Cordelia's Honor (Shards of Honor / Barrayar / Aftermaths)

Shards of Honor, Lois McMaster Bujold
Bujold was pretty much ubiquitous on the Hugo Award shortlist throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. True, the Hugo has its favourites, and they have their moments, and then the favourites change. At the time, I couldn’t see the appeal of Bujold’s Vorkosigan series - I read a couple of them, but they seemed somewhat bland and derivative, and not what I would have expected of award-winning science fiction novels. They’re not, of course - not what you’d expect of award-winning sf novels, that is, just instalments in a well-liked, comfortable sf series, and it was the series which kept on winning awards, not the novels.

And yet, reading Shards of Honor (1986, USA) now - a reread as I’d read it show more once before back in the 1990s - the one thing that stands out is how… polished it all is. It was Bujold’s debut novel, but by internal chronology it's the second book in the Vorkosigan series. The main hero of the series, Miles Vorkosigan, isn’t even born when the novel takes place - it is, in fact, about his parents.

Cordelia Naismith is an officer of the Beta Colony Survey, when her team on an uninhabited Earth-like planet is attacked by Barrayaran soldiers. She is left behind when her team-mates escape, only to be captured by Aral Vorkosigan, the captain of the Vorkosigan ship in orbit, who has himself been marooned after a mutiny by his ship’s political officer. Barrayar is a militarist empire, with an old-style aristocracy and a Soviet-like “Political Education” apparatus. Vorkosigan is completely old school, a man of honour, a stiff-necked aristocrat, and known as the Butcher of Komarr.

Naismith and Vorkosigan have to trek some 200 kilometres to reach a Barrayaran supply cache, with a brain-damaged Beta Colony officer. Unfortunately, they’re met by the mutinous political officer and his cronies, who take them prisoner. But Vorkosigan turns the tables, only for the political officer to mutiny again. Which this time is foiled by Naismith, shortly before she escapes.

Oh, and the two fell in love during the trek and Vorkosigan proposed marriage to Naismith. Despite her feelings for him, she refused.

And that’s what the novel is about: Beta Colony Survey officer and Barrayaran military aristocrat, a romance. There’s an invasion, a space battle, a gratuitous rape/torture scene, a military defeat, lots of fatuous Betan politics (including a running joke about the Betan president, “I didn’t vote for him”), and brutal Barrayaran court intrigue.

Like Jack McDevitt’s novels, there’s not much here that’s actually science fiction. Set in the future, yes. Lots of different interstellar polities, yes. But it’s all very, well, American (even the aristocratic Barrayarans, who resemble Hollywood depictions of European royalty more than anything else). There’s a few sf bells and whistles - plasma mirrors, stunners, disruptors, plasma arcs (all weapons), plus spaceships and stargates and so on.

It’s all very entertaining and smooth, with a pair of likeable leads (important for romance, of course), and a background that seems both familiar to sf readers and yet also a tiny bit different - no doubt helped by the sympathetic treatment of what would normally be the bad guys. I can understand the appeal - well-defined universe, good buys to root for, bad guys to boo and hiss, and a fixity of worldview common to US sf.

Shards of Honor is one of the few Vorkosigan novels which didn’t get nominated for an award, although, to be fair, it was Bujold’s debut novel. I enjoyed it, and I’ll continue reading the series - but this is science fiction that doesn’t challenge, and I usually expect more of the sf I read. show less

Shards of Honour
This book is combined with the story Barrayar to make the omnibus Cordelia's Honour.

This seems to be the first novel written in the Miles Vorkosigan saga (though in a slightly darker tone than the Miles books), and is the story of how his parents, on opposite sides in an interplanetary war, first met. The majority of the Vorkosigan saga is made up of stories about Miles, but these two books focus on his parents.

Commander Cordelia Naismith, Astrocartographer for the Betan Astronomical Survey, is leading an expeditionary team of scientists, surveying a newly discovered planet, when they are attacked by a Barrayaran military patrol. Most of her team manage to escape, but she and her botanist Dubauer find themselves show more captured by Aral Vorkosigan, the infamous Butcher of Komarr. Although it would seem that, especially given Aral Vorkosigan's terrifying reputation, they should be enemies, they find that they are attracted to each other's sense of honour, and that they do not always share the same point of view as their respective home planets' governments.

Shortly after she finally returns home to Beta Colony, her planet goes to war and Cordelia, now part of the Betan Expeditionary Force, finds herself once again ending up in enemy hands.

Red haired Cordelia (Anne of Green Gables, anyone?), though not an Amazon, is a very capable, resourceful woman and a strong, and honourable, heroine. Even though she works for Survey, rather than a military unit, she can think on her feet in combat situations. As a slightly older (33) heroine, she is well matched with a slightly older (44) hero - sometimes cast as an anti-hero. Vorkosigan is also honourable, although conflicted by duty.

