Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga)

The plot and dialogue of this first installment of the Vokosigan Saga were, in my opinion, reminiscent of a young adult romance novel. However, I enjoyed it and intend to read the next installment (chronologically) Barrayar. If your looking for hard scifi or epic adventure, then this is not your book. If your looking for a relatively light character-driven story, then you'll like this book just fine.

The first in what turns out to be an excellent series. This is Bujold's first novel, and while her writing gets a bit smoother in her following books, the essentials are flawless from the start. Consistent characterization, funny dialog, lovely sci-fi world building. The plot is a bit simplistic, but it sets the stage for the greater complexity in Barrayar and The Warrior's Apprentice. I wasn't a huge fan the first time I read it, but with the context of the rest of the series, it gets better with every re-read.

After the first book was amazing, I was excited to read the second. It's a completely different book with new and boring characters that have no believable emotions, no likable qualities, and the major plot twist that would have saved the whole book didn't happen. It was a let down from beginning to end and sealed the series for me. It read as a cross between a poor romance novel and a lackluster sci-fi.

shards of honor is a very well written book i found while reading it that it pulls you in and makes you really feel for the characters. the use of imagery was excellent. all in all a good start to the saga.

You feel that it is the first. The later storkes are slightly more intense. But thet also have the advantage of the whole back ground storie. But do not mistanke that this is a very good book.. you only have to continue reading all the following books. But do not dispair. I have never been so captured by a writer as by Louis McMaster Bujold.

I was a little put off because I went in expecting a science fiction book and instead got a straight-up, formulaic romance with all the standard plot points of any historical romance. I felt the science fiction parts of this story were thin and a bit unoriginal. The story was reasonably engaging, but felt contrived to fit around the romance plot.

Microscopic glimmers of potential shrouded in the mind-numbing fog of predictability. Great if you're starting in the fantasy/sci-fi genre. Large characters with few surprises on the road to an inevitable love union. Clearly drawn good/bad guys with name tags. Nice...but just too nice.

I didn't find this book very enjoyable. The romance seems quite forced, and the archaic gender roles are insufficiently self-aware. I understand this may simply be a factor of how old the book is, but regardless, I couldn't get into it. The plot is also fairly confusing after everyone leaves the first planet. Read to about 75% of the way through then put it down.

Commander Cordelia Naismith of Beta Colony is leading a scientific study team on an unnamed planet when she and a colleague become separated from the rest of the team. They witness their planetary shuttle taking off in the distance, only to discover that their base camp has been utterly destroyed in an attack and one of their colleagues killed.

The shuttle clearly was escaping the attackers, who are nowhere to be found. In communicating with the shuttle crew, Naismith learns that the attack came from a patrol sent by the militaristic society of Barrayar. Then Naismith and her colleague are surprised in the wilderness—her colleague is wounded but, strangely, not killed—by a Barrayaran officer. His name, she learns, is Aral Vorkosigan. He’s a man with a fearsome reputation, formerly the youngest admiral in the Barrayaran fleet. Now he bears a lower rank. Vorkosigan commands a single Imperial war cruiser—the source of the contingent that attacked Naismith’s men. However, Vorkosigan himself has been attacked by his men and left to die. As he explains, “My best friends and my deadliest enemies all wear the same uniform.”

Naismith soon learns that Vorkosigan is not the man of Betan myth. The two find themselves fighting for survival together in a 200-kilometer trek across the planet’s surface to an emergency cache he has built. Along the way, Naismith and Vorkosigan become close. It seems they may be falling in love with each other.

Shards of Honor tells the tale of their developing relationship in the midst of a complex and brutal factional struggle on Barrayar. Though Vorkosigan is close to the Emperor, he has been outmaneuvered by forces that share control of the empire. As the story rushes forward, he and Naismith together find themselves in a fight to the death against the Emperor’s enemies. This is a suspenseful and exciting tale about an interplanetary war pitting Barrayar against Beta Colony and its formidable ally, Escobar. Some might call this a space opera. I call it science fiction.

Shards of Honor is the second novel in the ongoing Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. Yet it was the first book the author wrote, and it follows by 200 years the title she places first in “internal chronological order,” Falling Free. (My review of the book is here. on the store.) As Bujold puts it in an author’s note at the conclusion of Shards of Honor, “My publishing history has been complex.” The chronological order of the series does not follow the sequence in which she wrote the books.

Science fiction, adventure, military-political intrigue, romance, character development & dry humour are mixed in perfect proportions in this debut novel of the “Vorkosigan Saga” space opera.

Cordelia Naismith & her team of scientists from Beta Colony are on a mission to map hitherto unchartered territories/planets when they are attacked by Barrayaran soldiers intent on keeping them away from the place (secretly to be used in an invasion of the planet Escobar as part of the Empire’s expansion policy). But things go terribly wrong not just for Cordelia, but for the leader of the soldiers, Count Aral Vorkosigan, as someone from his own team tries to murder him in the chaos. They get stranded on the planet & need each other to survive and to reach the Barrayaran base camp.

The 2 main characters are very likeable almost upon first introduction. Neither of them are young or insanely beautiful, they have past grievances, but you can sympathize with them easily. Their gradually developing relationship is totally plausible: from enmity to grudging respect, to trust and then to yearning & love. Their background stories as well as of their respective planets are very nicely built up by LMB. Step by step we learn about their personal history as well as the political influences that shaped them.

Political implications are also interesting: Beta Colony seems to be a “democracy”, while Barrayar is a kind of military empire with a war campaign of expansion, where militants (traditionalists) & bureaucrats (new order) clash for power with an emperor soon to die.

Cordelia seems to fall into the middle of both war campaign and the political one fought by the rival factions. Her stance throughout the book is admirable: she always tries to preserve her humanity, flexibility, patience & sense of humour. It is also lovely to see the effect she has over the prickly, rigid Aral: how he softens and relaxes and yet keeps his sense of honour. We have a lovely love story without grand vows and forced misunderstandings, but rather with small gestures and touching moments.

When I reviewed GENTLEMAN JOLE AND THE RED QUEEN last year, I stated that I did some research into just how long Bujold has been publishing Vorkosigan novels. The answer, as of the writing of that review, was 30 years, as SHARDS OF HONOR was published in 1986. One thing that I knew about SHARDS OF HONOR was that I had never read it. I remember reading FALLING FREE back in 1986 or 1987 poolside at the apartment complex I lived in back in those days. But there were several that I did not read from the late 1980s and early 1990s, so I recently decided that maybe it would be time to go back and fill in the holes of my personal Vorkosigan universe. And so, I dropped into the audio book library for SHARDS OF HONOR. With the book being 30 years old, I feel that the statute of limitations has run out on spoilers for this book, so while I don't plan on dropping any major unknowns for folks who haven't read it, I might. After all, one can nearly completely deduce what happened in SHARDS OF HONOR just from reading later Vorkosigan novels and simply paying attention.

To summarize though (because as I write this I realize this piece is going to be more of a comparison between the first book in the series and the most recent, which may or may not be useful but may allow the reader to speculate on what's next), Captain Cordelia Naismith is the captain of a Betan astronomical survey ship. She and her team have landed on what is to them a new planet, and they are doing what survey teams do when her camp is attacked by what turns out to be a Barrayaran team which has landed on the planet before them. She meets Aral Vorkosigan, who is in the middle of a bit of political turmoil within his own unit. Cordelia and Aral become friends while on the planet - which is surprising to Cordelia as Aral is the famed "Butcher of Komarr" - and they end up with a deep mutual respect for each other. Cordelia is taken up to Aral's ship as a prisoner who will be allowed to go home after the ship returns to Barrayar. There is, of course, one more surprise to be sprung: Aral proposes marriage to Cordelia. She never answers the question, but it's clear that Cordelia is smitten with Aral.

I really don't need to go through the rest of the story in even that amount of detail. Aral and Cordelia encounter each other again during a Barrayaran attack on Escobar, and after all is said and done, he proposes again. She turns him down this time, and returns to Beta Colony to find it changed. The authorities believe she is the victim of Barrayaran brain washing, and make her life miserable. She eventually escapes, gets transport to Barrayar, marries Aral, and they live happily ever after.

Well, not really. Those who have read the novels know that life in the Vorkosigan universe never allows things to end up happily ever after. But the couple does okay, really they do.

What happened in between SHARDS OF HONOR and GENTLEMAN JOLE AND THE RED QUEEN is the stuff of science fiction legend. Miles, his family, and their escapades are all among the most beloved in the field. Miles' exploits are well known, and there is typically great anticipation of the next "Miles book".

Except, of course, that the next Miles book really doesn't have to have Miles in it (CAPTAIN VORPATRIL'S ALLIANCE, for example), for these are books about the Vorkosigan universe, not just Miles. Even those that have Miles in it don't necessarily center on Miles (JOLE/QUEEN) is a good example of that. I really wanted to like JOLE/QUEEN, but after I listened to SHARDS OF HONOR I've decided that while I may like it, it wasn't that *good*. I've heard the word "disappointing" used to describe it, and I think I agree with that now. And I wonder, in fact, if we've seen the last of the Vorkosigan books.

Bujold has indeed come full circle with these novels. SHARDS OF HONOR introduces us to Cordelia and Aral, and without them falling in love and getting married, none of the rest of the books could have happened. SHARDS is full of action, intrigue, romance, character development, and story. We came to like those two characters (and the rest of the people that inhabit the Vorkosigan universe), and they were a wonderful springboard to the rest of the story. JOLE/QUEEN had.....romance. There was no story, no conflict, no intrigue (well, not much, anyway) and in retrospect, it felt a little old and tired. In the beginning, Aral and Cordelia were young and vibrant, feisty, and ready to take on the universe. At the end, Cordelia is....comfortable. She's lived her life, done her thing, and is ready to sail off into the sunset; she's done with all the adventure.

