2021 reread via audiobook, narrated by Grover Gardner
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3.5*

Read as part of the omnibus "Young Miles". A good look at the backcountry of Barrayar with Miles, newly graduated from the military academy, growing in his leadership role. ( )

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-mountains-of-mourning-by-lois-mcmaster-bujol...

This is an old favourite of mine. If you don’t know Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga, I urge you to give it a try. Most of the stories are about Miles, a nobleman from a conservative planetary empire which is only just re-engaging with the rest of the galaxy and with modernisation, who suffers from restricted growth and brittle bones in a society where disability is abhorred.

In “The Mountains of Mourning”, one of the earlier stories in the sequence, Miles investigates and judges a case of infanticide in the impoverished back-country of his ancestral fiefdom. It’s about change to an ancient way of living, and poisonous family dynamics, and about disability in society. Every character is credibly, in some cases agonisingly, drawn. I think I first read it when I was getting to grips with my own family’s situation, and it has a special place in my heart for that reason. I think also it would be a very good place to start your journey into the Vorkosigan saga. You can get it here and here as a standalone, and here as part of a larger collection.

I’d also note that apart from the “truth drug” which Miles and his henchmen use to discover the identity of the murderer, the story could be perfectly well set in other times and places, with no sfnal elements at all. ( )

Miles! ( )

A re-read in a correctly formatted version: Much better than the first go-through, and well in keeping for a solid backstory. ( )

Nice book overall. ( )