Shards of Honor

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 in

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.

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

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 muc