And so, I suspect, is Bujold (mind you, this is speculation - I know nothing about future plans for Bujold's writing). I think we've come around front to back, and as fun and exciting as SHARDS OF HONOR was, I think (as I mentioned at the end of my review of JOLE/QUEEN), there really isn't any obvious place to go from here.

If you've read SHARDS OF HONOR, I urge you to go read it again. If you've never read it, I urge you to read it soon. If you've never read the Vorkosigan universe books, start here at the beginning and work your way to what I think is the end. You'll not regret it.

Grover Gardner was the narrator for this book as well as GENTLEMAN JOLE AND THE RED QUEEN. While in that book I thought he did a workmanlike job, I think he is now starting to grow on me. I enjoyed his narration of SHARDS OF HONOR, and look forward to hearing him read more of the Vorkosigan books I haven't gotten to yet.

What is it about?

Cordelia Naismith is an officer in the Betan Expeditionary Force, sent to explore a planet. Unbeknownst to them, the planet had already been discovered and claimed by Barrayar. When Cordelia is captured by a Barrayaran officer, she is forced to realize that not all Barrayarans are as evil as the stories from her childhood. 

I apologize for any misspellings of the worlds and names. I listened to the audiobook so find the writing of it strange. 

Is it good?

I enjoyed this audiobook. For a sci-fi book, it is not too long. It has action, aliens, romance and politics. There's a big war going on and the star crossed lovers must fight for opposing sides.

This is the first book in the Vorkosigan Saga. If there was a cliffhanger, I must have missed it. I plan on continuing the series because the characters are likeable and believable, and the story was interesting and moved along quickly.

As a Science Fiction reader, there are few classics, celebrated authors, important series that I have not taken a dip into at some point or another. However, I’ve always kind of avoided the Vorkosigan Saga. When looking for the next thing to read, it always gets touted as “the best” or “in the top SF series ever written.” I don’t know if it’s the sheer number of volumes, the reviews it gets as space opera, or – just being honest – that it has a female author that has kept me so reticent all these years. Probably it’s because I’ve never had a friend of mine – and this is amazing due to its popularity – never tell me I should read them. Well I finally broke down and started the series, and guess what? It’s good.

One of the difficult things about the Vorkosigan Saga is where to start. I would avoid trying to decipher the reading order initially from all the fan sites and reviewers. The books are now being put into chronological order instead of publication date. While this is fine and dandy, I don’t know if it does the series any favors. Shards of Honor was the first novel in the series published (even though now it gets called Book 2), and I think it’s a great place to start to get the tenor of Bujold’s writing. It’s pre-Miles, the hero that drives most of the following books, but it situates the universe well. And, it provides the historical backdrop for most of the following stories.

Cordelia Naismith is a captain in a planetary survey for Beta Colony. Her goal is to scientifically chart new worlds and their natural characteristics. Unknowingly she stumbles into intrigue that involves Barrayar – a military based society that is trying to flex its muscles. She finds herself united with Aral Vorkosigan, a Barrayaran commander, that is fighting his own internal political battle with members of his planet’s ruling elite. Together they walk a knife’s edge of loyalty, subterfuge, and honor while the fate of planets hangs in the balance.

There is a lot going for this book. Great action sequences, large scale interplanetary strategy, traitors, and spies, but at the heart what wins the day is the relationship between Naismith and Vorkosigan. Bujold expertly writes the “human” factor. While the heavens may be in chaos, she makes sure to keep the story honed in on the thoughts and feelings of her main characters. This is why the series is so well liked. You relate to the characters. You become enmeshed with their lives and hope for their good. Sure there are many well crafted meta-storylines creating the high drama, but it’s the drama of the heart that makes this book a winner.

Shards of Honor is not the best book in the series, but it’s a great introduction. Fast paced, witty, and grand in scope, I bet you, like me, will have to read more.

6.5 stars out of 10

Count me as someone unashamed to read YA, but one of but one of the things I love best about this multi-planet, clashing cultures, space opera is that its main character is a mature, take-it-as-it-comes thirty-something not an excitable, inexperienced sixteen. Cordelia Naismith is the captain of a survey ship from the peaceable, democratic Beta Colony, where the climate is harsh and desert-like. Her expedition is attacked by a military group from the warlike Barrayar planet which is lush with vegetation and ruled by an emperor. Cordelia makes sure most of her crew escapes the attack, but she is left behind and taken prisoner. Sort of.

Lord Aral Vorkosigan is supposed to be the leader of the Barrayaran military mission, but there's been a mutiny so he and Cordelia are partners as much as they are adversaries, hiking towards a supply base with a badly injured crew member Cordelia refuses to leave behind. Cordelia's stand on this is a point of honor that surprises and ultimately impresses Vorkosigan, and though the worlds they come from couldn't be more different in culture, government, or climate, Cordelia comes to appreciate some of his foreign ways of doing things as well. Being older doesn't mean these two don't have a lot to learn from each other, but they both have a strong sense of duty which complicates their growing mutual attraction since they come from warring planets.

With its balance of action, character development, and sci-fi coolness Shards of Honor engaged me completely. This is my second audiobook (thank you local library), and while I think it would be easier to keep track of minor characters with an old fashioned book in my hand, I remain thrilled that I can "read" while commuting.

With a feisty, complex heroine and a stalwart hero, this book is fun and engaging. It read more like a sci-fi romance, which I found amusing, consider I didn’t realize the genre stretched by to the late 80s/early 90s. As for the story, it’s lovely, with just the write about of romance, science, action, and adventure. It was a bit darker than I anticipated, in particular how it did not shy away from the realities of war. The only part the was hard for me what the romance, actually – it happened too quickly for my taste, but that’s my only true complete about the story
As for the short story included, it was superb. One of the best I’ve read in a long time.

A man and a women from worlds in opposition. In their initial meeting, stranded on a survey world, Lord Aral Vorkosigan and Captain Cordelia Naismith are are obliged to work together to survive. Their circumstances allow them to see each other as more than enemies.

But after they return to their own worlds, the war continues. Cordelia goes back to being a scientist while Aral is enmeshed in the politics of an empire who's leadership is in turmoil. But as fate would have it, they are reunited just before the determinative battle of the war.

Shards of Honor is part romance and part action. On the romance side, Aral and Cordelia are characters that are rare in today's novels - mature adults. They have already lived a full lives and have true experiences to draw. Watching the romance develop between two commonsensical people such as Aral and Cordelia was half the enjoyment.

Also key to enjoyment was witnessing Aral and Cordelia maintain their own honor in the face of much contention. Aral experiences turmoil when he contrives to end the war, save lives and salvage the Empire - in a most unpatriotic way. After the war, Cordelia's own world brands Aral a butcher. She struggles to get back to her routine while she remains true to Aral, who she has come to love and respect.

In this book, the writing is informal, yet direct and not overrun with descriptive paragraphs. Most of the exposition is done via smart dialog. After I had finished the book, I realized there was no language that one could consider offensive. First published in 1986, I supposed that was more common for the time. I really enjoyed this style of writing.

To put it simply, smart characters and a great plot are the basis of a moving story of romance and Shards of Honor.

When I read science fiction, I feel as though I am a step behind. Although I've always (or for as long as I can remember) read fantasy, I don't have that legacy with science fiction. I don't know when a plot twist or technology has been done to death, because I haven't read that widely in the genre. So how do I know which books to pick up? I trust my fellow readers. Anastasia at Birdbrained Book Blog pointed me in the direction of Lois McMaster Bujold's Shards of Honor (published in 1986), the first in the Vorkosigan saga, and I downloaded it on the spot.

Commander Naismith is on a biological survey of an uninhabited planet when her expedition is attacked by the dreaded Barrayarans. This warrior empire is famous for its atrocities, and it appears that there's little Cordelia will be able to do to help her Betan crew, or herself, when she is taken prisoner by one of Barrayar's most lethal fighters, Lord Vorkosigan. What follows is a story of wartime adventure, heroics, honor and politics, with a thread of romance running throughout.

Cordelia is the heroine of this story, without a doubt. Her fierce determination to do her duty is the thing that propels her through the story and into the reader's good graces. She is intelligent and clear-headed, and she's been placed in an impossible situation where she must make something out of an array of bad choices. Instead of putting anyone else in danger, she puts herself in that position - not without flinching - with due consideration and courage. It's this streak of honor that makes her such a good leader, and it's also what draws Lord Vorkosigan (who is not as terrible as his reputation suggests) to her.

Of course, there is more to Lord Vorkosigan meets the eye - he's a very complicated man, and he has a lot of enemies. After the initial `survival' bit at the start of the book, Vorkosigan and Naismith spend a lot of time avoiding politics, playing with politics, and (of course) avoiding death. This is all going on while each is independently struggling with command, responsibilities, loyalties and a growing romantic relationship. It's impressive that the plot coexists with great characterization and the trappings of sci-fi - that it works is a testament to Bujold's skill. I'm excited to read the next in the series.

Oh, and this quote made my sappy little heart happy. I wrote it down on a scrap of paper to remember later:

"You're asking me to judge you?"
"Someone must."
"I'm sorry. I can love you. I can grieve for you, or with you. I can share your pain. But I cannot judge you."

Recommended for: fans of sci-fi romance, those who enjoyed Garth Nix's A Confusion of Princes or Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, and anyone ready for a space adventure featuring two stubborn, honorable characters caught in a no-win situation.

(review originally posted at: [...]

I borrowed the hardback and audio CD from the library.

