Status
Call number
Publication
Description
Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: Captain Cordelia Naismith of the Betan Expeditionary Force was on a routine mission to study the life forms on an uninhabited, neutral planet. Little did she know that the enemy Barrayarans had chosen this place as their secret base for an as-yet undeclared war. Separated from her team, Cordelia is captured by Lord Aral Vorkosigan, the leader in charge of the Barrayaran mission. Aral himself is caught in a web of political intrigue that has led to a recent attempt on his life. As the two strangers struggle together across the unfriendly terrain of the foreign planet toward Aral's ship, they discover that their greatest danger may be the romance inconveniently developing between them, on the brink of a war that will divide their peoples more strongly than ever. Recognized as the current exemplar of character-based science fiction, Bujold debuts her beloved Vorkosigan saga with this tale about the future parents of Miles Vorkosigan..… (more)
User reviews
Although she’s officially a prisoner – Barrayar and Beta Colony are at war, after all – Naismith is treated more like a guest… at least when she’s under Vorkosigan’s command. As the war progresses, she begins to return his respect, and even his love, but her feelings are not without their cost: even once she’s repatriated, how can she go back to a world where everyone believes the man she loves is a war criminal? But, then again, how could she, a free-thinking, liberated Betan, make a life for herself on the rigid, political world of Barrayar?
Review: Far be it from me to judge a book by its cover, but based on surface characteristics, I probably shouldn't have liked this novel. First, it's sci-fi (and more particularly, sci-fi on spaceships), a genre that I heartily enjoy on TV but have had only middling luck with in book form. Second, it's focused on the military, and again, while military/political strategy and big battles are fine on film, it's something that tends to put me off in books. So, a book that, on its surface, seems to be about military strategizing in space should have had me running for the hills. But I'd read Bujold's Chalion books (which are fantasy, my preferred genre of speculative fiction), and I trusted her enough as an author to pull an interesting story out from the depths of the spacefights, and, lo and behold, I was not disappointed.
Shards of Honor is sci-fi, but it’s character-driven sci-fi. The technology is not the point of the story; you could replace all of the ray guns with swords and the spaceships with boats, and the novel would work just as well as a medieval fantasy. That’s because it’s not about the spaceships, it’s about the people, and Bujold does an excellent job of creating rich, multi-dimensional people who you care about from the first few chapters. It was also incredibly refreshing to read a speculative fiction story with a protagonist who is a mature female. No teenage angst, no desperation to prove oneself, no damsel-in-distress nonsense. Just a woman who knows who she is, what she wants, and what she believes, and is willing (and able) to fight for those things.
While the protagonist was enjoyably original, the plot was slightly less so. At first, it seemed like it was going to be a simple star-crossed-lovers storyline, and to a large extent, it was. (No joint suicides here, though; Naismith and Vorkosigan are old enough to know better.) However, Bujold’s plot does have a few tricks up its sleeve, and while I saw some of the twists coming, a few did effectively throw me for a loop.
My biggest problem with the book was that I had a hard time keeping track of the characters - or, rather, a hard time matching characters to names. There are a lot of Barrayaran military personnel, most with a last name that starts with Vor. When they were present in a scene, they were easy to distinguish by personality (oh, that's the friendly helpful one) or by job (right, that one's the spy), and occasionally by voice. However, when a character was off-screen (or dead), and referred to only by name, I had the damnedest time remembering who they'd been... and with an audiobook, it's hard to thumb back through the pages scanning for the proper Vor_____ name.
Grover Gardner did do his part to help me out; male voices were all nicely differentiated, and his voices for females weren’t squeaky or shrill. However, while there were many more male than female characters in the book, it does seem a little strange that the audiobook producers chose a male narrator for a book that’s entirely from a female point-of-view.
Overall, while this book wasn’t the most technically accomplished book I’ve ever read, it thoroughly entertained me, introduced me to two wonderful characters, and definitely made me eager to read the rest of the series. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: For those who, like me, are prone to think “Sci-fi? Enh.”, give Bujold a chance. It’d be a shame to miss such an enjoyable story based on a pesky little thing like a genre label.
This review also published at SFSite.
This book introduces us to Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan, the eventual parents of the main character of the series, Miles Vorkosigan. The plot is pretty simple. Their planets are going to war with each other; they fall in love; he rescues her from a sadist when she's captured; once repatriated, she realizes she doesn't fit into her own world anymore; they get married. If that seems a bit simplistic it's because going into it any further exposes how trite and slight the plot really is.
