The Soul Linked Saga

If there were a literary equivalent of the walk of shame for book reading, then this review would be me doing it.  These books are the craziest wish-fulfillment excuse for a series I have ever read.  The premise for this science fiction romance series is farcical.  The writing is mediocre.  But somehow I couldn't keep myself from reading all three.  It's my crack!  Be warned.

OK, so, here goes.

The premise is that among the thousand worlds there is a mysterious race, called the Jasani, who are born as triplets (called male-sets) and that each male-set does everything together, including sex, because they share a soul.  The Jasani are also magic-wielding shape-shifters (the first book is about the dragon-ish triplets, the second is the wolf-ish, and the third is great cat-ish).

The Jasani home world is modeled after an old west theme except on a world of lavendar skies and blue grass.  It comes complete with a horse and cattle ranch owned by the first set of triplets, and a small local town for shopping when they need the change of scenery.  Oh, and the first heroes are also the ruling royalty of the Jasani.

Cyoburn

Summary: Not-bad story from a (generally) spectacularly talented writer.  Fans of the Vorkosigan Saga may want to read it to find out what happens next, but be warned that it won't live up to the earlier books.

Cryoburn, by Lois McMaster Bujold, is the latest entry in the Vorkosigan Saga.  Ignore the almost uninterrupted string of cheesy covers and space-opera descriptions.  The saga is about the best science fiction I've ever read.  It's got everything - great primary and secondary characters, great world building, great plot, great dialog, great prose, great everything.  Bujold has no weaknesses; she is the perennially under-appreciated force in sci-fi despite multiple Hugos and Nebulas.   Unfortunately, the latest couple of books in the series haven't been quite to the level of the best of the the saga, and this one in particular was getting mediocre reviews, so I started it with mixed feelings.

I liked it, although it's not my favorite of the Vorkosigan saga.  Here are a couple random thoughts that CONTAIN SPOILERS: