(Beta is extremely socially progressive Barrayar has a rigid, traditional and militaristic society.) Their groups clash in a deadly meeting, and Aral and Cordelia are abandoned among the dead and wounded. She’s the Betan captain of a surveying team exploring an uninhabited (she thinks) planet he’s the commander of a Barrayaran military outpost on that planet. I was a little mystified but interested enough to check out more books in this series from the library.Īnd eventually I ended up here, with Shards of Honor, and Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan’s first meeting. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, that book was not the best place to start with this series it assumes a lot of background knowledge about the characters and events in their lives and really isn’t characteristic of the series, with its focus on romance and social satire over adventure. Shards of Honor (often packaged with Barrayar and sold as Cordelia's Honor) is one of those SF space opera books that I love beyond reason and pull off my bookshelf every few years to reread, contentedly immersing myself in Bujold’s well-imagined world and the relationship between two characters I adore.Ī bit of background: I started my VORKOSIGAN SAGA experience years ago when I grabbed A Civil Campaign off the library shelves, and was introduced to the very short, brilliant, terrifyingly competent and wildly adventurous Miles Vorkosigan.

An all-time SF favorite! Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:

Shards of honor book