This book was well-written and I do recommend it to sci-fi buffs. That is why it gets the fours stars. I did stay interested in the plot until the end.

<spoiler>Though it would seem that it is my kind of book with a strong-ish fem, that wasn't so. It seems that the main character is female, in the end she has given up all her own identity for the man. How futuristic is this? Most sci-fi readers are used to this. But this woman had a career and inner strength and honor. She deserved more than the treatment given to her by both societies. She deserved more than to end up at the side of the new Emperor saying a line or two. For these reasons I gave the story one less star. Like I said, it's personal. Most people overlook these things.</spoiler>

Because the font and spacing were so small I had to use the page magnifier and that grew cumbersome and made me dizzy. Luckily I also borrowed the CD from the library. At least I had that to listen to, it help me track the story. Grover Gardner was the reader. Okay, here's a question and I may feel foolish when I hear the answer, but what is the difference between a reader and a narrator? Anyway, Grover Gardner's reading left a lot to be desired. There was no differentiating characters. He'd be great for reading for old-timie radio dramas or acting in those old black and white movies, but honestly, I would have preferred just my Kindle as I could have fixed the font and had the text-to-speech read with as much emotion.

It would seem that I hated this story but I didn't. I am actually glad to have read it and feel inclined to read more in the series. As I said at the beginning it felt like those old sci-fi books I used to get lost in as a teen. The story kept me so interested that I didn't get much else done in the last couple days but read. So I am sure others will love it even more than I.

Shards of Honor (1986) is the first SF novel in the Vorkosigan series. By internal chronology, this is the second work in the sequence after Falling Free. It starts on an unsettled planet in a newly explored star system.

In this novel, Cordelia Naismith is a Betan and a Commander in the Astronomical Survey. She is commanding the Survey Ship Rene Magritte on a routine scan of an unexplored planet. She is down on the planet with the survey party.

Reg Rosemont is a Betan and a Lieutenant in the Astronomical Survey. He commands the survey party on the Rene Magritte and is also on the planet.

Dr. Ullery is a Betan officer and second in command of the survey party. He is on the planet with the survey party.

Stuben is a Betan and a Lieutenant in the Astronomical Survey. He is chief zoologist in the survey party and commands the Rene Magritte while Cordelia and Rosemont are on the planet.

Dubauer is an Ensign in the Betan Astronomical Survey. He is a botanist in the survey party.

Aral Vorkosigan is a Captain in the Barrayaran Imperial Fleet. He is commanding the warcruiser General Vorkraft. He is called the Butcher of Komarr by Betans.

In this story, Cordelia is hiking up a mountain with Dubauer. The planet is much more like Terra than is Beta. They can breathe the air without special equipment.

Dubauer is examining the ground cover and trees while Cordelia is scanning the landscape. She notices smoke arising from near the camp. Then their shuttle takes off.

They both try calling the camp, but are not answered. They return to the camp to find it ablaze. Cordelia finds the body of Rosemont in the grass. He has been shot with a nerve disrupter.

Cordelia and Dubauer search for a comm unit among the wreckage and call their ship. Stuben answers, but Ullery describes the encounter with a Barrayaran patrol. Cordelia orders them to take the Rene Magritte back to Beta and report the situation to Survey.

Then they are found by the Barrayarans. Cordelia loses consciousness. When she awakes, Vorkosigan is standing over her.

Aral had been stunned by someone in his own party. Apparently Cordelia had also been shot with a stunner. But Dubauer had been shot with a nerve disrupter.

Cordelia and Dubauer are Vorkosigan's prisoners. Dubauer is still alive, but unable to speak and having convulsions. Aral offers to cut his throat to put him out of his misery. Cordelia refuses, but gives Vorkosigan her parole.

The three of them hike two hundred kilometers to a Barrayaran supply cache. On the way, they are attacked by a group of hairy crabs and a flight of vampire balloons. When they reach the cache, Aral has to suppress a mutiny.

This tale brings Cordelia and Aral together again. They are infatuated with each other. Aral asks Cordelia to consider marrying him.

The heroine of this story reminds one of Honor Harrington. Cordelia is capable of leading personnel and commanding ships. She is also somewhat of a strategist.

Thus the parents of Miles Vorkosigan meet. The next installment in this sequence is The Warrior's Apprentice, but the sequel to this novel is Barrayar. Both this work and the sequel are included in the omnibus edition Cordelia's Honor.

Highly recommended for Bujold fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of military operations, female commanders, and a touch of romance. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

This is a fantastic albeit short book!

This is the first book in the Vorkosigan Saga, which consists of more than a dozen novels and novellas. I was first introduced to the saga by Mirror Dance (Miles Vorkosigan Adventures), the 12th in the series. I was ecstatic when I got a chance to see the earlier lives of some of the characters I'd learned about in that book.

Shards of Honor is a character-driven drama which sucks you in. The book is dramatically shorter than Mirror Dance, but still really sucks you in. I got the audiobook to listen to on my daily commute, but within a day or two found myself breaking my normal home routine to read more, and even sitting in the parking lot for a few more minutes at work, listening on breaks, and so on.

The main protagonist of this book is Cordelia Naismith, a Betan Survey officer sent to investigate a newly discovered planet. Within the first few pages, she encounters the Betan's not-quite-enemies, the Barrayarans. We follow Cordelia's adventures as she struggles through encounters with enemies who, like herself, have a mixture of good and bad, with only perhaps the balance varying from person to person. The story ranges across the galaxy, not restricted to a single setting or moment in history, much to its benefit.

Shards is well written. Bujold has a gift for narrative, both in eloquence and in creating and telling the story itself. Despite having read sci-fi for the past thirty years - and already knowing the future of some of the characters - the book did a good job of keeping me guessing. In the few cases I already knew WHAT would happen, I never knew quite when.

It was over far too quickly. Fortunately there are many more to read in the series. I've already acquired Barrayar (Vorkosigan) and look forward to starting it tomorrow!

I believe this book would be enjoyed both by sci-fi fans and by those who're just looking for a good character-driven drama. I certainly liked it!

Plot Summary: In this vintage science fiction romance, Commander Cordelia Naismith is heading up a Betan exploration on an uncharted planet when they're attacked by Barrayans. Cordelia is taken prisoner by Captain Aral Vorkosigan and they're stranded with a wounded man and no supplies. This inauspicious beginning unites two officers from different planets who are at war, and their deeply held notions of honor and duty will unite them, and drive them apart. This intergalactic story is full of action, treachery, heroism, and love.

I've been wanting to read Shards of Honor for a while now, and it was worth the wait. This is a hard book to find, unless you're willing to shell out the big bucks for a hardcopy reissue. I've been hunting for it in used book stores, in libraries, and on PaperBackSwap for several months with no success. My family took pity on me and bought me a copy for Christmas, and I'm glad they did, because this will go on my keeper shelf.

This is an intelligent science fiction story paired with a refreshingly mature romance, and it was written almost 25 years ago. It just goes to show that it's a mistake to always be chasing the latest, newest books. I can't even think of a recent sci-fi story that manages to combine all the elements I found here. It's a romance and an adventure, to be sure, but that doesn't begin to describe the complex concepts that are deftly woven into the plot. Ideas like honor and mercy, the politics behind war, psychology, and nationalism are all explored. This sounds like an epic, doesn't it? The whole story takes place in just 225 pages! It's deceptively simple and absolutely amazing.

I fell in love with Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan, both military leaders on opposite sides of an intergalactic war. After spending a harrowing week on an unknown planet together, they develop a deep respect for each other. Before they're separated, Cordelia and Aral realize they're uniquely suited to be together, but they part with no hope. Fortunately that's not the end of their story. The characters are so perceptive and smart, it's like Ms. Bujold channelled a wry Jane Austen into Cordelia, and Atticus Finch (from To Kill a Mocking Bird) into Aral.

In the excellent foreword, I learned that Shards of Honor is just the first part of a story arc that is continued in the sequel, Barrayar (Vorkosigan), which continues Cordelia's and Aral's tale. If you can find a copy of Cordelia's Honor, it contains both stories under one cover and it's available as a mass market paperback for $7.99!!! Arrrggh! What a mistake. I've been looking for the wrong book. It makes no sense to get Shards of Honor on its own. Instead, buy the affordable Cordelia's Honor (Vorkosigan Saga Omnibus: Shards of Honor / Barrayar) and get both books at once. Geez, I feel dumb right now.

The remaining books in the Vorkosigan saga focus on Cordelia and Aral's son Miles Vorkosigan, and there are at least 11 more to go. I'm adding this to my list of series if you'd like to see the complete booklist.

I was first tempted to read this series when someone on the the store fantasy forums likened it unto the FIREFLY series that was on TV several years ago.

With this first book, I really didn't see any parallels between the two, so I just tried to enjoy it on its own terms. The interactions and characters of Aral Vorkosigan and Cordelia Naismith are fun to read about. I visualized the "L"-scarred Vorkosigan as Juergen Prochnow (you may remember him from the first DUNE movie), which seemed rather fitting.

Also refreshing was the stronger emphasis on character and the slow romantic buildup between the two main characters. There are no sex scenes, but the sexual tension between the two is apparent on almost every page.

Another fun character is Bothari. What he lacks in words he makes up for with his actions.

The deception and treachery that lurks the pages of this book make for some interesting reading as well, but I found it hard to follow all the implications. This being Bujold's first novel, I felt she was perhaps trying a little too hard to make her first novel "complex" enough. I also felt there was too much dialogue and not enough narrative and descriptive detail. The characters are easy to visualize . . . the planets, environments, buildings and technology less so.

But despite those few nitpickings I still found this to be an enjoyable read and I am curious and eager to discover what the future holds for Aral and Cordelia.