Just as an example: the book opens with his troops attacking her non-combatant exploration party on a neutral world, killing one of her friends and almost killing her; she recovers consciousness as his prisoner. Nonetheless, 30 pages into the book she's eyeing him thinking, "Even if the shape of his square strong hands was a dream…" Wow, Stockholm Syndrome on steroids! Of course, in this, she's way behind him since he later confesses he fell for her when he first found her lying unconscious in a gully.
At this point in the series, the world-building is extremely sketchy, the writing a bit stiff, and the characters quite flat. Though his series later falls off, Weber did the introduction of a strong female lead much better in his Honor Harrington books. Basically, this introduces the universe and a couple of the characters to the reader.
This is not the book to start with if you want to see what this popular series is about (unless you're re-reading). Barrayar, which won the Hugo, is probably the right point and, coincidentally, is up next.
Without delving into the plot too deeply, this is a story of two star-crossed lovers kept apart by political plots, as well as ethical and moral conflicts. The book was originally published in 1986 and is as timely today as it was back then as the main characters have to face serious questions as to the worth of a terrible sacrifice, and should one follow their country blindly, and when does personal honor come into alliances and betrayals. As these are mature people, this was never a “bodice-ripper” kind of romance, instead we are given a realistic adult story of practical people with both pasts and flaws that realize they should be together.
[Shards of Honor] is the first book in the Vorkosigan series, and both the story and it’s ending has fully engaged me so that I want to continue on and see what happens to these characters next.
In addition to that main story, there is political maneuvering and space adventure. It’s a space opera with a romantic core, played out by people who would otherwise seem to be anti-romantics. In fact, one of her comrades insists Cordelia’s story must be false, since who could imagine a middle-aged middle-ranked woman becoming the love of an enemy commander’s life? Too improbable for words, yet Bujold completely sells it.
There is a lovely theme running through this of “common wisdom” being wrong. Most people think that Vorkosigan is a bloodthirsty killer, which is in no way true. Other Barrayans committed acts that went against his promises. They come to believe that Cordelia must have suffered intensely at the hands of such a horrible man, and when she protests, they simply assume that she must be “repressing” the trauma.
The story is told with lovely prose, and great pace, and a good sense of humor. Cordelia is the sort of rock-solid, competent and sympathetic heroine that is a lot of fun to read about. The only false note is to wonder why exactly she is still in the middle ranks when she acts like a born commander. Also, don’t think too hard about the coincidences needed to get Cordelia and her soul mate together. Just enjoy the ride.
Cordelia is from a planet that is technologically and scientifically advanced; Aran is from a planet that was only recently rediscovered when Cetaganda decided to conquer it and which had regressed to a sort of feudal state. He's from the privileged military caste.
They get together after his crew has destroyed her crew's base camp and traitors of his crew tried to assassinate him. Her crew, except for now deceased Lieutenant Rosemont and injured Ensign Dubauer, managed to escape into space. His crew believes he is dead.
The two have to travel about 200 kilometers to a base he knows about where she can get medical attention for Dubauer and he can attempt to retake control of his own command. She gives her word of honor to cooperate in order to get care for Dubauer. As they travel, with very limited supplies (oatmeal and blue cheese dressing) and both with various injuries, they begin to get to know each other and come to respect each other and even fall in love.
However, they both have loyalties that are doomed to pull them apart. She needs to get back to her own people to stop Barrayar's invasion while he is oath-sworn to conduct it. She is sent back as the Captain of a ship to provide a decoy in order to let advanced Betan weapons through to Escobar and is again captured. This time she falls in with people that Aral had earlier described as the scum of the service. She is slated for rape and torture by an old enemy of Aral's until she is saved by Sargeant Bothari, a useful madman she met during her first capture.
She is front and center for the invasion and soon comes to learn some of Barrayar's secrets that must be kept close. When the invasion fails (see Betan secret weapons), she is again repatriated. But this time both Escobaran and Betan psychiatrists are convinced that she has been programmed to act as some sort of agent for Barrayar when she resists their attempts at a therapy that would reveal Barrayarn secrets.
Cordelia manages to escape Beta and find her way to Barrayar when she finds an Aral whose heart has been broken by what his emperor demanded of him and who is diligently trying to drink himself to death. They marry and are hoping for a quiet life with children when Aral is tapped for a new impossible job - regent for five-year-old Emperor Gregor after his grandfather's death.