This is probably my favourite book of the saga. This virgin planet has a lush landscape which Bujold describes beautifully. And the gentle romance in the background, between two 'mature' adults doesn't hurt, either. It's amusing to remember that I was younger than Cordelia (who is 33 years; Vorkosigan is 44) when I first read [Shards of Honour], and - especially now I'm older - she doesn't seem preposterously old to be falling in love.

I could fall in love with Vorkosigan myself, the way his stern soldierly demeanour is lightened by sudden boyish grins. And the fact that he is very much a man of honour, holding tightly to it in spite of the dishonourable situations he is forced into by men in power.

I wish there were more stories in the Vorkosigan canon which focused on Cordelia and Aral. I rather feel that in the militaristic patriarchal society that Barrayar is, her talents are somewhat wasted.

This story is full of action, space battles, interplanetary politics, intraplanetary politics, honour, humanity - not forgetting romance. Very nicely written. I wouldn't mind seeing more Cordelia / Aral Vorkosigan stories.

I like the way that, throughout Shards of Honour, it's the damsel that inadvertently rescues the knight in military uniform. :0)

(September 2010)
5 stars

Barrayar
This continues the story of Cordelia, now married to Vorkosigan and living on Barrayar, how the couple are unwillingly caught up in the politics of Barrayar and the tumultous events surrounding the birth of their son Miles, who is the protagonist of the continuing books in the Vorkosigan saga.

Shards of Honour ended with Cordelia on Barryar and Aral retired (not really 'spoiler'; with a whole series ahead, you must have seen that coming).

That retirement is about to end as he takes up the Regency on behalf of 5 year old Emperor Gregor, and Cordelia finds herself not just having to get used to the life of a Vor lady on Barrayar (a far cry from proletarian Beta Colony), but to that of the wife of the Regent. And not just as the wife of a Regent, but the wife of an honourable Regent besieged on all sides by threats both physical and political, by causes both frivolous and lethally serious.

As a battle-seasoned Vor lord, Aral handles the empire while Cordelia deals with her pregnancy the old-fashioned Barrayaran way, which involves natural gestation and natural childbirth; barbaric, to her Betan mind, when it can all be done s-fely in vitro.

The two situations collide terrifyingly when the backlash from an attack on Aral affects Cordelia and Miles too and results in many of Miles's future physical liabilities - which form the starting point to other stories in the series.

And while the couple are still dealing with the aftermath and the effects on their baby, the Barrayaran political infighting erupts, with the planets of the Imperium as the prize ...

I love the way this book is written; partly the interaction of the characters, partly the action - when Cordelia gets to utilise her training and skills again - partly the trademark humour woven through the narrative. I like the way so many secondary characters (Droushnakovi for instance) are allowed to develop. Not to mention Bothari's assignation as Miles's bodyguard from the moment of his 'birth', which is significant to Miles's future - but that's another story.

And, oh! Sergeant Bothari. I'm pretty sure that if I came across such a character in real life I would be, at the very least, cautious around them. But Bujold, through Cordelia and even Aral, lets us see that even such a spiritually and mentally scarred creature has his own honour. He seems to be a favourite character of readers of the series; he's certainly one of mine.

Well, if she wanted to look dainty, all she had to do was stand next to Sergeant Bothari. He loomed mournfully beside her, all two metres of him. Cordelia considered herself a tall woman, but the top of her head was only level with his shoulder. He had a gargoyle's face, closed, wary, beak-nosed, its lumpiness exaggerated to criminality by his military-burr haircut. Even Count Vorkosigan's elegant livery, dark brown with the symbols of the house embroidered in silver, failed to save Bothari from his astonishing ugliness.

The book is full of action, adventure and planetary politics. It also highlights the way families, children and unborn babies can be hostages to fate as they get caught up in a political coup. Although there are tragedies, McMaster Bujold's writing also displays the humour that makes the Miles books more lighthearted.

Beautifully crafted and well paced. A lot of action. A lot of tension. A lot of fun. This is my favourite book of one of my favourite series.

A very well written book - recommended. Read it!

(October 2010)
5 stars

Averaging: 5 stars show less

Oh wow, what a book. Awesome female protagonist, awesome love interest, awesome politics, and general badassery. I haven't gotten so much into a genre book in a while. I typically don't get into series that are longer than four books, but the world is so interesting and the characters... I could totally read like five more.

Seriously so impressed. And way to base your Imperials after a culture that is not Britain or China! My little Rus heart swells. Way to do the research. Way to pit very different viewpoints and make me sympathize with nearly ALL OF THEM.