I do not like sci-fi. I don't like to read it, watch videos or have anything to do with it. I've never even seen StarWars!

However my new husband introduced me to the Vorkosigan series when we married in 2006.

I absolutely fell in love with Cordelia, Aral and Miles. Ms McMasters has brought these three diverse characters to such vivid life, I almost expect to hear them coming in the door any minute.
I highly recommend the whole series. Cordelia's Honor is my favorite, followed by the hysterical A Civil Campaign.
I've re-read the entire series at least once a year since 2006, and buy each new addition in hardback as soon as it's available. Now I'm going back and replacing the tattered original paperbacks with hardbacks.

Thank you, Ms McMasters for many hours of enjoyment.

Commander Cordelia Naismith's science expedition runs up against something the Betans did not expect: a landing party from the militaristic planet Barrayar. After ordering her ship to make a run for home, Cordelia finds herself stranded on the survey planet's surface with her one surviving crewman rendered mindless and one of the enemy as her only other companion. Captain Aral Vorkosigan is stranded, too, because his crew has mutinied. Or have they? In any case, he knows the way to a supply cache that is the only hope for all three humans. His culture and Cordelia's could hardly be more different. Yet as they are forced to depend on each other for survival, trust starts to grow - and so does mutual attraction.

That's the start of SHARDS OF HONOR, the first book in this author's award-winning Vorkosigan series. I've read two of the other books, one of which was this novel's sequel, BARRAYAR; and SHARDS OF HONOR more than fulfilled my high expectations for it. The differences between Beta and Barrayar intrigued me just as much here as they did in the later books, and the characters came to life as they grappled with those differences and also discovered their basic human similarities. A terrific read that not only held me riveted, but made me chuckle fairly often, too. Which probably means my sense of humor is just as wry as Cordelia's.

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of 2005 EPPIE winner REGS

While I don’t like that one of my favourite aspects of the book is given away on the blurb (and fair enough, as it happens so quickly), I was quickly lost in the book – to the point where I read it slowly as I didn’t want it to be over. I love the term ‘heart-hunger’ – I find it such a perfect term for something I’ve understood for so long but never known what to call it (though I assume German or Japanese has a perfect word for it).

What immediately struck me about this book is how real the struggle is. I hate reading how someone gets shot but bravely struggles on to save the day. In this we see a leg wound and that it turns septic and how debilitating it really is. Realism! Finally!

The book also doesn’t entirely follow a blow by blow account of our main characters. We don’t meet our characters until they have quite a depth of experience behind them (how rare it is to meet characters who are in their 30s/40s when we first meet them), and initially we only see scenes where they run into each other – leaving gaps of a few months between what we know of them.

What I love in this book is how excellent Bujold’s turns of phrase are. ‘About eight ration packs later’ is also an excellent way to mark the passage of time, which would be pretty damn impossible without a sun or timepiece to keep track otherwise. And the following quote, from the very back of the book (in a part that was once a short story but was later added here), said by a woman who retrieves corpses from the battlefield.

‘Think of all the work he represents on somebody’s part. Nine months of pregnancy, childbirth, two years of diapering, and that’s just the beginning. Tens of thousands of meals, thousands of bedtime stories, years of school. Dozens of teachers. And all that military training, too. A lot of people went into making him.’

Overall I’m both glad and annoyed I waited this long to read this. Glad, because I feel I appreciate them more after knowing a bit more of the field and seeing how clever Bujold was and is, and also how you can see her influence in more recent work… and annoyed I could have had these awesome characters in my mind so long ago.

I blame the store[.com] for this. Bujold kept coming up in my recommendations based on other authors I had been buying, so I decided to take a look. The result was me reading all of the Vorkosigan series in about two weeks. Life had to go on hold.
Anyway, complaints aside, I am happy to report it was worth the time. I suppose this is the first novel in the Vorkosigan saga as it is the first time we actually meet a Vorkosigan (being the family name of the main protagonists of the series). It doesn't star Miles Vorkosigan however, who is the "star" of the series if you like, but rather his parents and their first meeting.
Bujold stated in one of her afterwords that she aimed for the books to stand alone and they all do that admirably, while also building an interesting universe for her to play with as a collection. This one certainly does and is a pleasing mix of all the great stuff that goes into SF - the whole "space opera" mix of battle and romance that the best of it still boils down to.
Cordelia Naismith is Captain of a survey spaceship for the Beta colony, an advanced technological democracy in the "Bujoldiverse". Exploring a new planet, her party runs afoul of a group of thugs from the fuedal planet Barrayar who are apparently doing the same thing and want to make sure they get the point across that they were there first. Of course, being backward and aggresive there is treason afoot, and the Barrayaran captain, Aral Vorkosigan, is abandoned by bad elements in his crew. The rest of the book is largely about their relationship and the beginning of the liberalisation of the Barrayaran culture that is a theme to the whole series, and I wouldn't want to spoil it for you.

This is the starting point of the celebrated Miles Vorkosigan series, now running to about 15 total books, which has become one of the most successful in the SF field, with multiple Hugo and Nebula awards.
The current story is actually set years before Miles is born, and sets the story up by showing how his parents, Aral Vorkosigan and Cordelia Naismith, meet, originally as enemies, when Cordelia is captured by Aral on a recently discovered world that both Vorkosigan's homeworld of Barrayar and Naismith's Beta Colony would like to lay claim to.
The story moves on several levels at once, and manages to succeed on all of them. The SF adventure, the political/military drama, and the romance each work without stepping on the other's toes. Aral Vorkosigan is a deeply conflicted character, and through his own troubles we get an introduction to the conflicts and contradictions of Barrayar, which will shape so much of the life of Miles Vorkosigan. (Bujold is impressively skilled at creating distinctive and interesting societies to set her stories in; she doesn't get nearly the credit she deserves for this.) The scenes set on Beta Colony even introduce a touch of humor and political satire.
A small flaw is that the story reaches its dramatic conclusion a bit too long before it actually ends; there is a fairly lengthy chunk at the end which isn't really necessary for this story but is critical to set up events in the sequels. The book is relatively short and moves at a very fast clip until the end, so this shouldn't spoil your pleasure.

I got into Bujold's Vorkosigan series right after Barrayar. I think Shards of Honor was out of print at that time, but I had to have it and it was worth the search.

Bujold isn't just a writer, she's a poet and philosopher. Shards of Honor is my favorite of the Vorkosigan series because first and foremost--it's a love story. Two middle-aged people, caught in a war they never wanted, fighting for opposite sides, both with issues--acting true to themselves and their personal honor. This book has NO compromises, no fake notes. It was the first book she ever wrote, and in my opinion, the best.

There are no funny parts. Cordelia suffers a "breakdown" on stage during the welcome home ceremonies after returning from the war. Beta Colony misinterprets everything she says, and her mother sells her out for her own good. The war and contact with the "enemy" have changed her, and she can't go home. She has fallen in love with a man who all the civilized worlds consider an amoral killer--when Aral is simply a soldier doing the "right thing" for a government who knows his value as a strategist, but hates his scruples. It's not sci-fi. It's not romance. It transcends both genres to become "more". It's all about love and redemption, and doing the right thing when everything is colored in shades of gray.

Series fiction has requirements very different from the single novel, or even multiple books forming one long story such as Tolkien's Ring Trilogy. The multi-book single storyline can be - probably is - so self-referential you have to read every book in the series, in order, to understand what's happening in later books. But the author of a true open-ended series like Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan novels knows readers may start with any book in the series, and read them in utterly random order. Thus, while each book must build on, and ideally add to and enrich what's come before, it must also be self-contained and not require having read any other book in the series to enjoy. Bujold has always been aware of this, thus for new readers interested in her tales of Miles Vorkosigan, it's not really necessary to begin with Shards of Honor. On the other hand, if you are a brand-new reader to this series, why NOT start at the beginning? (Bujold's novel Falling Free takes place within the same fictional universe but, being set approximately 200 years before Miles' birth, features none of the series' familiar characters. Eventually you'll want to read Falling Free, but it doesn't matter when; you can insert it into your Bujold reading experience anytime.)

Shards of Honor is Bujold's first novel (not merely the first novel she ever sold, but the first she ever wrote, thus disproving the axiom, "All first novels are unsaleable trash"). She begins writing it in December 1982. In mid-'83, having worked through the Shards material and about a third into what would eventually become Barrayar, Bujold realizes her manuscript is becoming too long to submit as one book (the "wisdom" at the time being a thin manuscript is more likely to be picked off the slush pile than a thick one). Bujold finds a logical breaking point for her tale (Cordelia's arrival on Barrayar), puts it in final draft form, and mothballs the partially finished "rest of the story."

Bujold submits Shards and begins working on another book, The Warrior's Apprentice. She's about halfway through that when Shards comes back rejected with an editorial suggestion she tighten it up. She finishes Warrior's, then cuts about 80 pages out of Shards, giving her two good unpublished novels. In 1985, around the time she finishes her third novel, Ethan of Athos, Warrior's makes it over the transom at Baen, and suddenly she goes from unpublished wannabe to successful novelist with three books (Shards, Warrior's, Ethan) SOLD. Shards is published in 1986.

Shards of Honor stars Captain Cordelia Naismith, commander of a survey team for the Betan Expeditionary Force, and Captain Aral Vorkosigan, victim of a mutiny on his Barrayaran warship. Both stranded on an unexplored alien planet, officers on opposite sides of the Betan-Barrayaran War, they reach an agreement of honor: they will trust and rely on each other for survival as they travel across a planet seemingly intent on throwing all its resources into killing them before they can reach Aral's ship. And then there's the little problem of overcoming the mutineers.... In the process of their adventures, Cordelia and Aral fall in love.

