Note: Once again, we remind you of Geek Speak’s spoiler policy. This review contains spoilers, and THIS IS NOT A BOOK YOU WANT SPOILED. We know that some of you are going to read this anyway, but nevertheless, if you would rather come back later, we understand. We’ll still be here. We promise.

The Cryocorporations of Planet Kibou-daini have perfected the art and science of cryopreservation, wherein a dead person is chemically preserved, frozen, and brought back to life at some opportune point in the future, usually at such a time as whatever killed them can be fixed. Kibou’s entire social, political, and economic structures rely heavily on the cryopreservation industry, and some of the more ambitious outfits are keen to expand… right into the Barrayaran empire. But when a salesman ends up making his pitch to one of Emperor Gregor’s in-laws, the Emperor, smelling a rat, sends his favorite Imperial trouble-shooter planetside to investigate…

Yes, true fans, rejoice! For after a long hiatus, Miles Vorkosigan is back in action at last -- and how. It will surprise none of Imperial Auditor Vorkosigan’s partisans to learn that Miles quickly finds himself kidnapped by extremists who are opposed to the whole cryorevival scene, and although he extricates himself from that particular situation relatively rapidly (as these things go), he soon finds that he’s jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Aided by loyal Armsman Roic, a local boy named Jin whose mother has her own reasons to object to the cryocorps’ shenanigans, and the put-upon staff of the local Barrayaran consulate, Miles undoes various nefarious plots and uncovers secrets that could rock Kibou-daini’s society to its very foundations.

This is Bujold’s darkest book since the Hugo award-winning Mirror Dance (1995), and at least Mirror Dance had a relatively hopeful and upbeat ending. Not this one. CryoBurn is about death in a very in-your-face kind of a way. It starts with a drugged and hallucinating Miles wandering through a seemingly endless underground corridor lined with drawers full of frozen corpses, and sort of takes off from there. More than one corpse is stolen. Characters talk about dead friends who could have been cryopreserved but weren’t and speculate about living people who might be cryopreserved but probably won’t. Nor does Bujold shy away from some of the social issues faced by a society in which death is optional for the well-heeled, although it would have been interesting to see some of those issues explored in greater depth.

Then there’s That Ending. (That spoiler warning up top? Yeah, I kind of meant it.) For one thing, unlike the other Vorkosigan novels, the plot is not tied up particularly neatly at the end. Usually, Miles et al. uncover a wicked plot, Miles takes down a relatively self-contained group of bad guys, and yay, the day is saved! Here, he uncovers a wicked plot, takes down some bad guys… and hightails it off the planet, leaving a hot buttered mess in his wake. The implications of at least one of his discoveries are profound, but they’re not really addressed at any length. On the other hand, this makes a certain amount of sense: Bujold’s first priority is telling Miles’ story, not Kibou-daini’s. Then, too, there’s the fact that in a sense, all of the Kibou-daini action is setup for the final pages of the book.

Yes, CryoBurn ends with a death -- a big one; it won’t surprise anyone who has been paying attention, but will nevertheless come as a throat-punch to longtime fans. The last few pages are composed of drabbles -- short stories of precisely 100 words apiece, describing how different characters react to late events. (These taut, evocative little nuggets are easily the most moving parts of the book.) This particular event will be a game-changer for Miles and company; it will be interesting to see how the series evolves, because evolve it must. It’s impossible to imagine this beloved and long-running series ending forever on such a sad note. (Says the woman who never actually saw Blake’s 7. Anyway….)

Despite its pervasive morbid-ness, CryoBurn is not without its pleasures. Longtime readers will be delighted by the appearance of a couple of old friends late in the game, and a little sphinx -- bioengineered for one of the cryocorps to give to potential customers -- steals every scene she’s in. (Picture a winged cat who can talk -- sort of -- and who bops around mewling “Fud! Fud!”) Best of all, though, is a CD-ROM that accompanies the first edition of the hardback version, containing the full text of all of the Baen Vorkosigan omnibuses, as well as cover art, interviews, and travel essays. Memory doesn’t appear in an omnibus, so it doesn’t appear here, but you know what? You can buy Memory separately. One must not give in to greed. To repeat: When you buy CryoBurn in hardcover, you also get everything from Falling Free to The Warrior’s Apprentice to Diplomatic Immunity, including the novellas. Awesome! Thank you, Baen Books! Thank you, Lois McMaster Bujold!

In fact, if you’re new to the Vorkosigan universe, that CD is going to be the place to start, because a working knowledge of Mirror Dance, in particular, will be invaluable in helping you make sense of some of the characters’ more cryptic exchanges. But to longtime fans: Wait for a rainy day, fire up some Morrissey on your iPod, and pour yourself a stiff drink before curling up in your favorite chair with CryoBurn. Save some of that drink for the very end, however, because you will surely want to raise a glass in salute to a character who will be very much missed.

  -- Kate Nagy