Tina's Reading Books

Best Fictional Dinner Party

Hmmm let's see...

- The host is using the party as a quasi-military campaign to woo a woman he is infatuated with  (only she doesn't know it)

- His clone brother (who is in therapy for his multiple personalities, one of which is a killer) lets slip that he and his girlfriend are going to take a trip to a pleasure planet to help with his sexual issues (her parents are there and are not amused)

- Unbeknownst to the host and most of the guests the food is made from an edible bug vomit ... no one knows until on of the bugs makes an appearance

- A panicked, ill-timed  marriage proposal occurs

- I think I remember a fight breaking out (or at least someone lunging across the table to choke someone else)

The Miles Vorkosisgan series is mostly space opera.  But in the hands of such a talented writer like Lois McMaster Bujold, it is also a character study, military SF, thrilling adventure, mystery, and in this one a sparkling romance sprinkled with a touch of comedy.  The dinner party is hugely funny and is a stand out scene in the book.