This story is told from Cordelia's viewpoint (as is the novel completing this particular story arc, Barrayar). Thereafter in the series Miles, with very few exceptions, takes center stage. Never again will Cordelia be the main character. But for these two books she emerges as one of the most well-realized, loving and vulnerable but still tough-as-nails female SF protagonists ever.

The next book in the series you'll want to read is Barrayar, or you can read Cordelia's Honor, which collects the entire story arc, Shards of Honor and Barrayar, between the same covers.

Shards of Honor is, chronologically, the first book in the Miles Vorkosigan series. In fact, Miles isn't even in it. It's the first book of two that explore the character of Cordelia Naismith, Miles' mother. It's also the first book that Lois McMaster Bujold ever wrote, though it's not the first published. As she explains in the afterword to Cordelia's Honor (the compilation of both Shards of Honor and Barrayar), this book was written first and submitted, rejected a few times, and then her first published book, Warrior's Apprentice, was accepted by Baen publishing. Thus, Shards was published almost as a prequel to a series that she had already started.
So how is Shards? It's very, very good, especially for a first novel. Cordelia Naismith is on a survey mission for her home planet, Beta, when her landing party (to borrow a phrase from Star Trek) is ambushed and almost completely wiped out by a Barrayaran force that is using the planet as a supply depot. Cordelia is captured by Captain Aral Vorkosigan, the commander of the Barrayarans. However, things aren't quite what they seem, as Vorkosigan's crew seems to be divided between loyalty to him and mutineers. Vorkosigan was left for dead by the mutineers, and so he and Cordelia (along with an injured member of Cordelia's team, who's mind has been blown away by a Barrayaran weapon) have to make their way to the supply depot. The mutineers are the ones who wiped out Cordelia's crew, as Vorkosigan is too honourable a man to do something like that. She finds herself being drawn to him during the many days of their journey, and a bond develops between them. Cordelia ends up helping Aral in dealing with his crew.
Once this section of the book is over, they separate, but events transpire to bring them together again, and their bond grows. The book details the story of how their relationship develops, deepening into a love that is a lot more mature than relationships are sometimes portrayed in science fiction. Usually, the heroes that get involved in romances are very young, where sex is the most important thing. The romances seem very physical. That doesn't happen in this relationship, though, as both parties are drawn to the mind of the other person, their honour and how they react to people. It was very refreshing.
The book also shows how, even as a Betan and not a Barrayaran, she gets involved in Barrayaran politics. The political intrigue in this book is very interesting. Clashes of honour make the character interaction fabulous. Cordelia has problems at home based on her captivity. She can't tell anybody what really happened when she was captured as it would make Vorkosigan's political life very difficult. So she takes that difficulty on herself instead. All of the main characters are well-rounded, with valid reasons for doing what they do, even if it's obvious that their actions will cause themselves grief. The sheer inevitability of the events, and how the characters deal with them, make this a great book.
If you are a regular follower of the Vorkosigan series, then this book (and it's companion, Barrayar), make an interesting look into the history of the Vorkosigan family. A lot of the events that have been referred to in the series are finally shown here. It's nice seeing how Cordelia and Aral's relationship developed, considering how set in stone they are now. The love that has always been visible between them finally has a genesis. It's very cool to look at this and see how our favourite characters became who they are now.
It's hard to believe that this was Bujold's first book. While the prose isn't the most wonderful thing, it stands high above the usual first-timer's writing. Some of the military aspects of the novel are a bit unbelievable, but that has gotten better over time as she continues the series. What you will get in this one are great characters in a science-fiction setting. It really is a romance, though, even though it doesn't really have the trappings of one (there is no bodice-ripping, for one thing). Even if romances turn you off, you should enjoy this, though. It is intelligent sci-fi.

I'd never heard of Bujold and bought this upon another reviewers recommendation. Excellent read. Great character development while not skimping on the military science fiction. Only 225 pages but fleshes out an entire universe filled with warring races, duty, honor and strategy. Shows what a great author can accomplish. Cordelia is a tremendous protagonist for this genre. Great read and obviously the start of an addiction! Highly recommended.

Shards of Honor is the first book in Bujold's critically acclaimed and just plain brilliant Vorkosigan series. Shards tells the story of Captain Cordelia Naismith and Admiral Aral Vorkosigan, two of my favorite characters of all time. Cordelia is dry-witted, clever and ridiculously brave. Vorkosigan is charming, broody and compelling as all hell.

The plot of this story is also complicated, riveting and full of tension, as Cordelia and Vorkosigan are from two races, the Betans and the Barrayarans, who are circling closer and closer to a war over the jump gates on the planet Escobar. Beta Colony is an ally of Escobar, and the Barrayarans are hoping to conquer the planet and add to their budding empire. Culturally, these two characters are further at odds, because Beta Colony represents the leaders in all technological advancement as well as a rather free cultural atmosphere with regards to sex, marriage and breeding. Barrayar is a "backwater hole" just barely pulling itself into the space-age. Slow to accept new advancements, and slower still to accept outsiders or others, the tradition based, old world culture of Barrayar is about as far as you can get from Beta Colony.

At the start of the story, Vorkosigan and Cordelia find themselves unlikely allies when they are stranded together on a hostile planet with blood sucking air jelly-thingies, giant crab-like predators, and a pack of hostile military men who might or might not be trying to kill their commander: Vorkosigan. The plot only thickens when Barrayar goes to war with Escobar, and so, by extension, Beta Colony. Cordelia finds herself on the opposite side of the war from the man she's grown to love, and both of them must deal with the consequences and fall out of that.

I freaking love this book. So much. The characters are rich and complicated with real emotions and believable motivations. And the romance is by turns poignant, sweet and almost searing in its emotional intensity. Some people criticize the "love at first sight" element of this book, but it's never bothered me. Cordelia is pretty freaking awesome, and so is Vorkosigan. I was so swept up in this book the first time I read it that this never bothered me. And over my many rereads of this book and the rest of the series I have never questioned the depth of Vorkosigan and Cordelia's attachment to each other. As Cordelia puts it while trying to explain the attraction to her mother:

"So what does the man have anyway?"

"I don't know. The virtues of his vices, perhaps. Courage. Strength. Energy. He could run me into the ground any day. He has power over people. Not leadership, exactly, although there's that too. They either worship him or hate his guts. The strangest man I ever met did both at the same time. But nobody falls asleep when he's around."

"And which category do you fall in, Cordelia?" asked her mother, bemused.

"Well, I don't hate him. Can't say as I worship him, either. She paused a long time, and looked up to meet her mother's eyes squarely. "But when he's cut, I bleed."

"Oh..."

I also think one of Bujold's particular strengths is her world-building, and this book is certainly no exception. I love how she captures the complexities of both cultures and makes it clear right from the start how in opposition they are to each other with regards to, well, everything! Social dynamics, gender equality, reproductive rights, even the recognition of basic authority in the command structure. Brilliant. I also love how she paints the contradictions in Barrayar society, how the grandeur and antiquity of the place can be by turns fascinating and horrifying.

I can't really say enough good stuff about this book. I think it works on every level. The characters are well-drawn and compelling. The plot is fast-paced, intricate and one hell of an emotional ride. The world-building is well thought out, nicely detailed and fascinating. I think it's easy to see why this is one of the classics of science fiction romance, and if you haven't read it yet... what are you waiting for?! :D

Grade: A+

I'd never heard of Bujold and bought this upon another reviewers recommendation. Excellent read. Great character development while not skimping on the military science fiction. Only 225 pages but fleshes out an entire universe filled with warring races, duty, honor and strategy. Shows what a great author can accomplish. Cordelia is a tremendous protagonist for this genre. Great read and obviously the start of an addiction! Highly recommended.

Shards of Honor is the first book in Bujold's critically acclaimed and just plain brilliant Vorkosigan series. Shards tells the story of Captain Cordelia Naismith and Admiral Aral Vorkosigan, two of my favorite characters of all time. Cordelia is dry-witted, clever and ridiculously brave. Vorkosigan is charming, broody and compelling as all hell.

The plot of this story is also complicated, riveting and full of tension, as Cordelia and Vorkosigan are from two races, the Betans and the Barrayarans, who are circling closer and closer to a war over the jump gates on the planet Escobar. Beta Colony is an ally of Escobar, and the Barrayarans are hoping to conquer the planet and add to their budding empire. Culturally, these two characters are further at odds, because Beta Colony represents the leaders in all technological advancement as well as a rather free cultural atmosphere with regards to sex, marriage and breeding. Barrayar is a "backwater hole" just barely pulling itself into the space-age. Slow to accept new advancements, and slower still to accept outsiders or others, the tradition based, old world culture of Barrayar is about as far as you can get from Beta Colony.

At the start of the story, Vorkosigan and Cordelia find themselves unlikely allies when they are stranded together on a hostile planet with blood sucking air jelly-thingies, giant crab-like predators, and a pack of hostile military men who might or might not be trying to kill their commander: Vorkosigan. The plot only thickens when Barrayar goes to war with Escobar, and so, by extension, Beta Colony. Cordelia finds herself on the opposite side of the war from the man she's grown to love, and both of them must deal with the consequences and fall out of that.

I freaking love this book. So much. The characters are rich and complicated with real emotions and believable motivations. And the romance is by turns poignant, sweet and almost searing in its emotional intensity. Some people criticize the "love at first sight" element of this book, but it's never bothered me. Cordelia is pretty freaking awesome, and so is Vorkosigan. I was so swept up in this book the first time I read it that this never bothered me. And over my many rereads of this book and the rest of the series I have never questioned the depth of Vorkosigan and Cordelia's attachment to each other. As Cordelia puts it while trying to explain the attraction to her mother:

"So what does the man have anyway?"

