Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series - Shards of Honor (Book 1)

I think I found Lois McMaster Bujold in my UK Borders store which I think means probably between 2000-2005. I cannot remember which story I read first I think it was Warrior’s Apprentice I may have actually came to Bujold through her excellent Curse of Chalion novel first; but I do remember being fascinated that by the time I had read this there was a huge series in the same universe that I’d not previously heard of. The books can be hard to get hold of in the UK (especially when Borders shut) so I recall a lot of second-hand purchases online

Why this has stayed with me is Bujold in many ways like Pratchett evolves her series. It can be frothy, and adventure focused but it can also at the same go to some dark places and explore some great themes. So, I think for this series I’m going to work through publication order just to see how it slowly pieces itself together.

I think I’ve already covered 1986 in a Pratchett, but I will note in my copy author’s notes suggest the books began in 1982. It’s interesting to note that we start a series with one character and in the next jump to their male offspring. We will after this adventure return to Cordelia and Vorkosigan’s earlier adventures in a few book’s time but instead the saga focuses on their offspring

My copy was a double bill with Barrayar

Publisher – Baen

Published – 1999

Price - $7.99 paperback

When Cordelia Naismith and her survey crew are attacked by a renegade group from Barrayar, she is taken prisoner by Aral Vorkosigan, commander of the Barrayan ship that has been taken over by an ambitious and ruthless crew member. Aral and Cordelia survive countless mishaps while their mutual admiration and even stronger feelings emerge.

Learning to balances tones in a novel is really hard. You can be funny and explore quite serious subjects and you can be pretty damn dark and still have a fine line in humour. But it’s a balancing act and learning how to do that takes time as skill develops. One of the things I’m already seeing in these readalongs is that early work feels just a tad rougher and as a reviewer we can usually spot a debut novelist. In Shards of Honour we have an enemies to lovers romance plot merged with some truly space opera-esque space political shenanigans and a harrowing look at wartime horrors but while ambitious it I think just falls misses the landing. But happily, Bujold’s ability to create fascinating characters and scenarios creates a good foundation for the future.

Cordelia Naismith is from the Betan colonies a very liberal democratic planet that has been exploring a new planet and they run into the conservative and generally felt to be on the edge of barbaric Barrayan fleet. Who attack her crew and weirdly at the same time their leader the notorious Aral Vorkosigan known as a ferocious warlord. The two have to work together to get to a place of safety and Cordelia finds the actual Vorkosigan to be very different to his reputation and the situation on Barrayar also is much more complicated than you initially imagine. Several months later the two are once again forced to join forces despite a war in space going on and then the two really do need to talk honestly to each other…

I’m very interested in how I react to this book circa 20 years later. This is a great case of me being a little wiser and more aware of the tropes that appear in the novel. This could also be that I’ve not jumped straight into the other better book in the double bill pack I have (which was published later) and develops the two leads a lot more.

What I really enjoyed was the approach for Cordelia and Aral. Cordelia is just ultra-competent for most of the novel. Betans are notoriously independent but she is happy to lead and listen to her crew so when contrasted to the reserved and resolute Aral who values his own men, they are both different and similar. Cordelia puts her crew’s safety first and Aral too is a man of honour. These two people on alleged opposite sides have lot more in common and that definitely leads to a professional and not so professional chemistry. This does lead to you saying please why don’t you two kiss at several moments in the story. My one niggle much later in the book Cordelia is stuck with her people and her character feels very off in those scenes compared to the competent women we have seen up to that point and she soon reverts back to form a few scenes later.

The rougher part of the story is the war the two finds themselves in. I liked the reveal that Barrayar is a society in conflict with itself. We find that Aral is much more progressive than you’d expect in an emperor led society; Aral is working to prevent more violent and crueller elements taking hold such as the Emperor’s disturbing son. These political battles and the impact on Aral being torn between honour and progress made for really interesting reading. Imagine an east european empire in space but with more of a roman emperor’s approach to absolute rule.

But while those sections really work the cruelty of the barrayan leaders defaults often less to suppression of freedom and the horrors of war towards instead sexual violence and rape. We cannot airbrush that sexual violence is something that has happened in wartime, but the novel is not really exploring that subject instead it’s just to show how evil a villain is. I really dislike the idea that if we want to show how bad a villain is then let’s show them threaten or perform rape. One particular sequence reading now feels very uncomfortable to read and really doesn’t help the plot. There is an attempt later in the story to ask what we should do with the consequences of rape, but it again doesn’t feel very well explored at all. Knowing how Bujold develops on feminism as a writer it feels a product of its time very much, but I think these areas detract from the story.

With that caveat I still would recommend this book to new readers just be warned its flawed. Bujold can do great worldbuilding and plotting plus creates some really memorable characters early on. But you can feel its not quite where she is aiming for. Perhaps that’s why the next book jumped a generation? Be fascinated in your own thoughts!

Next time – We meet Miles Vorkosigan in The Warrior’s Apprentice!