Rating: 
Summary: Probably the best first novel that I have ever read
Review: A great adventure/love story. Really well written, with genuine conflict and characters that you come to care about. This is the first of the "Miles Vor Kosigan" books, and tells the story of how his parents met, and how he came to be maimed before he was born. A great introduction to a great series
Rating:
Summary: Military enough for us guys and romantic enough for the gals
Review: Although this is definitely science-fiction, it has the feel of a romantic but adventurous best seller. If you strip it to the bones, you'll find a story of a woman falling in love with an enemy commander. However, that would make it sound like a woman's book. It's also about a man torn between duty as a military officer and his sense of honor as a human being, and that makes it a man's book. As you'll see in the other reviews, this tells the story of Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan, eventual parents of Miles Vorkosigan who becomes the main character of the series. However, this covers the beginning, before Miles. It begins with the attack on an astronomical survey team which has the effect of most members fleeing off planet. Cordelia Naismith and her botanist, who is attacked and left helpless and senseless, are captured by Aral Vorkosigan who's been abandoned by a group of mutineers. Forced to trust each other to survive, they predictably fall in love, but their separate allegainces cause considerable complications. There are space battles, political conflicts and bloodshed enough for the adventure fan and emotional situations enough for a romance fan. It's told from Cordelia's viewpoint, but don't let that scare away any men. There's plenty of action here, and there's intrigue. There's keen insight into opposing viewpoints of conflict situations. We're shown both the Betan perspective and the Barrayaran perspective, and we learn that the truth of a conflict lies between the two perspectives, not from one alone. There's much more here. I recommend you read it for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Military enough for us guys and romantic enough for the gals
Review: Although this is definitely science-fiction, it has the feel of a romantic but adventurous best seller. If you strip it to the bones, you'll find a story of a woman falling in love with an enemy commander. However, that would make it sound like a woman's book. It's also about a man torn between duty as a military officer and his sense of honor as a human being, and that makes it a man's book. As you'll see in the other reviews, this tells the story of Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan, eventual parents of Miles Vorkosigan who becomes the main character of the series. However, this covers the beginning, before Miles. It begins with the attack on an astronomical survey team which has the effect of most members fleeing off planet. Cordelia Naismith and her botanist, who is attacked and left helpless and senseless, are captured by Aral Vorkosigan who's been abandoned by a group of mutineers. Forced to trust each other to survive, they predictably fall in love, but their separate allegainces cause considerable complications. There are space battles, political conflicts and bloodshed enough for the adventure fan and emotional situations enough for a romance fan. It's told from Cordelia's viewpoint, but don't let that scare away any men. There's plenty of action here, and there's intrigue. There's keen insight into opposing viewpoints of conflict situations. We're shown both the Betan perspective and the Barrayaran perspective, and we learn that the truth of a conflict lies between the two perspectives, not from one alone. There's much more here. I recommend you read it for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: A somewhat corny, but interesting scifi novel
Review: Bujold's resourceful and cunning super agent Miles Vorkosigan can be better understood after reading about the exploits of his exceptional parents. The story is somewhat contrived and the coincidences are difficult to swallow, but the interaction and dialogue create a vivid picture that can be compelling at times. Some of "background" characters are one-dimensional and the main characters are too perfect, but it is still a good read if you have time to kill.
Rating:
Summary: Good, and worth it for the history
Review: Get this straight. This is not Miles's story. This is not Mark's story. This is the story of how their parents Arel & Cordelia met. More than anything, this is Cordelia's story. Shards of Honor is not written as well as the later books in the series. Surprise! The author is capable of improvement. It is, however a good space opera, a good love story, and a good read with a very appealing, tough, heroine. Knowing the character of Cordelia explains a lot about her influence on Barryarran society as it shows up in the later books in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: It's okay
Review: I actually do have a condition that makes me short with brittle bones (it's called osteogenesis imperfecta) so I was curious about the vorkosigan saga. This book was okay, but not great. It struck me as being like a Star Trek book or a romance novel. I like series, but this had too much of a "to be contibued" feel. The others must be better since they won so many Hugos. In short it's okay, but if this is the best thing you've resd you should read more.