"I don't know. The virtues of his vices, perhaps. Courage. Strength. Energy. He could run me into the ground any day. He has power over people. Not leadership, exactly, although there's that too. They either worship him or hate his guts. The strangest man I ever met did both at the same time. But nobody falls asleep when he's around."

"And which category do you fall in, Cordelia?" asked her mother, bemused.

"Well, I don't hate him. Can't say as I worship him, either. She paused a long time, and looked up to meet her mother's eyes squarely. "But when he's cut, I bleed."

"Oh..."

I also think one of Bujold's particular strengths is her world-building, and this book is certainly no exception. I love how she captures the complexities of both cultures and makes it clear right from the start how in opposition they are to each other with regards to, well, everything! Social dynamics, gender equality, reproductive rights, even the recognition of basic authority in the command structure. Brilliant. I also love how she paints the contradictions in Barrayar society, how the grandeur and antiquity of the place can be by turns fascinating and horrifying.

I can't really say enough good stuff about this book. I think it works on every level. The characters are well-drawn and compelling. The plot is fast-paced, intricate and one hell of an emotional ride. The world-building is well thought out, nicely detailed and fascinating. I think it's easy to see why this is one of the classics of science fiction romance, and if you haven't read it yet... what are you waiting for?! :D

Grade: A+

Clocking in at just over 200 pages, this is one of the slimmer novels I've read in a while. It is, however, exactly the length it needs to be. The book covers three major plot points in exactly the depth, I felt, was required and does so without lowering any standards.I've never read Bujold before but she claims to be a character driven author and I felt like this book showed that. Where she could have spent pages describing a space battle that was occurring she chose to instead describe the relationships if the characters relevant to the story. Where she could have spent hundreds of words talking about a holding cell or everything the character was thinking, doing or saying, she let it pass as an ellipsis. This book made me really respect her writing style and interested to consume more material from her.

I was introduced to Lois McMaster Bujold's work through her fantasy novels "The Curse of Chalion" and "Paladin Of Souls", both of which deserve ten stars at least. Having devoured those books (not literally) I decided to read some other stuff by her - this time in the Science Fiction genre. My library kindly offered up "Shards of Honour" and what a brilliant read it was.

Most fortuitously, I now discover I happened upon the initial instalment of what has become a whole series of books (16 to date) in the Miles Vorkosigan series (I've bought the rest and am working my way through them. I liked this first one that much!) But don't worry that this book is incomplete on its own - it isn't. Although it's the scene-setter for a lot of other books it works on its own as a story of politics, war, human nature, personality and love.

Cordelia Naismith is the captain of a Survey ship that is checking out a new planet. She's off in the undergrowth with her botanist when her base camp is attacked and her colleagues flee in the shuttle. When going back to investigate Cordelia and her companion are attacked and she loses consciousness. When she wakes up, there is a soldier guarding her.

And from this point the story diverges from a basic "heroine rescues herself from tricky situation" type story. Cordelia and her 'captor', who says he is Captain Aral Vorkosigan, have to make a journey 200kms across this unknown and, as it turns out, rather dangerous planet in order to find a cache of stores and a way for Vorkosigan to communicate with his ship. It appears that there has been a mutiny in his command and he was knocked out and left on the surface of the planet. Cordelia has to accept his help in making their way to the cache and also with her botanist who was badly injured in the attack by Vorkosigan's colleagues, the Barrayarans. The Barrayarans are known as a warlike and rather uncivilised planet compared to Cordelia's Betans and she knows that Vorkosigan has the nickname "The Butcher of Komarr" from the story that he killed all the prisoners of another planet, Komarr, after they surrendered.

But nothing is as it seems - for Cordelia, and especially not in Barrayaran politics. In their six day journey they come to understand something of each other, and the fact that they both have a sense of honour that, although different, is complementary. Cordelia is eventually rescued from her prisoner status on Vorkosigan's ship by some of her Betan colleagues, but the dividing line of "goodies" and "baddies" is no longer clear. Especially after Vorkosigan proposes marriage to her.

The story continues with them meeting again - in the middle of a war - and Cordelia's brush with the evil side of Barrayaran culture. Once again she is returned to Beta Colony, but now she no longer fits there, and in fact discovers the bad side of her planet that cannot understand the Barrayarans and cannot allow them redeeming features. Cordelia has to escape her own people to be reunited with Vorkosigan. The enemy has become her home.

What's so powerful about this book is that although the writing is light and the story moves on with pace, there is great depth to the characters. You feel like you really get to know them, understand them, understand what they see in each other, and understand why neither of them is at home with their planet because they are intelligent enough to see beyond the obvious to the disadvantages of both of their ways of life. The love affair side is understated but very well done at that, and the politics is explained in such a way that it works well in the story and is actually interesting. No mean feat!

Some of the characters in this story appear in the others, particularly Cordelia and Vorkosigan, and the book "Barrayar" is the direct sequel to this and deals further with Cordelia, Aral Vorkosigan and their son Miles (the rest of the books are mostly set 20-30 years after the events in this book).

It's a great start to an excellent series, and yet worth reading in its own right - over and over again.

Rating System:
1 star = abysmal; some books deserve to be forgotten
2 star = poor; a total waste of time
3 star = good; worth the effort
4 star = very good; what writing should be
5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others
STORY: Cordelia Naismith meets Lord Aral Vorkosaigan while on opposite sides of the war. In the midst of political pressures and physical dangers, they dare to fall in love with each other while trying to avoid their destiny.
MY FEEDBACK:
I picked this up because so many other books in this series have won the Hugo and/or Nebula. This book definitely sets the stage for what is to come: high political intrigue and assassinations; dangers that require bravery and courage; and events to challenge friendships and loyalty; and of course some romance. This book has all these in one sense or another.
The friendship and loyalty of characters really stands out and makes you really love the character of Aral Vorkosaigan. This is also an intelligent story, where solutions are not only resolved by chance or brute force but clever use of what resources are at hand. It gave me the grand and subtle pleasantness I had when reading Asimov's Foundation series. It had just enough science in the fiction to be appreciated and it had just the right touch of romance so as not to turn some of us testosterone males off to the story. I really enjoyed this story and found it a very easy read.

This is one of the funniest "romance" novels ever written and one of the most serious science fiction novels ever penned. Cordelia charms partly because she is civilized, sympathetic and the very embodiment of feminine virtues, but she has a capacity for quick thought and faster action that confounds her enemies and keeps the reader breathless with laughter and excitement.

Cordelia and her "love interest" Aral Vorkosigan meet just as their different planets of origin go to war. Cordelia helps Aral foil a mutiny and then, bound by duty, shoots out the weapons console on Aral's ship and gets her own unarmed survey vessel home. She plays a critical role in the war that follows and mets Aral again, this time as a prisoner of war aboard the flagship. In the fog of love and war, it is friendly fire that does the most damage.

The funniest scene is when Cordelia, suffering from post-tramatic stress syndrome caused by maladroit psychologists, kicks the President in the groin as he tries to present a medal to her.

Decent setting, great characters, and great writing make this book a must read. Shards of Honor takes us on a journey of intrigue, political conflict and espionage as cultures clash, villains are exposed and kindred spirits fall in love.

Bujold is definitely on of the great authors of this age, and this book is the start of a great series. Four stars is due to the simplicity of setting, and the above average but not great dialogue, and decent but not great plot. Barrayar, the second book in this series, improves upon the groundwork laid in this series. But, these are some of best characters I have ever read about, and the book is extremely well written. So well written, that the plot and setting, which are average seem so much better due to the writing style. You want to know what happens next because you care.

It is infectious.

So, this is the first book I highly recommend, while still giving it four stars. Please read this book.

Although this is definitely science-fiction, it has the feel of a romantic but adventurous best seller. If you strip it to the bones, you'll find a story of a woman falling in love with an enemy commander. However, that would make it sound like a woman's book. It's also about a man torn between duty as a military officer and his sense of honor as a human being, and that makes it a man's book.
As you'll see in the other reviews, this tells the story of Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan, eventual parents of Miles Vorkosigan who becomes the main character of the series. However, this covers the beginning, before Miles.
It begins with the attack on an astronomical survey team which has the effect of most members fleeing off planet. Cordelia Naismith and her botanist, who is attacked and left helpless and senseless, are captured by Aral Vorkosigan who's been abandoned by a group of mutineers. Forced to trust each other to survive, they predictably fall in love, but their separate allegainces cause considerable complications. There are space battles, political conflicts and bloodshed enough for the adventure fan and emotional situations enough for a romance fan.
It's told from Cordelia's viewpoint, but don't let that scare away any men. There's plenty of action here, and there's intrigue. There's keen insight into opposing viewpoints of conflict situations. We're shown both the Betan perspective and the Barrayaran perspective, and we learn that the truth of a conflict lies between the two perspectives, not from one alone.
There's much more here. I recommend you read it for yourself.

Shards of Honour is one of those incredible books that is almost completely unknown outside of the sci-fi genre. This is a loss to the people who think that sci-fi consists of nothing more than strange aliens, ray guns, and sex in outer space.
Lois McMaster Bujold has the amazing talent of mixing characters and science and fiction in exactly the proper amounts. Cordelia Naismith is an astrocartographer from Beta Colony, heading a company of scientific prima donnas on an expedition to map out and catalog flora and fauna on a newly discovered planet. Sounds simple enough, right? Unfortunately Cordelia wasn't expecting to be ambushed by a bunch of blood-thirsty, out of control Barrayarans, or to get stuck in a trek for survival with their leader, Aral Vorkosigan, better known as the Butcher of Komarr. And that's only where the trouble begins.
How do two people from distinctly different cultures survive in their situation, which I'm not going to expound on as it will spoil some of the best moments in the book? How will love survive an intergalactic war? How can someone survive after sacraficing honour, only to find that the necessary, vital result will never replace it? And, of course, the most pressing question to be asked: how much sexual energy do two people have to spare while hiking forty kilometres a day, concussed, stunned, diseased, on poor food and little sleep, alternating caring for a wounded man with avoiding becoming dinner for every carnivore within range, and with a coup to plan for at the end? Lois McMaster Bujold handles the characterisation so well that you almost forget that you don't actually know Cordelia and Aral. Highly, highly recommended.