The writing is amazing. The characters fully realized and intriguing. The story is filled with moral dilemmas and quests for honor and grace. I have read this book many times since its publication in 1986 but this is the first time that I have listened to the story. The narration was wonderfully done by Grover Gardner.
I love this first book particularly, Cordelia is such a great heroine, I wish girls would read this instead of some of the paranormal fantasy twaddle they are reading these days. I was a huge fantasy fan as a teenager too, but Cordelia is a heroine, a real fully rounded living breathing protagonist, not just "the main character in a book who happens to have boobs".
There is romance but it is not the focus of the book, and it feels real and like something career military adults might actually have, particularly those who found themselves on opposite sides of a war, having to make painful choices due to the demands of honour and duty and their obligations to the life they themselves chose. They don't get what they want, and even when they do, they don't get it when they want it.
A lot of reviewers find the epilogue odd, but I think of it as the post-credits scene to a movie. Not necessary to understand the rest of the book, but a nice little aftertaste for those who like it. And again, the woman protagonist in that final chapter is a real and rounded character, not just a space soldier with boobs. Like Cordelia, making the best of what life has handed her, in a painful situation.
Cordelia is a Survey Commander explorng a new planet when she returns from a fieldtrip to find her basecamp in ruins. She also manages to find one of the 'invaders' who was left behind by his crew. He turns out to know the location of a supply cache, She is obviously not initially impressed with him, but over the course of their wilderness trek they learn about each other's societies. On both sides various misconceptions are explained away, however when they reach the supply cache, matters turn more serious.
There' a couple of big timeline jumps as action in the wider universe moves on without our heros being involved. But it all hanfs togther quite well. The first person POV helps to keep it current, without the confusing character jumps that some authors employ. The action whips along,carried by dialog between Aral and Cordelia. There's no particular emphasis on technology, a few of the usual assumptions are made - wormholes for FTL, and various medical scanners. Some of the background politics is a little confusing when it's not quite clear how galaxy of humans is being organised - but it does resolve somewhat in due course.
There are no wider thoughts or paralells drawn to contemporary society. Cordelia is well described, and although we only see Aral through her eyes, he too comes across sympathetically - although I feel that many of the problems he hs with his 'honour' could have been more clearly elaborated. However none of the supporting characters manage much more than cardboard status.
It's fast, fun and enjoyable light sf fluff. Don't expect anything more from it, and it is one of the prime examples in the genre.
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 othersSTORY: Cordelia Naismith
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.
What I like about this book is that Cordelia is a very strong woman. Many authors go for strong, but end up with Whiny females that end up grating. Also, Lord Vorkosigan is a very worthy man, the romance makes sense, and both characters act like the people they are portrayed to be.
I liked the plot, it made sense, although much of the bad characters blended in to each other and I lost who was who.
I didn't like the ending. The psychiatry was heavy handed and didn't match the culture described in the book. I'd rather see more of a focus on the media.
It's a fun romp, simply written but strong. I like the characters, I like the universe.
About the book - Captain
It sounds like I'm complaining, but it was a pretty fun book. Not super compelling, and sometimes confusing, but I liked the two main characters. I've heard this is not her best, so I think I will give her another chance before I make up my mind.
There are basically three parts to this story: In the first, our scientist captain heroine from one planet and her military
This is perhaps the part of the book that I liked the most: we get to know the two leads just as they get to know each other, and there are many good character moments between them as Cordelia discovers that Vorkosigan might not quite be the ruthless war criminal that he's made out to be on her home world and Vorkosigan finds out that his "prisoner" might very well be the only person that he can have an honest, unguarded conversation with.
The mutiny mystery and all the complications that come with it are interesting too and I enjoyed both the action and the glimpses we get at the greater conflicts in this universe and on Vorkosigan's home planet.
The second part of the story takes place half a year later, when a war has broken out between his planet and a planet allied with Cordelia's, and she gets involved in it and gets captured and there are a lot of intrigue and schemes and counter-schemes going on and a grand space battle that we see... not terribly much of, actually.
I was less thrilled with this part than the first one for several reasons. For one, it became more and more obvious that while I was really digging the chemistry between the two leads, I didn't really buy the romantic tension (relatively subdued as it was), something that didn't really change at all over the course of the book.
Also, Cordelia is at one point during her imprisonment threatened with rape (this goes so far that (see (1) below the spoiler warning)) and I found myself asking, "Really, book? Was that *really* necessary?", except I was actually quite pleased with the fallout later re:pregnancies resulting from similar cases, which, if nothing else, was quite clever. Still, nnnnnnot exactly my favourite plot device in the world, to put it mildly.
