Shards of Honor

The Vorkosigan Saga, Lois McMaster Bujold's science-fiction epic, is one of those series that wasn't written in order. This means that the publication order doesn't match the internal chronological order, which results in a lot of fights about what order you're supposed to read the books in. Add in the fact that most of the series has been reprinted in omnibus collections that don't necessarily match either of those orders, and jumping into this series is a bit confusing. So I decided to just pick a starting point and go from there. By the time I've read the whole thing, it should all make sense, right? Assuming I can track down all the short stories, anyway, which can be more difficult to find.

I picked up Cordelia's Honor, which contains Shards of Honor (the first published novel and third in the series) and Barrayar (the thirteenth published work and fifth in the series). This was mostly because the first book was published in 1986, fulfilling the challenge to read a book from the year you were born in January. It's close enough to the beginning of the series that I don't feel like I'm jumping in in the middle of things. And the two books together comprise one complete character arc.

Shards of Honor is, essentially, a romance set against a backdrop of war. Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan are soldiers on two opposing sides of a galactic war who fall in love. The book opens with their first meeting, when Vorkosigan takes Cordelia prisoner, and ends shortly after their marriage. Both of the characters are fascinating and expertly drawn. They're fantastic people, and I was definitely rooting for them to get together from the beginning. Which makes the foregone conclusion that much more pleasurable.

The book jumps around a bit. There are three distinct acts: Cordelia's time as Vorkosigan's prisoner, Cordelia's time as a soldier in the war, and the time after the war when Cordelia decides to leave her home and family behind. Each section is well written, but there's very little transition between them. The story simply lurches ahead a few months at a time to get to the next plot point, which was a little jarring.

From what I've heard, this is one of the weak points of the series, as it was early going and comes pretty close to the beginning of Bujold's career. The next book is supposed to be a lot better. I'm looking forward to reading something a bit more polished and to spending some more time in Cordelia's head.

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