One of the most intriguing elements of Cordelia's sojourn on the alien planet is how she deals with both hostile action and disabling injuries to her small group. Typically, most writers have the hero rescue the heroine and "save" her from danger. This is an adult, post-Terminator version of boy meets girl. Here, Cordelia seems to be not only able to deal with these issues but also maintain her humanity and sense of honor (in the most liberal definition) towards all living things, even the seemingly evil ones, like the Butcher of Komarrar. It definately changed my perception of how we as a society deal with the disabled or injured, long before I got to know Miles. The recovery sessions on the trip home raise lots of questions on how we deal with the aftermath of traumatic events and whether it's right to try to "resolve" them by talking them through.

A very nuanced and thoughtful character development, one that allows encourages repeated readings, not only for enjoyment but also for deeper consideration. This is one of the hallmarks of a fine book, where the storyline is enjoyable to mull over after you've finished, like a gourmet meal.

Once in the Betan Expeditionary Force
Cordelia Naismith, ship commander, laid a brand new course
They landed on a planet they thought uninhabited
Until an ambush left some crewmen dead
The planet had been found before by men from Barrayar
Their leader was Vorkosigan, the "Butcher of Komarr"
But his ship had betrayed him, and hers had left the ground
They helped each other out and then they found
If you cross a Betan with a Barrayaran Vor
One of them knows science and the other one knows war
Enemies they are but you can't tear the two apart
The Barrayaran steals the Betan's heart
Next time they meet is in an interstellar war
The Barrayarans make a grab to capture Escobar
Cordelia's ship is captured by Vorkosigan's, and then
They help each other out once again
If you cross a Betan with a Barrayaran Vor
One of them knows science and the other one knows war
Enemies they are but you can't tear the two apart
The Betan steals the Barrayaran's heart

There's a reason Lois McMaster Bujold has won four Hugo awards and two Nebulas, and why her fans never stop bugging her to write more books in the Vorkosigan series. They're smart, funny, moving, and incredibly entertaining. Although I've read SF my whole life, I only stumbled upon her in the last decade, which was great: it meant I could read the bulk of the books in one fell swoop and pounce with glee upon any new ones.

"Shards of Honor" and "Barrayar" -- published together in as "Cordelia's Honor" -- are *wonderful* books, AND, until Miles, their son, shows up in "The Warrior's Apprentice," you ain't seen nothin' yet. Miles is one of the great characters of fiction, any fiction, and I hope you choose to meet him.

Cordelia Naismith, commander of a survery ship from Beta Colony, is marooned on an uncharted planet when her vessel is attacked by Barryarans. Naismith is captured by Captain Aral Vorkosigan, the infamous Butcher of Komarr, and taken on a gruelling cross-country journey to his base camp. However, Vorkosigan himself is facing a prospective mutiny led by an ambitious junior officer and both Beta and Barrayar are about to find themselves on opposing sides of a bloody war.

The Vorkosigan Saga is one of the most famous ongoing works of science fiction in the United States. Comprising (so far) fifteen novels and numerous short stories and novellas, the series has won four Hugos (including three for Best Novel), been nominated for another six and has won an additional two Locus Awards and two Nebulas. The series has sold more than two million copies for Baen Books in the States, but is almost unknown in the UK. Repeated attempts to publish the series here have failed, usually due to low sales and indifferent reviews.

Reading Shards of Honour, I have to reluctantly adopt the traditional British stance of not seeing what all the fuss is about. The book starts off well enough, with an adventure storyline featuring two people (and a severely injured third) abandoned on a planet and having to work together to survive. These sequences, though indifferently written, are interesting enough and Bujold reveals an interesting amount of character through the actions of Cordelia and Aral. Unfortunately, what she doesn't do is provide them with any chemistry. When Cordelia realises she is attracted to Aral, and Aral reciprocates those feelings, it kind of comes out of nowhere. When (spoiler alert!) they are eventually rescued, the book descends into a montage of Cordelia being captured, released, re-captured, escaping, being almost-raped (the lazy go-to jeopardy trope for any female character in peril, naturally) and so on for a good hundred pages or so. Due to the stodgy prose, mechanical dialogue and somewhat stilted character reactions, none of this is particularly exciting.

Things perk up a little bit towards the end, with the revelations of the extent of a supporting character's psychological trauma and a subplot about a bunch of unborn babies in exowombs (the result of war rapes) having to be forcibly supported by the fathers who conceived them both being intriguing, but these are very minor elements that arrive rather late in the day.

Shards of Honour (**) has moments of interest, but overall is stodgily-written and unconvincingly-characterised. Still, it's a first novel and not one of the most well-regarded in the series, so I will press on with the (chronologically) second novel in the series and one of the most critically-acclaimed, Barrayar.

This is very good story. It grabbed my attention and I really enjoyed reading it.
It consists of 3 connected storieswith the same characters.
It is about love and honor and how to cope with it in real life where there is no honor and everyone deceits everyone else.

This is a one-sitting book. Do NOT start late in the evening without a pot of coffee. Cordelia Naismith and Arel Vorkosigan will hook you in a mixture of good writing, complex characterization, adventure, humor, truth, love, and honor. I have gone through an uncounted number of paperback copies of this book because either I wear them out, or the terrible friends I 'loan' it to refuse to return it. Almost every book in this series has either been nominated for, or won a prize. Be prepared to lay out the money for the rest of the series; you will be hooked. The Vorkosigan family, their friends and relatives, and even their enemies will become part of your life. Mirror Dance and Memory are outstanding for their superb writing. (Lois Bujold's website, The Bujold Nexus, is dendarii.com.)

My first encounter with Lois McMaster Bujold - since I finished Shards of Honor in a day I think I must have liked it! Very intriguing beginning to what has become, since this was written, a behemoth of a classic sci-fi series. I feel somewhat ashamed that I didn't discover it sooner and I know I have lots of catching up to do. Oh well, no time like the present!

This book stands alone, contrary to what another reviewer has said. It's essentially a romance with tons of adventure, but the characters are not the usual suspects. They are older and not very pretty, which made the romance all the more satisfying to me. Every twenty year old falls in love and does crazy things because of it, but at 40 we're all supposed to be more practical or some nonsense. The romance shares equal time with the science fiction adventure, and Bujold has interesting observations about everything from rape to redemption to psychology. If you like the characters, I recommend Barrayar as well. It continues the story, thoroughly develops the characters, and introduces Miles, Bujold's "trademark" character. However, unless you're a collector, it seems rather pointless to buy this book in hardback at such expense.

Lois McMaster Bujold sets us up with a kick ass heroine in Cordelia Naismith who is trying to survey what she thought was an uninhabited planet. Next thing we know, she is plunged into a battle with the forces of Barrayar and her life is completely changed. This is an excellent book that starts the reader down the path to the later Miles Vorkosigian novels. Bujold is a maaster of both love and war and this novel shows why science fiction when done right can rise to the level of the finest literature. Highly recommended. Read this book!

I was reading a book yesterday which made me feel like I was in an exciting new world. I absolutely fell in love with the main characters, and there were moments of excitement, true love and romance, terror, mirth and of delight. The experience was lovely.
After finishing the book, I found that I was so in love with the characters and the experience of sharing their lives, that I felt sadness, even grief over not being able to continue in the world created by this author. After all, one can only read a book once in awhile to experience it fully, because the feelings evoked, the sense of interest and excitement fades with familiarity.
After this experience, I found myself pondering what was so important to me about this book, what made this experience so positive, so important. Why did I wish with all my heart that these people lived in my world? Why did I yearn to be a part of their lives in a real way? Why did I want to be them, or know them?
As I pondered my feelings, I realized that these characters, which so fascinated me, lived with a very deep code of honor, sometimes at great personal expense. This code was an intrinsic part of the make up of their being. The ongoing struggle to live according to these deep values was exciting, and created tension and drama. Over and over again, it was evident that these characters struggled with the importance of personal honor, of keeping one's word, of living consistently by their code. Sometimes they succeeded, and sometimes they had to set aside the code, for the greater good.
Does living by a code of honor make things humorous; I don't know. Or perhaps honor gives one a way of looking at the world that facilitates laughter sometimes, and then tears as well, sometimes.
Villains were portrayed as humans that had so immersed themselves in vice that they had lost their code, and turned into monsters, albeit predictable monsters, capable of the most hideous acts of depravity against others. In fact, the ability to brutalize those that were trying to live by honor gave them pleasure and satisfaction. Personal honor was not important to these characters, except the ability to undermine it in others and enjoy their pain. Feeding their lust for physical and emotional sensation was an important motivator for them. Gratification of their egos was important, winning was important, but honor was not.
And there was one key character to whom loyalty was the only code of honor. This character was honorable within his relationships to key dominant characters, but he had no code otherwise, and could be influenced to perform horrific acts. Although his emotional make up was warped and sadistic, this character was ultimately sympathetic as he struggled with his own flaws, and tried to redeem himself from acts that are almost beyond redemption.
Although this is probably the third time I have read this book over the years, reading it this time moved me every bit as much as when I read it the first time. I wish I could forget it and then read it again. The experience was lovely, and I recommend it highly.

