Rating: 
Summary: To exude honor like a fountain...
Review: I have a good friend who to all intents and purposes is a normal everyday housewife, but who just happens to own the most spectacular collection of sci-fi you can possibly imagine. A few years ago she handed me "Test of Honor"; an omnibus containing "Shards of Honor" and "The Warrior's Apprentice", both by legendary sci-fi writer Lois McMaster Bujold. "Prepare to fall in love," she told me, and she was right. McMaster is a must-read for anyone who considers themselves a fan of science fiction. "Shards of Honor" was the first McMaster I read, and while not quite up to the level of "The Warrior's Apprentice" (which was definitely her masterpiece and one of the greatest sci-fi novels of all time), it is still a splendid introduction to her work and the world of Miles Vorkosigan."Shards of Honor" details the meeting and subsequent romance of Miles' parents, Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan, on a backwater planet during an interplanetary skirmish. Despite belonging to opposing sides of the conflict they fall in love and the rest of the novel chronicles their adventures (together and apart) as they struggle to survive both physically and spiritually in a time of war. This book will be especially interesting to those who love the Miles Vorkosigan character; as he is an exact blend of his parent's more spectacular qualities. As with all of McMaster's books, "Shards of Honor" moves at a breathtaking pace and is crammed with wonderful dialogue and characters. If you haven't yet read any of her books, "Shards of Honor" is a great place to start, but if you are only going to read one, I would have to say let it be "The Warrior's Apprentice", the next in the series and the first to feature Miles. McMaster hit an all-time high with "Apprentice" which she hasn't yet managed to duplicate, but "Shards of Honor" belongs alongside "Borders of Infinity" as her next-best work. Recommended. GRADE: A-
Rating:
Summary: good book, great tapes
Review: I have been a fan of Lois McMaster Bujold's books for many years now, and I love audiobooks. So I was thrilled when I heard that The Reader's Chair planned to release all of Bujold's books in unabridged audio format. It took me a while to make the plunge ($42 is not cheap), but I don't regret a second. I loved SHARDS OF HONOR on first reading, and I was not disappointed in the audio version. It took some time to get used to two voices reading all of the roles, but both Carol Cowan and Michael Hanson have the ability to alter their voices just enough to give separate voices to the different characters. Several of the dialogue scenes were riveting when spoken. I have since bought the audio version of BARRAYAR and, most recently, THE WARRIOR'S APPRENTICE. These audiobooks are worth every penny. Thanks to The Reader's Chair for putting out such wonderful products. Keep 'em coming...
Rating:
Summary: The Best, The First
Review: I was lucky in that when I discovered the writings of Lois McMaster Bujold, I read the first book in the Vorcosigan Series. For me it will always be the best. It needs to be read first to really understand the Vorcosigans and Barrayar itself. It is highly readable, the characters are "human" and personable. I was delighted when I realized that this was the first of a series of books and have eagerly awaited each edition to the family.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING: Adventure, honor and true love.
Review: I was reading a book yesterday which made me feel like I was in an exciting new world. I absolutely fell in love with the main characters, and there were moments of excitement, true love and romance, terror, mirth and of delight. The experience was lovely. After finishing the book, I found that I was so in love with the characters and the experience of sharing their lives, that I felt sadness, even grief over not being able to continue in the world created by this author. After all, one can only read a book once in awhile to experience it fully, because the feelings evoked, the sense of interest and excitement fades with familiarity. After this experience, I found myself pondering what was so important to me about this book, what made this experience so positive, so important. Why did I wish with all my heart that these people lived in my world? Why did I yearn to be a part of their lives in a real way? Why did I want to be them, or know them? As I pondered my feelings, I realized that these characters, which so fascinated me, lived with a very deep code of honor, sometimes at great personal expense. This code was an intrinsic part of the make up of their being. The ongoing struggle to live according to these deep values was exciting, and created tension and drama. Over and over again, it was evident that these characters struggled with the importance of personal honor, of keeping one's word, of living consistently by their code. Sometimes they succeeded, and sometimes they had to set aside the code, for the greater good. Does living by a code of honor make things humorous; I don't know. Or perhaps honor gives one a way of looking at the world that facilitates laughter sometimes, and then tears as well, sometimes. Villains were portrayed as humans that had so immersed themselves in vice that they had lost their code, and turned into monsters, albeit predictable monsters, capable of the most hideous acts of depravity against others. In fact, the ability to brutalize those that were trying to live by honor gave them pleasure and satisfaction. Personal honor was not important to these characters, except the ability to undermine it in others and enjoy their pain. Feeding their lust for physical and emotional sensation was an important motivator for them. Gratification of their egos was important, winning was important, but honor was not. And there was one key character to whom loyalty was the only code of honor. This character was honorable within his relationships to key dominant characters, but he had no code otherwise, and could be influenced to perform horrific acts. Although his emotional make up was warped and sadistic, this character was ultimately sympathetic as he struggled with his own flaws, and tried to redeem himself from acts that are almost beyond redemption. Although this is probably the third time I have read this book over the years, reading it this time moved me every bit as much as when I read it the first time. I wish I could forget it and then read it again. The experience was lovely, and I recommend it highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Honor in the enemy.
Review: In Ms. Bujold's first novel, the central character, Cordelia Naismith, is on an apparently isolated planet doing a survey when she and her unit are attacked by another military force. She finds herself, at the start of this war, trapped with the local head of the enemy, Vorkosigan. They forge an understanding between each other, learning the true basis of what may be a meaningless war. Although the events in "Falling Free" technically occur a couple of centuries before "Shards of Honor," this is the novel that really begins the popular Vorkosigan series.
