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Shards of Honour Paperback – January 1, 2003
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherEarthlight
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 2003
- ISBN-100743468422
- ISBN-13978-0743468428
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Editorial Reviews
From the Author
A Bujold Reading-Order Guide
The Fantasy Novels
My fantasy novels are not hard to order. Easiest of all is The Spirit Ring, which is a stand-alone, or aquel, as some wag once dubbed books thatfor some obscure reason failed to spawn a subsequent series. Nexteasiest are the four volumes of The Sharing Knife--in order, Beguilement, Legacy, Passage, and Horizon--which I broke down and actually numbered, as this is one continuous tale.
What were called the Chalion books after the setting of its first twovolumes, but which now that the geographic scope has widened I'm dubbing the World of the Five Gods, were written to be stand-alones as part of a larger whole. However, the second volume certainly contains spoilersfor the first, so Curse-Paladin is the recommended readingorder. The third is in effect an independent prequel, not sharingcharacters or setting with the other two, so readers of the priorvolumes need to adjust their expectations going in. In any case, thepublication order is:
The Curse of Chalion
Paladin of Souls
The Hallowed Hunt
In terms of internal world chronology, The Hallowed Hunt would fall first, the Penric novellas perhaps a hundred and fifty years later, and The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls would follow a century or so after that.
Current internal chronology of the Penric & Desdemona tales is:
"Penric's Demon"
"Penric and the Shaman"
"Penric's Fox"
"Penric's Mission"
"Mira's Last Dance"
Other Original E-books
The short story collection ProtoZoa contains five very early tales--three (1980s) contemporary fantasy, two science fiction--all previously published but not in this handy format. The novelette "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" may be of interest to Vorkosigancompletists, as it is the first story in which that proto-universebegan, mentioning Beta Colony but before Barrayar was even thought of.
Sidelines:Talks and Essays is just what it says on the tin--a collection of three decades of mynonfiction writings, including convention speeches, essays, travelogues, introductions, and some less formal pieces. I hope it will prove aninteresting companion piece to my fiction.
The Vorkosigan Stories
Many pixels have been expended debating the 'best' order in which to readwhat have come to be known as the Vorkosigan Books (or Saga), theVorkosiverse, the Miles books, and other names. The debate mainlyrevolves around publication order versus internal-chronological order. I favor internal chronological, with a few adjustments.
Shards of Honor and Barrayar. The first two books in the series proper, they detail the adventures of Cordelia Naismith of Beta Colony and Aral Vorkosigan of Barrayar. Shards was my very first novel ever; Barrayar was actually my eighth, but continues the tale the next day after the end of Shards. For readers who want to be sure of beginning at the beginning, or who are very spoiler-sensitive, start with these two.
The Warrior's Apprentice and The Vor Game (with, perhaps, the novella "The Mountains of Mourning" tucked in between.) The Warrior's Apprentice introduces the character who became the series' linchpin, MilesVorkosigan; the first book tells how he created a space mercenary fleetby accident; the second how he fixed his mistakes from the first round.Space opera and military-esque adventure (and a number of other thingsone can best discover for oneself), The Warrior's Apprentice makes another good place to jump into the series for readers who prefer a young male protagonist.
After that: Brothers in Arms should be read before Mirror Dance, and both, ideally, before Memory.
Komarr makes another alternate entry point for the series, picking up Miles's second career at its start. It should be read before A Civil Campaign.
Borders of Infinity, a collection of three of the five currently extant novellas, makes agood Miles Vorkosigan early-adventure sampler platter, I always thought, for readers who don't want to commit themselves to length. (But it maymake more sense if read after The Warrior's Apprentice.) Take care not to confuse the collection-as-a-whole with its title story, "The Borders of Infinity".
Falling Free takes place 200 years earlier in the timeline and does not sharesettings or characters with the main body of the series. Most readersrecommend picking up this story later. It should likely be read before Diplomatic Immunity, however,which revisits the "quaddies", a bioengineered race of free-fall dwellers, in Miles's time.
The novels in the internal-chronological list below appear in italics; thenovellas (officially defined as a story between 17,500 word sand 40,000words) in quote marks.
Falling Free
Shards of Honor
Barrayar
The Warrior's Apprentice
"The Mountains of Mourning"
"Weatherman"
The Vor Game
Cetaganda
Ethan of Athos
Borders of Infinity
"Labyrinth"
"The Borders of Infinity"
Brothers in Arms
Mirror Dance
Memory
Komarr
A Civil Campaign
"Winterfair Gifts"
Diplomatic Immunity
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
CryoBurn
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
Caveats:
The novella "Weatherman" is an out-take from the beginning of the novel The Vor Game. If you already have The Vor Game, you likely don't need this.
The original 'novel' Borders of Infinity was a fix-up collection containing the three novellas "The Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth", and "The Borders of Infinity", together with aframe to tie the pieces together. Again, beware duplication. The framestory does not stand alone.
Happy reading!
-- Lois McMaster Bujold
Product details
- Publisher : Earthlight; First Edition (January 1, 2003)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0743468422
- ISBN-13 : 978-0743468428
- Item Weight : 5.6 ounces
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,228,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #17,714 in Military Science Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
A science fiction legend, Lois McMaster Bujold is one of the most highly regarded speculative fiction writers of all time. She has won three Nebula Awards and six Hugo Awards, four for best novel, which matches Robert A. Heinlein's record. Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan saga is a massively popular science fiction mainstay. The mother of two, Ms. Bujold lives in Minneapolis.
