Shards of Honor

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Synopsis

Cordelia Naismith is captain of a science vessel that was sent by her home world of Beta Colony to explore a distant planet. While on the surface, her party is attacked by a group of Barrayarans, who are considered enemies of the Betans. Most of her group escapes in their shuttle, but she and one other crew member, who is badly injured, are left behind. They're captured by Aral Vorkosigan, who she quickly learns is the commander of a Barrayaran vessel whose crew has mutinied. He knows of a place on the planet where his people have stashed supplies, but in order to access the area and regain command of his crew, he'll need help. Cordelia and Aral must trust each other as a matter of survival, but she soon realizes that he's not the monster she would have expected. An attraction takes root between them, and once they're safely aboard his ship, he offers a surprise marriage proposal. However, when Cordelia's crew makes a daring rescue, she goes with them, leaving Aral behind.

Six months later, she's given command of a new ship that is being sent to aid allies in their battle against Barrayar, where she once again finds herself captured, this time by a sadistic Barrayaran officer, but she's later saved again by Aral who hides her while a political firestorm of machinations plays out, until he can safely get her back home. But when home is no longer the welcoming place she's known all her life and she's accused of being under Barrayaran mind control, she finds herself fleeing back to the arms of the one man she's fallen in love with and knows she can trust.

Review

Shards of Honor is the second book in Lois McMasters Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga if you're reading them according to the internal series chronology, which is what the author suggests. However, it's the first book that actually follows the Vorkosigan family. We're introduced to Cordelia Naismith, a resident of Beta Colony, who is captain of a science vessel exploring a distant planet. While on the ground doing their work, the group is attacked by Barrayarans, people from yet another planet who Cordelia views as rather barbaric. Most of her crew escape in a shuttle, but she and one other man are left behind, where they're captured by Aral Vorkosigan, who she quickly learns is the commander of his own ship, which was recently overtaken by mutineers. The two must learn to trust each other and work together on the long trek to an area where the Barrayarans have stashed supplies and eventually retake his ship. During their time together, Cordelia comes to realize that Aral is kinder than she expected a Barrayaran to be, and that he's not such a bad guy after all. In fact, she finds herself attracted to him, and once they're safe, he offers her a surprise marriage proposal. But when her crew come to her rescue, she ends up leaving him to return home. Six months later, she's given command of a ship that is meant to support the planet Escobar in their fight against the Barrayarans. Once again, Cordelia is captured, this time by a sadistic Barrayaran officer, but she's rescued from his clutches by none other than Aral Vorkosigan, who hides her until it's safe for her to return home. It also becomes apparent that nothing is as it seems, when people seem to double and triple-cross each other to get the upper hand. When Cordelia is finally able to go home, it isn't the warm, inviting place she recalls. Instead she finds herself accused of being under Barrayaran mind control, which drives her to leave home in search of the man she's come to love.

The bulk of the story is told from Cordelia's perspective. Her home of Beta Colony seems perhaps a bit more Earth-like in that women have at least a decent amount of rights and are allowed to go into battle. Of course, she starts out commanding the science vessel, but that goes south pretty quickly when the Betans accidentally walk into the middle of a Barrayaran mutiny. Cordelia is a very direct and cerebral person who is cool under pressure, but she's also very compassionate and honorable. When Aral takes her hostage, I like how she insisted on burying her dead officer first and taking her injured crew member with her even though there was little hope of him recovering. Once she realizes that Aral isn't as bad as she'd always thought Barrayarans to be, she's able to trust him and help him get to their supply depot, as well as retake control of his ship. She's tough and no-nonsense, dealing with both times she's captured with a matter-of-fact attitude. I like that she's smart and can give back as good as she gets in a verbal sparring match, but when it comes to physical fights or killing people she always seems to err on the side of minimizing violence. I think the only thing that gave me pause is that during her second capture by the sadistic Barrayaran officer, she faces the prospect of being raped in a pretty blasé manner, which was maybe a bit too much to be believed. This part of the story bothered me, too, because of how it seems to be brushed off rather than treated with the gravity it deserved. Otherwise, I really liked Cordelia and thought she was a great character, very heroic and someone who cared a lot about other people.

Aral is a rather stoic character who seems kind of like the typical alpha male. His home planet of Barrayar appears to be rather socially backward, steeped in traditional gender roles that aren't very friendly toward women, and still engaging in arranged marriages. Aral was once married, but it ended badly with his wife committing suicide. He's now a forty-four-year-old officer who has been through a lot of ups and downs in his military career, but ultimately his allegiance seems to be to his emperor. Throughout the story, he does what he feels he has to do for the good of Barrayar even though his actions end up being damaging to his psyche. I like that when he first encounters Cordelia, he immediately has respect for her and allows her to care for the crew members that are still on planet, both dead and alive, and even helps her in that endeavor. I think it showed that in spite of his upbringing on a planet that seems rather misogynistic that he has scruples and those scruples extend to not allowing a woman in his custody to be abused in any way. I believe that Aral was also an honorable man, although that honor gets banged up a bit as he navigates the complexities of the political climate on his planet, which has left him with a whole lot of bad options. Ultimately I respected him and thought he was a good character.

I had previously read Falling Free, a prequel to the series that takes place in the same universe but a much earlier timeline and really enjoyed it. I'd also heard great things about the series, so I was excited to meet the Vorkosigans and really get into the meat of their family saga. Overall, I liked Shards of Honor and thought it was a pretty good story, but it didn't quite make it to keeper status for me. This was Lois McMasters Bujold's debut novel, and as such, I felt it showed a bit of her greenness as a writer. I thought the characterizations could have gone a little deeper. Don't get me wrong, I liked Cordelia and Aral, and we do learn things about their pasts. But those things don't really appear to inform their decisions much or explain what makes them tick. Generally the story is more plot driven with one event leading into another and so on, rather than really settling down into some intense world-building and deep character persepctives. There are also often significant time jumps between events. In general, there just seemed to be more emphasis on the action than on the characters and their relationships to one another. I realize this isn't a romance novel, but since the series came recommended to me by other romance readers, I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed on that front, too. There are a few hints of a physical attraction on Cordelia's part, and it's obvious that Aral respects Cordelia, but their romance, if you will, is mostly devoid of any emotions. It's just a magical thing that plays out in the background each time they see one another.

I don't want my critique to make it sound like I disliked the book, though. It's a fun adventure story, full of action, space battles, and political maneuvering. I think that both Cordelia and Aral are interesting characters who clearly have more story to tell. Aral seems to regard Cordelia as his conscience, while she's accepting of him, in spite of all his faults and foibles. I think they have the potential to be a great power couple and it seems that they'll get their chance for that in the next book, Barrayar. While Shards of Honor might not have reached the heights of perfection for me, it was certainly enjoyable enough to make me want to continue with the series to see what kind of new adventures Cordelia and Aral and their future family might have. My hope is that as the saga continues the author's writing skills will become more tightly honed.

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Lois McMasters Bujold