Rating:
Summary: Sold on another series
Review: I blame Amazon[.com] for this. Bujold kept coming up in my recommendations based on other authors I had been buying, so I decided to take a look. The result was me reading all of the Vorkosigan series in about two weeks. Life had to go on hold. Anyway, complaints aside, I am happy to report it was worth the time. I suppose this is the first novel in the Vorkosigan saga as it is the first time we actually meet a Vorkosigan (being the family name of the main protagonists of the series). It doesn't star Miles Vorkosigan however, who is the "star" of the series if you like, but rather his parents and their first meeting. Bujold stated in one of her afterwords that she aimed for the books to stand alone and they all do that admirably, while also building an interesting universe for her to play with as a collection. This one certainly does and is a pleasing mix of all the great stuff that goes into SF - the whole "space opera" mix of battle and romance that the best of it still boils down to. Cordelia Naismith is Captain of a survey spaceship for the Beta colony, an advanced technological democracy in the "Bujoldiverse". Exploring a new planet, her party runs afoul of a group of thugs from the fuedal planet Barrayar who are apparently doing the same thing and want to make sure they get the point across that they were there first. Of course, being backward and aggresive there is treason afoot, and the Barrayaran captain, Aral Vorkosigan, is abandoned by bad elements in his crew. The rest of the book is largely about their relationship and the beginning of the liberalisation of the Barrayaran culture that is a theme to the whole series, and I wouldn't want to spoil it for you.
Rating:
Summary: Sold on another series
Review: I blame Amazon[.com] for this. Bujold kept coming up in my recommendations based on other authors I had been buying, so I decided to take a look. The result was me reading all of the Vorkosigan series in about two weeks. Life had to go on hold. Anyway, complaints aside, I am happy to report it was worth the time. I suppose this is the first novel in the Vorkosigan saga as it is the first time we actually meet a Vorkosigan (being the family name of the main protagonists of the series). It doesn't star Miles Vorkosigan however, who is the "star" of the series if you like, but rather his parents and their first meeting. Bujold stated in one of her afterwords that she aimed for the books to stand alone and they all do that admirably, while also building an interesting universe for her to play with as a collection. This one certainly does and is a pleasing mix of all the great stuff that goes into SF - the whole "space opera" mix of battle and romance that the best of it still boils down to. Cordelia Naismith is Captain of a survey spaceship for the Beta colony, an advanced technological democracy in the "Bujoldiverse". Exploring a new planet, her party runs afoul of a group of thugs form the fuedal planet Barrayar who are apparently doing the same thing and want to make sure they get the point across that they were there first. Of course, being backward and aggresive there is treason afoot, and the Barrayaran captain, Aral Vorkosigan, is abandoned by bad elements in his crew. The rest of the book is largely about their relationship and the beginning of the liberalisation of the Barrayaran culture that is a theme to the whole series, and I wouldn't want to spoil it for you.
Rating:
Summary: A great start for a brilliant series
Review: I consider Bujold our most unappreciated author of the nineties. Although Mirror Dance, Barrayar and the Vor Game all won Hugos, many readers have yet to read her works. Shards of Honor, not only begins the Vorkosigan story, it also was her first published novel.
Rating:
Summary: What does Honor mean to you?
Review: I had never heard of Miles Vorkosigan when I read Shards of Honor; I love his novels dearly, but this book will always be first in my heart. Though it has a great deal of humor, it is not a fun adventure story; it is a profound exploration of a question that haunts leaders of all times and ages: do the ends justify the means? If your honor meant more to you than anything in the world, would you sacrifice it to save your world from falling into the hands of a demented would-be Hitler? This is the story of an honorable man who must choose between two evils so great that his honor is broken, shattered, with either choice -- and the story of a woman of profound understanding and insight. Shards of Honor is a book of harrowing trials of the soul, of true love that is real rather than romantic, of mistakes both humorous and painful made when cultures collide, and of deep psychological truths; its quality, and its depth, will astound and delight you. Perhaps, like me, you will laugh, and cry, and think more deeply about truth and honor.
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