civilization.. Ekaterin hopes to "clean-up" the region , rendering it useful in the future.
The so-called butterbugs, are cockroach like and were originally bio-engineered by Borgos with microbes in their gut that altered indigestible matter into a tofu-like paste that is extremely nutritious and edible for human consumption. This new version has a purple carapace and a trifoil on it's back that is yellow and glows brighter as it consumes the radioactive material . These "radbugs" were released into the Vashnoi holding zone with hopes of a radioactive clean-up. Ekaterin and Enrique have discovered that a large portion of these bugs are missing.
During their investigation they come upon a family unit surving on the periphery of the zone ... a mother, her son, and two children that are radiation damaged. This situation sets up the dilemma facing Ekaterin and allows her to shine in confronting and dealing with a multitude of rather unsolvable problems. Bujold crafts a tale that philosophically deals with legacy ... overcoming daunting problems and the struggle to move forward ... and exacting a solution, even though not perfect.
Thanks to NetGalley and Subterranean Press @subpress in providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.

In which Ekaterin exhibits her true Vorkosiganism. (Yes, I made up a word.) A brief, but complex adventure worthy of her husband.

Well written, goes without saying, character driven (my favorite), and almost nostalgic glimpses of Miles as a father ("A one-to-one ratio of parents to children ought to be an even match, but Ekaterin was sometimes not sure whose side Lord Vorkosigan was on.") make for an enjoyable read.

My only complaint is that it wasn't longer. (Not that it wasn't a complete adventure. I just greedily want more Vorkosigan goodness to read.)

This novella backfills in the married life of Miles and Ekaterin with the spotlight on her for a change. She and Enrique [of butterbug fame] have come up with a new bug that should help clean the radiation zone in Miles’ home district. These new bugs eat the plants and emit the radioactive bits in piles of waste to be cleaned up. The downside is the bugs glow cutely and quickly go missing. When the thief is found Ekaterin must deal with it and the problems around the thief. A really lovely Vorkosigan story proving that not every problem is on a planet wide scale in these books.