Rating:
Summary: Courage and Compassion
Review: It's a familiar plot in SF fan fiction: good-guy female character finds herself trapped with ominous bad-guy male character, but gradually wins his respect and then passionate love. And in fact, "Shards of Honor" had its first incarnation as a tale of a Star Trek Federation officer making a forced trek with a Klingon. But instead of disappearing into a fanzine, it morphed into an original tale, spawned a new universe, and began one of the most popular SF series in recent years. Cordelia Naismith, commanding a survey expedition from the high-tech, sophisticated world of Beta Colony, is captured by Aral Vorkosigan, a warrior lord of the backward planet Barrayar. Barrayar has just emerged from a centuries-long isolation during which its people seemed to entertain themselves largely by fighting each other. Their skills stood them in good stead when they were invaded by the imperialist Cetagandans, and they promptly brought themselves up to speed technically and launched their own program of galactic conquest. Cordelia is an intelligent, courageous woman, and Aral is just dripping with conflicted tormented warrior angst, so their falling in love is predictable and satisfying. But this isn't a Harlequin with rayguns; the characters are products of two widely differing cultures, and represent their cultures in the increasingly tangled political and moral dilemmas they encounter. And Aral isn't an ordinary ship captain. He's a high-level player in Barrayaran politics, where the feudal interests of the old Counts clash with the centralization of the new Ministers, the mad Crown Price and his degenerate cronies are pushing for war, and the enigmatic Emperor manipulates them all for his own ends. Barrayar's harshness has shaped Aral's moral reflexes; he assumes that the weak are useless and dispensible, winner takes all, and his only choices are which side to take in the constant declared and undeclared wars that rage among his planet's ruling classes. In Cordelia, he meets someone with courage and honor equal to his own, whose values are often entirely different. She refuses to cooperate with him unless he agrees to spare a severely brain-injured man, and let her care for him. She doesn't know whether the man can be cured (and in fact he can't - the author doesn't insult us with phony happy endings), but she keeps him alive through an arduous trek across a strange planet. Cordelia comes down squarely on the side of compassion and hope, and has the practical skills to make it work. And Aral finds he sorely needs her brand of clear-eyed compassion when his Emperor forces him into resolving Barrayar's most pressing political problems at the cost of thousands of lives and his own honor... It isn't a grim moral tract, either. The adventures come fast and furious, and there's a good deal of humor in the culture clash of Barrayar vs. everybody else. (Pssst - take note of the freighter pilot Cordelia co-opts in her last escape. You'll laugh even more when reading the book after next.)
Rating:
Summary: Can't tear the two apart
Review: Once in the Betan Expeditionary Force
Cordelia Naismith, ship commander, laid a brand new course
They landed on a planet they thought uninhabited
Until an ambush left some crewmen dead The planet had been found before by men from Barrayar
Their leader was Vorkosigan, the "Butcher of Komarr"
But his ship had betrayed him, and hers had left the ground
They helped each other out and then they found If you cross a Betan with a Barrayaran Vor
One of them knows science and the other one knows war
Enemies they are but you can't tear the two apart
The Barrayaran steals the Betan's heart Next time they meet is in an interstellar war
The Barrayarans make a grab to capture Escobar
Cordelia's ship is captured by Vorkosigan's, and then
They help each other out once again If you cross a Betan with a Barrayaran Vor
One of them knows science and the other one knows war
Enemies they are but you can't tear the two apart
The Betan steals the Barrayaran's heart
Rating:
Summary: Great characters make a wonderful read.
Review: Prepare to be seduced by the fascinating characters and the wonderful writing in this highly recommended book. The quality worsmithing makes you want to reread every line, but the rapidly and easily flowing plot drags you madly along. If you have never read this writer (I hadn't) she is one of the gifted ones where you are drawn in the story and stay in the world till the end. This is an interesting universe, but you learn by seeing it, not being lectured about it. I have to admit I fell in love with both protagonists early on. If this was a movie, there would be clapping in the theater at the end.
I gave it a 9 instead of 10 because there is much about the universe I did not find out, and also because the climax of the characters' lives is obviously still to come.
Rating:
Summary: Sets the stage for the rest of the series
Review: Rating System:
1 star = abysmal; some books deserve to be forgotten
2 star = poor; a total waste of time
3 star = good; worth the effort
4 star = very good; what writing should be
5 star = fantastic; must own it and share it with others STORY: Cordelia Naismith meets Lord Aral Vorkosaigan while on opposite sides of the war. In the midst of political pressures and physical dangers, they dare to fall in love with each other while trying to avoid their destiny. MY FEEDBACK:
I picked this up because so many other books in this series have won the Hugo and/or Nebula. This book definitely sets the stage for what is to come: high political intrigue and assassinations; dangers that require bravery and courage; and events to challenge friendships and loyalty; and of course some romance. This book has all these in one sense or another. The friendship and loyalty of characters really stands out and makes you really love the character of Aral Vorkosaigan. This is also an intelligent story, where solutions are not only resolved by chance or brute force but clever use of what resources are at hand. It gave me the grand and subtle pleasantness I had when reading Asimov's Foundation series. It had just enough science in the fiction to be appreciated and it had just the right touch of romance so as not to turn some of us testosterone males off to the story. I really enjoyed this story and found it a very easy read.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a very interesting book
Review: Read it if you want to know about how Aral and Cordelia met. If you want to start reading about the Vorkosigans, this is not the book to start with. This will diminish your desire to read the other books. Shards of Honor: not much of a plot, not much of a ending, and not much in the middle either. I recommend that one starts with Barrayar.
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