In Ms. Bujold's first novel, the central character, Cordelia Naismith, is on an apparently isolated planet doing a survey when she and her unit are attacked by another military force. She finds herself, at the start of this war, trapped with the local head of the enemy, Vorkosigan. They forge an understanding between each other, learning the true basis of what may be a meaningless war. Although the events in "Falling Free" technically occur a couple of centuries before "Shards of Honor," this is the novel that really begins the popular Vorkosigan series.

It's a familiar plot in SF fan fiction: good-guy female character finds herself trapped with ominous bad-guy male character, but gradually wins his respect and then passionate love. And in fact, "Shards of Honor" had its first incarnation as a tale of a Star Trek Federation officer making a forced trek with a Klingon. But instead of disappearing into a fanzine, it morphed into an original tale, spawned a new universe, and began one of the most popular SF series in recent years.
Cordelia Naismith, commanding a survey expedition from the high-tech, sophisticated world of Beta Colony, is captured by Aral Vorkosigan, a warrior lord of the backward planet Barrayar. Barrayar has just emerged from a centuries-long isolation during which its people seemed to entertain themselves largely by fighting each other. Their skills stood them in good stead when they were invaded by the imperialist Cetagandans, and they promptly brought themselves up to speed technically and launched their own program of galactic conquest.
Cordelia is an intelligent, courageous woman, and Aral is just dripping with conflicted tormented warrior angst, so their falling in love is predictable and satisfying. But this isn't a Harlequin with rayguns; the characters are products of two widely differing cultures, and represent their cultures in the increasingly tangled political and moral dilemmas they encounter. And Aral isn't an ordinary ship captain. He's a high-level player in Barrayaran politics, where the feudal interests of the old Counts clash with the centralization of the new Ministers, the mad Crown Price and his degenerate cronies are pushing for war, and the enigmatic Emperor manipulates them all for his own ends. Barrayar's harshness has shaped Aral's moral reflexes; he assumes that the weak are useless and dispensible, winner takes all, and his only choices are which side to take in the constant declared and undeclared wars that rage among his planet's ruling classes. In Cordelia, he meets someone with courage and honor equal to his own, whose values are often entirely different. She refuses to cooperate with him unless he agrees to spare a severely brain-injured man, and let her care for him. She doesn't know whether the man can be cured (and in fact he can't - the author doesn't insult us with phony happy endings), but she keeps him alive through an arduous trek across a strange planet. Cordelia comes down squarely on the side of compassion and hope, and has the practical skills to make it work. And Aral finds he sorely needs her brand of clear-eyed compassion when his Emperor forces him into resolving Barrayar's most pressing political problems at the cost of thousands of lives and his own honor...
It isn't a grim moral tract, either. The adventures come fast and furious, and there's a good deal of humor in the culture clash of Barrayar vs. everybody else. (Pssst - take note of the freighter pilot Cordelia co-opts in her last escape. You'll laugh even more when reading the book after next.)

I stumbled across the 1st "Miles" book (--Falling Free; it's sort of a prequel, actually 200 years in the future) by accident, & enjoyed listening to the audiobook. When I went to go on to the next books, I found it annoying that they're not numbered.

As to how good they are, I've enjoyed the next 2 books enough that I bought them in order, & am about to buy the next. I like her characters, good plots that keep moving right along, & her 'sociological' sci fi of the planets Barrayar vs Beta is interesting. She's also got, interesting & frequently amusing ways of saying things that add to the positive experience.

The whole Vorkosigan saga is truly one of the great scifi stories of all time. Shards of Honor is a very good which is, ironically, probably the weakest of the bunch. Barrayar is awesome. I still think of it having read it over a decade ago.

It's no surprise more and more readers just keep finding the Vorkosigan/Barrayar books! McMaster Bujold's eye for character is beyond acute, and the stories certainly roll along wholesome and action-packed.

When Beguilement, Book 1 of the Sharing Knife, was first released, some loyal Bujold fans dismissed it as nothing more than a romance. I couldn't help wondering what they think Cordelia's Honor is, if not, within the multifaceted story, a subtle, powerful love story with one of the most compelling couples Bujold has given us, next to Dag and Fawn. Enough articulate comment has been made about Cordelia's Honor, so I will just add that I am ordering a new hardcover copy today, because my first paperback copy is now in tatters, and pages have gone missing from so many readings. The rest my Vorkosigan paperback collection is likewise in tatters, so they will also be replaced one-by-one with hardcover editions.

Bujold's resourceful and cunning super agent Miles Vorkosigan can be better understood after reading about the exploits of his exceptional parents. The story is somewhat contrived and the coincidences are difficult to swallow, but the interaction and dialogue create a vivid picture that can be compelling at times. Some of "background" characters are one-dimensional and the main characters are too perfect, but it is still a good read if you have time to kill.

I actually do have a condition that makes me short with brittle bones (it's called osteogenesis imperfecta) so I was curious about the vorkosigan saga. This book was okay, but not great. It struck me as being like a Star Trek book or a romance novel. I like series, but this had too much of a "to be contibued" feel. The others must be better since they won so many Hugos. In short it's okay, but if this is the best thing you've resd you should read more.

I have been a fan of Lois McMaster Bujold's books for many years now, and I love audiobooks. So I was thrilled when I heard that The Reader's Chair planned to release all of Bujold's books in unabridged audio format. It took me a while to make the plunge ($42 is not cheap), but I don't regret a second. I loved SHARDS OF HONOR on first reading, and I was not disappointed in the audio version. It took some time to get used to two voices reading all of the roles, but both Carol Cowan and Michael Hanson have the ability to alter their voices just enough to give separate voices to the different characters. Several of the dialogue scenes were riveting when spoken. I have since bought the audio version of BARRAYAR and, most recently, THE WARRIOR'S APPRENTICE. These audiobooks are worth every penny. Thanks to The Reader's Chair for putting out such wonderful products. Keep 'em coming...

Unless you absolutely must own hardcovers, don't buy this book: instead by all means buy and read it in the mass-market paperback titled "Cordelia's Honor," which collects Shards of Honor with its followup, Barrayar. Though originally published under those separate names, these really are halves of a single exceptional novel.
Trust me, you wouldn't be at all happy at the end of "Shards of Honor" if you couldn't immediately find out what happens next.

I consider Bujold our most unappreciated author of the nineties. Although Mirror Dance, Barrayar and the Vor Game all won Hugos, many readers have yet to read her works. Shards of Honor, not only begins the Vorkosigan story, it also was her first published novel.

This was the first book by Lois McMaster Bujold which I'd read, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. This book is funny, sad, witty, and occasionally poignant. Unlike some of Ms Bujold's other novels, it has a quality of "depth" to it, in the way in which it examines certain issues. Definitely a good place to start, either on its own, or as an introduction to Ms Bujold's work. Be warned thought : Shards of honour will leave you craving more -I bought "Barrayar" two days after finishing "Shards of Honour"....

Well I exaggerate, but i felt i needed to off-set the rave reviews this book was getting, which i felt it did not merit. at best this book is OKAY and i would give it 2 and a half stars, but it certainly isn't as brilliant as most reviewers would have you believe. The characters are poorly developed, with this whole sense of things happening from out of nowhere. At first it's like, "lalala we are respectful enemies" and then it's like "Wham! Bam! I love you!" The way things occur without any real build-up just seems incredibly ridiculous. Readers are given plotlines without any real development, and it is due to that manner of storytelling that the book suffers. But the thing is, i know Bujold is supposed to be a great writer because she won a couple of Hugo awards or whatever, and those are really great, ie they really say something about the quality of work. Therefore...i'm going to give Bujold another shot and read the one that got the award in the first place. if it sucks, then i give up. To each their own, after all...

If you like sci-fi and love chick lit, you'll really enjoy this book. This is a well-written story with excellent character development and dialog. The sci-fi elements are, well, pretty weak medicine. If you only like hard sci-fi, look elswhere. The plot elements could have easily been set in a western or modern-day thriller. Also, it's a little bit short (I'm a big fan of epic space operas).

I was lucky in that when I discovered the writings of Lois McMaster Bujold, I read the first book in the Vorcosigan Series. For me it will always be the best. It needs to be read first to really understand the Vorcosigans and Barrayar itself. It is highly readable, the characters are "human" and personable. I was delighted when I realized that this was the first of a series of books and have eagerly awaited each edition to the family.

This is an excellent book. I bought it out of curiousity just to find out if all the good things I'd heard about Bujold's work were true, they were and I lost some hours of sleep because of it. In short this is the book about how Cordelia Naismith becomes the Lady Vorkosigan and all the adventures she and Lord Vorkosigan have while they are getting to know each other.

The other reviews tell it all, but instead of buying this book get - Cordelia's Honor (Vorkosigan Saga Omnibus: Shards of Honor / Barrayar)
which is this story plus the sequel ( written much later after several other books ), which to my thinking is just as good.

Read it if you want to know about how Aral and Cordelia met. If you want to start reading about the Vorkosigans, this is not the book to start with. This will diminish your desire to read the other books. Shards of Honor: not much of a plot, not much of a ending, and not much in the middle either. I recommend that one starts with Barrayar.

I really do not understand all the rave reviews. I'm a sci-fi fan, and an avid reader. I am continually frustrated by seeing good reviews on sci-fi books that don't hold water. And this is a typical example. Maybe if sci-fi is all you read, then you seen things through a different lens than I do. I really tried to give this book a chance, but about half way through I kept thinking of a word---booooooring. My idea of good sci-fi? Orson Scott Card or Larry Niven. I see parallels between this series and the Twilight series. Big sellers, but one dimensional.