Shards of Honour
Ratings107
Average rating3.9
This was interesting, with what felt like a unique take on the space opera genre (the slightly more mature main characters were a nice touch). While most of the prose was very good, with a nice turn of phrase, there was the occasional rushed scene that felt a little "boy's own", although not enough to detract from the overall story. In summary, very good and I am curious about the next in the series (and indeed, the wider series).
I've read this one before, and it's interesting the different perspectives you get when you read books at different stages of your life. Bujold is one of the best adventure writers, if you ask me, and Cordelia is one of her best characters. I really enjoy stories of competent couples, and Aral and Cordelia definitely qualify. I generally don't like too much romance in my sci-fi, but you know what? Neither do Aral and Cordelia. They've got a lot on their plates.
That said, there are definitely parts of this book that do not age well, in particular the treatment of SA. I feel like the subject is treated much too casually and while I see how she is trying to make Bothari into a complicated survivor of abuse himself, I think it puts the emphasis in the wrong place and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. For 1986, it's extremely progressive, but it doesn't pass modern standards in this one area and as such, carries a sizable SA content warning.
Still, if you portion that out, it's a classic of the genre, features one of the best female heroes of the time period, and a is great start to an epic saga.
I've been gradually reading Bujold's works in the wrong order, which eventually brings me to this one. Knowing that this was her first novel, I wasn't expecting too much, but in fact it makes a pretty good start to the Vorkosigan saga, and I read the whole thing in one afternoon, which I did routinely when I was younger but don't tend to do these days. It's a good story.
The one criticism that occurs to me at this point is that it features a case of mutual love-at-first-sight, which I suppose must happen to some people, but I still find it rather implausible. The non-mutual kind is easier to believe.
Although Aral and Cordelia make a good hero/heroine pair, with some weaknesses to make them more believable, this story makes neither of their home worlds (Barrayar and Beta Colony respectively) seem attractive. It wasn't written to encourage tourism.
Pros:
Middle-aged competent female protagonist. Moral and philosophical ambiguity. The great start to what I'm sure will be an above-average 20+ book space politics saga.
Cons:
I truly do not need any more rape or near-rape in my reading life, and this is a little (lol) dated.
The scenes that most struck me were those when Cordelia had returned home and was met with that slick, neo-liberal, ‘we know what's good for you,' non-consensual medical care. I think it'd resonate with anyone who's come up against a dominant power structure and felt confined by their presumptions.
I had heard about these books, so wanted to try them. I didn't like it. Not because it was poorly written or because I didn't like the characters. the primary plot of the book involves political intrigue, palace plotting and complicated social relationships. I don't generally like any of these nor is it easy for me to follow these kinds of plot threads. But, if you like this stuff, than dive right in, you will probably like this book. The author writes clearly and well.
The other thing that irritated me was that the SF trappings in the book were just stage settings. If you replaced every reference to a space ship with a sailing ship, planet with country you would have the same story set on Earth