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SETTING: Barrayar is a warrior-like race that came out of an age of isolation into the galactic age. They have an Emperor and then a layer of Counts who make up the aristocracy of Barrayar. Each Count is responsible for a District of people, put together, these Districts comprise the entire planet. They cling to their traditions and their aristocratic rules and values.
In contrast, Beta Colony is a highly technical and evolved world, where everything is egalitarian. Sexual mores are very much looser, including the three sexes, males, female and hermaphrodite. They do a lot of medical research and breakthroughs on Beta Colony, and everything is publicized to the people, there are no homeless, just a middle class and higher, you can always get food, and you can always get therapy.
PLOT: The plot of this book is so twisted, it's curlier than the hair of a poodle. All of the books that I've read in the Vorogosigan series are that way. Not only is their plotting internally in both Barrayar but at Beta Colony too. The politics is rampant at the Imperial level, as well as through the military on Beta Colony. Both Beta Colony and Barrayar get mixed up in a war on opposite sides, which gives Cordelia her second opportunity to be a prisoner to Aral. By that time, the attraction was mutually exclusive. The time they spend together cements their bond,and they help each other to do what they need to do to get free of the situation they find themselves in. Later on, will Cordeilia make her escape to Aral, and will they have their happily ever after? Can a free Betan live on Barrayar? Will she fit in? Will she go crazy? Could Aral go to Beta after his war record?
CHARACTERIZATION: This is some of the best characterization that I've ever seen. These characters are so rich, they are like a souffle, just layers and layers of details all piled together to make a whole person. It is amazing that anyone can be this detailed with their characters and make them feel so human. Bujold is a genius in this area. Each character in the book is so unique, and so complete by themselves, even the secondary characters are complete in their own right. It's like she can't put a character on the page, unless it is a complete entity unto itself. Maybe those are just the rules she operates by. It works for me, because it makes for a rich work of fiction. She's turned Space Opera into an artform.
PACING: The pacing in these books is not quite breakneck, but it's close. You have to pay attention to details to make sure you know what's going on. Both Cordelia and Aral are brilliant strategists and tacticians so you have to keep up with their thinking. Especially when they leave out the details of what they are thinking and simply opt for action instead. They make one hell of a couple. When they are acting independently, knowing that it will help the other with their plans, kind of like a gift, it is always interesting. The action is always quick. There are no slow parts to this book. Not even the ending is slow. Just hold on for the ride and enjoy it. And believe me, you will enjoy all of the Vorogosigan books.
ENDING: The ending to this book was perfect. It wasn't too fast, or too slow. It happened just the way it should have. I can't imagine it happening any other way than the way it did. It was awesome. Some people do get what they want out of life, or at least part of what they want and this book is a perfect example of that.
DIALOGUE: You know the dialogue in the book is good when it doesn't register that you are reading all the "he said" and "she said" stuff and just roll with the conversations like you were really listening to people talking. That's what Bujold can do with her dialogue. It's so good it's amazing. Not one word is out of place in these conversations. Not one word rings untrue. Her dialogue is so natural that it could be you talking to a friend. I don't know how she does it, especially because each individual character has their own voice. Think about that! Not only natural but unique. If I had any awards I'd give her one too. This woman's a gem!
WORLDBUILDING: From the ground up she had to build Barrayar, Beta Colony, the planet being explored, and wee bit of Escobar. That's a lot of worldbuilding for a single book, but Bujold makes it look easy, creating worlds singlehandedly, with completely different flora and fauna, cultures, mores, standards, behavior, dress codes, histories, sciences, sexuality, sexes, politics, architecture, technology, thinking, informational distribution, security practices, intelligence gathering, government, societal norms, etc. This took a lot of thinking and research. My hat's off to you Ms. Bujold, you not only did your homework, you made these places feel real in a way that few people could.
All in all, Ms. Bujold has raised Space Opera from a genre to an artform. I have read half of the Vorogosigan series, and all the books are like this. Literally Amazing Stuff! If you like political thrillers, military thrillers, space operas, intelligence thrillers you are completely missing out. Just because the setting is in the future doesn't mean that the book isn't good. These are some of the most intelligently written and plotted political, military and intelligence thrillers that I've ever read, they just happen in space, that's the only difference. Don't miss out, because you think space opera is for nerds, these books aren't that way. Try Warriors Apprentice first with Miles Vorogosigan, you'll never look back. You'll be hooked. I'd give this six stars if I could. There are very few books like this. They now have e-book versions too.
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.
Then her crew gets attacked, she storms back to see what's happening and nearly gets killed. When she wakes up, it's to find a stoic enemy soldier watching her, after apparently deciding to take her prisoner.
They set off to a cache he has somewhere on the planet, ship-tease ensues, they meet some fascinating and freakily dangerous critters, and have a run-in with politics. Well, it's politics that got them stranded in the first place, but whatever. And that's just the beginning.
The main criticism I have for this book is the romance, really, which would have most Disney princesses stunned at the speed. They didn't even have the time for a romantic duet!
Another would be that Cordelia develops PTSD. Well, that's casting it broad. I think the PTSD itself is very well done and it's very understandable that she'd develop it, but it comes on very suddenly from the reader's side of things.
Cordelia has a good wit and a sharp tongue, making every other sentence out of her mouth something to smile, or just chuckle grimly, at.
Top reviews from other countries
Have lost track of how many times I’ve read these books. Bought on kindle for convenience (as it turns out I also have 2 hard copies).