The third act, then, is partly about Cordelia returning home (where basically half the planet celebrates her as a heroine and the other half thinks she has a rather spectacular case of Stockholm syndrome), and wrapping up about half a dozen different plot threads from earlier in the story quite neatly. There is also an epilogue that doesn't have anything to do with anything. (I liked it, but it felt more like a short story that happened to be set in the same universe than anything to do with the story it was tacked onto.)
The part about Cordelia's homecoming (and her dealings with some really creepy, unethical psychologists and therapists) was captivating, but a lot of the rest felt like some very by-the-numbers wrapping-up that happened a bit too quickly for my taste, (not to mention that during it, Cordelia herself becomes a bit of a non-character who more or less just observes the events rather than shaping them actively as she had before) and just as the book seemed to return to form, it... ended. Oh well.
I am definitely interested in reading more of this 'verse (I've read one of the author's later books (in the Fantasy genre; The Curse of Chalion before and loved it to bits), especially keeping in mind that this is the author's début novel, and things can (and will) get better. A strong three stars, definitely.
If you need trigger warnings/additional info, PM me and I'll do my best to provide them. :)
- - -
Beware of SPOILERS in the following paragraphs.
(1) she is chained to a bed naked and first about to be raped by a man who has been tortured and drugged (and was not terribly mentally stable to begin with), and then by the captor himself, although both cases end before the actual rape happens, in the latter case because the captor is killed by the other victim
Other, spoilery things I liked (character spoilers rather than plot spoilers):
- One major character is on the neurodiversity spectrum and while he occasionally falls into Unfortunate Implications territory, he remains a sympathetic character throughout.
- Apparently our hero is actually, textually queer? (Or has at least dated a man at some point in the past; the text dances around the issue a bit and the source of information is not the most reliable but Cordelia certainly believes him? If you've read the rest of the series, just tell me whether or not this is at any point confirmed more than it is here, but not necessarily in which direction, please.)
- All the little instances in which Vorkosigan's frequently mentioned honorable-to-a-fault-ness is shown rather than told, particularly the way he deals with Gotyan during the mutiny plot
If you are following the "Vorkosigan Saga" this is the story of how Miles Vorkosigan's parents met. If you have never heard of the "Vorkosigan Saga" this is a great place to start. A fun little adventure story.
I tend to favor more complicated, less admirable characters. But I love a good opposites attract romance, and Cordelia's Honor delivers that in spades. The heroine, Cordelia Naismith, is a scientifically minded captain from a very liberal society; her people eat meat grown in vats, never slaughtered on the hoof; they've eliminated poverty; they're constitutional and democratic. By contrast, the hero, Aral Vorkosigan, is a military man from a culture that is warlike, imperial, patriarchic, and violent.
And they fall in love. In wartime. Because despite the fact that both hero and heroine perfectly embody their respective cultures, strong morals and unshakable honor make them more alike than they are different, and unique among their fellows.
The novel balances its sci-fi elements and romance elements pretty well; I'd say it's split evenly between the two genres. So along with the love story comes a truly harrowing political intrigue. There book starts on the eve of a war between Aral's civilization (Barrayar) and another group closely allied to Cordelia's. Aral and Cordelia get to know one another before tensions ratchet up, soon forcing them to opposite sides in the war. But where Barrayar is concerned, there are always wheels within wheels, and Cordelia finds herself with a front-row seat to some truly blood-curdling politicking; as Aral explains:
The really unforgivable acts are committed by calm men in beautiful green silk rooms, who deal death wholesale, by the shipload, without lust, or anger, or desire, or any redeeming emotion to excuse them but cold fear of some pretended future. But the crimes they hope to prevent in that future are imaginary. The ones they commit in the present -- they are real.
Aral is at the center of it all - and once Cordelia falls in love with him, so is she.
It would be a shame to spoil the details, though, so I won't. I was gobsmacked by two major plot twists, and really loved the way the story unfolded.
Bujold is hardly a lyrical writer, but her landscapes are fully realized and she's full of wise little quips - "From spaceman to caveman in three days...How we imagine our civilization is in ourselves, when it's really in our things," observes Cordelia at one point. She later defines power as "Energy applied to work," and evil as "an infection of the imagination, that spreads from man to man."
I was in the mood for exactly this book when I picked it up, and enjoyed immensely - it managed to be both soothing and exciting at once.