Shards of Honor, Lois McMaster Bujold

I recently review Lois McMaster Bujold as a writer of fantasy, and have thoroughly enjoyed many of her fantasy works in the last few weeks, in particular "Paladin of Souls" which is a beautiful book. She actually made her name with a series called the Vorkosigan saga, and this is the first book in the series. I thought I would review it from the sci fi perspective. With this series Lois has won almost as many literary prizes as Heinlein, which is no small accomplishment.

The Vorkosigan saga is mainly the story of Miles Vorkosigan, but this book is the story of how his parents met, and the sequel Barrayer is the story of his birth. I think in many ways this saga is a good example of how a space opera should be written. What I mean is that the technology takes a background position relative to the importance of the characters and their actions. The plot is action driven and fast paced. It avoids going into too much detail, which actually helps in the suspension of disbelief. This works in the same way that the technology in Star Wars worked, what was interesting in Star Wars was not the laser blasters and massive ships, it was the interaction between Solo, Luke and Leia, with a bit of comic relief from the metallic sidekicks.

The lead character, Cordelia Naismith, is bright, capable and willing to act decisively, and does so throughout the story and it is the personal level of the readers interaction with her that works so well. When faced with a complex situation she acts, simplifies it, is direct and effective. As a heroine she is interesting and engaging and is shown to her best advantage by the effect she has upon the actions of the other major character, Aral Vorkosigan, who though jaded by the politics is able to find a path to honor of a kind.

Yet again, without giving away spoilers I would say that the series is well worth a read if you like a fun story, with serious overtones, that is a page turner. I will be reading the full series now I have started and have a largish space on the shelf in my library for the works of Bujold in both Science Fiction and Fantasy.