Cordelia and Aral so make my favorite main characters ever list. Mmm. So very good. THANK YOU SEV FOR SENDING ME THIS.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars (wish I could rate it higher)
Genre: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Romantic SF
My usual type of read? (yes/no) Yes, very much so!
Plot type: epic romance, galactic space war, incredible world-building
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I just read this again for something like the 7th time since I first "discovered" the series in December of 2005, so I guess I've read it, on average, once a year for 6 years running. I remain astounded each time I read this book at just how much story Lois has managed to jam-pack into this duology. I tend to the think of the duology as "one, long book" (which Lois admits it actually was when she first started out, before she chopped off the first dribs and drabs of Barrayar in order to sell Shards of Honour on its show more own).

The amount of content relevant to the rest of the series is probably higher than in any other book of the series, too. Most people don't count the short stories--e.g., The Borders of Infinity, Labyrinth or The Mountains Of Mourning - and almost no one ever counts Winterfair Gifts as though these character-centric stories aren't actually "critical" to the series. Let me tell you, they are--all of them. Miles suffers psychic scars in The Borders of Infinity that he's still suffering from 10 years later in Komarr.

Likewise, the events of Cordelia's Honor are so inherent to the creation and growth of the characters and the galactic history of the universe Lois created in The Vorkosigan Saga, I can't imagine how anyone can get the same experience out of the other 18 books in the series without reading this one first. From the Escobaran War to the Vordarian Pretendership and the introduction of uterine replicators to the planet Barrayar which happens in between those two events, nearly every event in this book is a critical piece of galactic history in later books. I suppose that's just Lois's masterful ability to connect her series books while keeping them functionally standalone as well. I don't know anyone who's done as good a job at series writing as Lois McMaster Bujold (and I'm a big romance novel reader so I read a lot of "series" books--none are done quite as masterfully as this!)

The one caution, of course, is just that: Cordelia's Honor is an epic love story, a romance AND a space opera, while most of the other books in the series are either a space-based adventure OR an SF romance.

The space opera part of Cordelia's Honor is so huge, so complex, that it's hard to talk about in a review--and impossible to do so without spoilering, which I don't want to do. Suffice to say, there are NO events in this book that don't later impact someone somewhere in this universe Lois has built.

On a more basic scale, it's important to see where Miles comes from and to see just how much of EACH of his parents he really is. For instance, in later books, I never remember seeing Aral Vorkosigan behave the way he does in Cordelia's Honor. Instead, once Miles is up and about (i.e., no longer needs to be carried around in a bucket LOL) Aral acts like a father, anyone's father, he is Miles Vorkosigan's father (at long last, years before Miles wists for such a thing).

Aral actually fades into the periphery of Miles's brilliance. I know Lois was trying to show Miles's "hopeless" battle of living in the shadow of the Great Man as though no one could live up to the image of Admiral Count Aral Vorkosigan, but in Cordelia's Honor, he's still "just" Lord Aral Vorkosigan, with his own shadow-of-the-great-man complex to deal with, having General Count Piotr Vorkosigan still barking out orders for everyone's lives (or deaths). Not to mention having to live down the unjustly awarded title of Butcher of Komarr.

It's amazing to read Aral as a 44-year old man behaving just exactly like Miles does later (as a 20 something). It's not so much a sense of Miles imitating his father, as it is watching the "original" and thinking "Oh, that's where Miles gets it from." Aral will have settled down to being a home body and hard-core politician by the time Miles could imitate him and at that point, Miles is far more interested in imitating his Aral's father-the-Count, General Count Piotr Vorkosigan.

So in Cordelia's Honor, we see Aral as he was, before politics tempered him, before war destroyed his soul, before personal attacks hardened his heart to all but his family. The events of this book explain the why's and wherefore's of Aral's growth into the father Miles knows later--and in a wonderful way. Plus, who doesn't love Cordelia's outrageous and accidental sense of humor, making fun of Barrayar not to mention Barrayarans? :-) In Cordelia's Honor, we read the root of her views, while she's still oh-so-Betan as to be literally dumbfounded by the Barrayaran ways.

The love affair between Barrayaran Aral and Betan Cordelia is not really an "opposites attract" story but the culture clashes are startlingly funny the way Lois presents them. The "in jokes" that run through the series (Rule Number 7, Sir or Drou and Kou on the settee in the Library) are nearly as significant to the other books in the series as are the mortal wounds suffered by all.

From Emperor Gregor's life-changing before he's old enough to tie his own shoes to Miles's life being threatened by his own grandfather and saved (repeatedly) by the ever-loyal Bothari before Miles has even managed to get out of the aforementioned "bucket," Cordelia's Honor is the foundation of facts, fictions and fabulous people upon whom the richness and splendor of this series is based. The Bothari character, by the way, takes on a significance and depth in Cordelia's Honor that is referenced but never quite understood in later books. After having read this one, not a single later book of the series will fail to remind you Bothari's existence--without his presence in the books at all after The Warrior's Apprentice.

