A discussion by Bujold says that there were six to seven years, and a couple books, between the writing of Shards of Honor and this book. Those years were well-spent—Barrayar corrects many of the faults of the first book.

The characters are much more three-dimensional; in particular, Cordelia and Sergeant Bothari come across with more depth and emotion. Aral Vorkosigan doesn't change as much, but he's really a fairly minor character in the book...it's about Cordelia. Assuming you're reading in chronological order, this book is where you start to get a real sense of the Barrayaran culture, particularly with the presence of Count Piotr Vorkosigan, who only had a cameo in the first book.

The plot is nothing original...a fairly straightforward power struggle leading to escape, survival and recovering the throne...it's fairly easy to predict who will live/die, win/lose and end up hitched. However, this story type is none the worse for having been used before and it moves along at a good pace giving the reader exactly what is expected. Probably the easiest analogy is to think of Rudolf Rassendyll transplanted from Zenda to another planet, with lightflyers instead of horses, disrupters instead of blades (though a sword does figure prominently in the story).

As I said when reviewing Shards of Honor, I think this book is the best place for someone new to the series to start. It's got a better plot. It's got better characterizations—you can get a feel here for the characters you'll see in the succeeding books, and you see them just as they are stepping into their roles. You get a much better sense of the world. ( )

http://yet.org/2008/11/barrayar.html ( )

This is the story of Cordelia Vorkosigan's marriage: and that's what it is, above all: how two middle-aged people managed to make a marriage stronge enough to hold them up despite an entire planet trying to destroy them.

Oh, and there's a political coup and a bunch of murders and Cordelia goes shopping and stuff. Which is also all good.

Note : my cover is *horrible* I really with I had the other paperback cover, the one with the two hands clasped around the cane. Which is not only at least vaguely accurate, it's the most compelling image in the whole book. ( )

http://home.comcast.net/~ktoonen/summ... ( )

Excellent book! ( )