Space Opera Fans discussion

The June 2018 THEMED pick is Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. The theme is Romance. Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Official description:
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.

Love this book! Wish they'd written more books about Cordelia and Aral than the first 2 books.

I first read Shards of Honor (first book) many years ago, then went on to read each of the books in the Vorkosigan Saga as it came out. I most recently read Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen (last book) and was taken aback because that wasn't how I remembered reading the Cordelia/Aral relationship. I am now reading Shards of Honor again (with the theme of Romance in mind, of course), and I have to say that the first book and the last book are about totally different people that happen to have the same names.

I really liked this book. Cordelia and Aral both felt both real and at the same time unexpected, the kind of people you'd like to know IRL. And the romance, while compelling, didn't take over the plot. Still plenty of action.

I went on immediately to Barrayar and enjoyed it. Then I started The Warrior's Apprentice, but I'm having trouble with it. I just don't believe it.

Whether within a single volume or a series, one of the evidences of intelligent writing is that characters change as do the majority of people we know. As the extent of experiences and the characters of Cordelia and Aral were not fully disclosed in the early books, they are bound to be more telling than those we witnessed in Miles, whose thoughts and motivations were fully shown by Ms. Bujold from the third (or fourth) book onward. Your observations are excellent and, in my estimation, accurate. Thanks.

I've loved all the Vorkosigan books I've read. I just wish we got to see more with Aral and Cordelia than those first two books.

I also love Warrior's Apprentice.... not sure what Betsy doesn't believe. It is sci-fi.... it's not supposed to be totally realistic. At least, I don't read space opera for its realistic nature.

Shards of Honor is not written from Miles' viewpoint. One of the big things that we learn in Shards of Honor is that Aral is very honorable. He will not break his word. Cheating on one's spouse, behind her back, is not an honorable thing to do and seems completely out of character.

not arguing, just an additional comment

I will also add that I did like Warrior's Apprentice

Kirsten wrote: "... not sure what Betsy doesn't believe. It is sci-fi.... it's not supposed to be totally realistic. At least, I don't read space opera for its realistic nature."

Maybe the technology and plot doesn't have to be realistic, though I maintain it should be consistent and believable within that universe, but the people need to be real.

I've gotten as far as Miles going to Beta, which is not his world, and deciding to buy an obsolete freighter, staff it with a couple of misfits he knows almost nothing about, and engage to run a blockade to another world he knows nothing about. So far he's still in the midst of supplying the ship, so maybe the book will be realistic and he will utterly fail, though I doubt it. Miles, who is 18 and never worked on a ship, is supposed to be able to accomplish all this? I just don't believe it. And I don't like him well enough to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Audrey wrote: "Cheating on one's spouse, behind her back, is not an honorable thing to do and seems completely out of character."

No cheating was involved. I'm pretty sure that was even said near the start of Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen. Cordelia is, after all, from Beta where people have very practical approach to relationships.

I'm also a fan of Bujold and read this book first, several years go. Then I binged read the rest of the series. (and her fantasy)

I think that when I first read Shards of Honor it was the first time when I read a science fiction book with a female protagonist. Of course I really liked it. Although Barrayar was the book which really sold the series to me.

I’ve started reading this book. I’d read three of the series before (Falling Free serialized in Analog methinks) but didn’t get hooked. Let’s see how this one goes for me.

I read the entire series sometime ago, and liked Shards even better the 2nd time around.

I’m about 75% through. This is NOT a comfortable book to read, at least for me. I’ll finish it but I’ll never reread it.

Edit: finished it yesterday. Don’t think I’ll read any others in the series, as none of the several I’ve read so far are books I’d want to reread.

Ah. The book that started my love for Space Opera. While not the best entry in the Vorkosigan Saga, it is really good. I do warn people about the Cordelia/Bothari scene, though, as it can be uncomfortable.

This is one of my all-time favorite series! I picked it up when I was maybe in 7th grade or something, and Baen had those discount books for like $1.99 for a bunch of their sci-fi series. Since then I've read them all multiple times. I love the audio books. They're one of my favorite comfort reads.

I love Miles, but I do agree that I wish Bujold had written more about Coredelia and Aral, or even just Cordelia. Cordelia is one of my favorite female sci-fi protagonists.

This is a great excuse to re-read it. =D

I read the books years ago when they were released in hard cover. I reread Shards of Honor before reading Gentlemen Jole. It wasn't what I expected but it wasn't unexpected either, considering the culture that Cordelia comes from. I prefer the Miles books and loved Falling Free for the new ideas it represented.

My daughter read them as a teen and apparently liked the series more than I realized as she stole my complete set of hardcovers at some point and I didn't notice until I wanted to reread it before Gentlemen Jole and the Red Queen came out.

I love this series because it reminds me of some of the reasons I love sci-fi. The only thing I wish is that there were more books featuring Cordelia.

I haven't read the whole series, but I read (listened to) the first 4 during a particularly bad bout of flu.That alone endears me to them.

Someone said that characters have to be believable.. But I do not read for the believable. I want to know there are people like Miles and Luke Skywalker and Han Solo and Indiana Jones, etc.