As Lois Herself has said, Aral Vorkosigan is the center of the series's universe. Cordelia is the center of Aral.

Highly recommend this book as one of the most important of the series as well as one of the most densely-packed stories ever written (in this series or any other). It's not just packed with a lot of story, it's neatly, tightly, and well packed with a solid solid, solid enough to form the basis for this incredible series. This is my #1 favorite of the 19 stories of The Vorkosigan Saga, followed by Memory and Mirror Dance, tied for #2. show less

People do talk about the Vorkosigan saga-- I even had a student write a paper about it last fall-- so I was happy when my friend offered to loan me this, the first volume in the series. It has some adventure narrative tropes I find uncomfortable (the "other" being simultaneously more dangerous and more interesting than the home society), some slightly strange gender politics (the woman must give up her society utterly for the man she loves, who never seriously considers it), and some stuff that's just plain weird (everyone reveres one character who is a rapist), but overall I enjoyed it. It gets off to a rough start, to be honest-- there's a lot of journeying through a dangerous landscape, which I find tedious, and our protagonist show more Cordelia has a tendency to be rescued by other people a lot. But at the one-third mark, she finally starts making her own decisions, fleeing her home planet in a fantastic sequence, and then traveling to Barrayar, where she marries Aral Vorkosigan and is forced to navigate her way in a strange society. At this point, I was completely absorbed, and I loved all the political maneuvering and civil war stuff, and Cordelia herself shone quite well. She seems a fairly well-conceived female character, written as a woman, but not without agency, nor too dependent on feminine clichés. (For someone who's never had a successful romantic relationship, she sure does slip into marriage easily, though.) More than anything else, this book was just fun to read. (Strangely, it reminds me of the anime Legend of the Galactic Heroes, which also features a long-running war between a feudal aristocracy and a dull democracy, where there is as much intrigue within the nations as without, and democracy is critiqued for its hypocritical foundations. The novel series the anime was based on ran from 1982-7, but it seems unlikely that Bujold would have been familiar with it.) show less

Shards of Honor:

In this early Vorkosigan novel, I enjoyed the characters and many of the situations they found themselves in, though I sometimes had a hard time following the ins and outs of the political situations. I often felt like I was missing something. But it was an entertaining read, and I'm looking forward to reading more. ~March 2015

I became a fan of Bujold when I was in high school, and for a while now all of the Vorkosigan books have been some of my favorite comfort rereads. Cordelia's Honor ranks high among that number. Know that Cordelia's Honor is an onmibus of two novels that were originally published separately.

In Shards of Honor, we meet Cordelia, who is an intelligent and resourceful captain of a planetary survey team. While studying a planet, they run into a team from another planet - one who has just mutinied against their captain, the famous (perhaps infamous) tactician and starship battle commander, Aral Vorkosigan. They end up working together and growing feelings between them as they travel through the wilderness of this unsettled world and take back show more Aral's ship.

In Barrayar, the newly married couple face the worst kind of political upheaval on Barrayar. A failed assassination attempt severely damages their unborn baby, but Cordelia insists that they use uterine replicators, a technology painfully new to Barrayar, to save their child's life. Cordelia is further wrapped up in the course of events as first she is put in charge of the five year old emperor and later as she finds that her child's uterine replicator has been taken hostage. Since everyone else sees the damaged fetus as expendable, it is up to Cordelia to fix this mess and save her baby.

While technically not Bujold's best books, these are still fantastic. Cordelia is witty. She is a fabulous reluctant hero. She really is only doing things because something needs to be done and there's no one else around to do it. Bujold states in one of her afterwards that she writes books by making a character and then putting them in the worst set of circumstances and then watches and records as they dig their way out. While the Miles book are a better example of this method of creating plot, you can see it here as well. Both books have a great balance of character development and action - and plenty of each. They have elements of military science fiction, space opera, action-adventure, spy novels, you name it, this book has it. In general, this book and this series are fairly accessible to people who do not normally read science fiction.

It is certainly a must for anyone who has read the Miles books - it puts his life in perspective. We also get Barrayar at very strange state socially and technologically - the planet is already a galactic power, and yet it is still clawing its way out of a dark age. Here more than anywhere else we get hints about the Cetagandan war in which Piotr fought - I'd personally love to hear more about that.

I recommend this book to be read after Young Miles so that in Warrior's Apprentice you have a chance to develop a soft spot for Bothari before you find out that he really is a psychopath. I also recommend that this book be read before Memory, so you can see what Simon was like before he becomes head of Imperial Security. In general, I recommend that this be read earlier rather than later since it explains Escobar and Gregor's ascension to the throne rather well. show less