Shards of Honor
It's been a few years since I started the Vorkosigan series, and I wanted to go back and revisit the beginning for a number of reasons. Partly because the only unread book I have left is the new Cordelia book, and I wanted to brush up on her and Aral's relationship before I picked that up. And partly because Cordelia's pregnancy in Barrayar has been on my mind since I got pregnant. Shards of Honor is short and in the same omnibus as Barrayar, so it was easy to just go ahead and read it, too.
I was worried that this book wouldn't hold up. The series as a whole gets much better as it progresses, both as the world becomes more detailed and as Bujold becomes a better writer. Plus, I tried to make Kevin read this once, and he never finished it. So I was pleased to discover that I enjoyed this book even more the second time through.
A lot of that is how familiar I am with these worlds now. The history of Barrayar is familiar to me, so I'm not constantly puzzling out the timing of major historical events. I could relax into the story a little more and pay attention to the characters. Which is great, because Bujold's characters are fantastic.
The book still lurches months into the future a couple of times, but it didn't bother me as much this time around. Perhaps because I knew what was happening, or perhaps because I was just so happy to be back at the beginning of it all. At any rate, the transitions didn't pull me out of the story this time through. Though I do think they could have been a bit smoother.
The thing the really amazes me is how easily Shards of Honor flows into Barrayar. It's partly because they're bound in the same book, so I just read them one right after the other. But I'm already having trouble remembering where exactly the first one ends and the second one begins. It makes sense; Barrayar is very much a continuation of the same story. But they were written 5 or 6 years apart, so achieving that level of cohesion is pretty amazing. As is the way this barely sketched out world supports all the details that come later. Bujold has a unique mind for building up stories.
I was worried that this book wouldn't hold up. The series as a whole gets much better as it progresses, both as the world becomes more detailed and as Bujold becomes a better writer. Plus, I tried to make Kevin read this once, and he never finished it. So I was pleased to discover that I enjoyed this book even more the second time through.
A lot of that is how familiar I am with these worlds now. The history of Barrayar is familiar to me, so I'm not constantly puzzling out the timing of major historical events. I could relax into the story a little more and pay attention to the characters. Which is great, because Bujold's characters are fantastic.
The book still lurches months into the future a couple of times, but it didn't bother me as much this time around. Perhaps because I knew what was happening, or perhaps because I was just so happy to be back at the beginning of it all. At any rate, the transitions didn't pull me out of the story this time through. Though I do think they could have been a bit smoother.
The thing the really amazes me is how easily Shards of Honor flows into Barrayar. It's partly because they're bound in the same book, so I just read them one right after the other. But I'm already having trouble remembering where exactly the first one ends and the second one begins. It makes sense; Barrayar is very much a continuation of the same story. But they were written 5 or 6 years apart, so achieving that level of cohesion is pretty amazing. As is the way this barely sketched out world supports all the details that come later. Bujold has a unique mind for building up stories.
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