Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

-

Hello, Stranger.

Let's talk about Lois McMaster Bujold's Barrayar.

The Short of It

Plot: Cordelia and Aral end up entangled in a power struggle, fighting enemies to protect their own family as well as the young emperor.
Page Count: 389
Award: 1992 Hugo, 1992 Locus SF
Worth a read: Yes
Primary Driver: (Plot, World, or Character)
Bechdel Test: Pass
Technobabble: Moderate.
Review: A more engaging plot marks this as a significant step up from Shards of Honor. Excellent characters once again ground the story. While Cordelia and Aral are the most nuanced there are a few good side characters and a solid villain. Starts slow, but the second half - with the exception of some odd subplots - has breakneck pacing. Nice twists on "fish out of water" stories by making society adjust to Cordelia as much as she adjusts to it. 


The Medium of It
Spoiler Free!

This is going to be a relatively brief review, methinks.
Read this one after Shards of Honor - it is a direct sequel and makes far more sense read as such, as opposed to publication order. 

The main purpose of this book is to set the stage for the bulk of the Vorkosigan Saga, both by introducing characters who are relevant in later books and by illustrating the issues with Barrayaran society. A tighter focus does wonders for adding depth to the planet. Shards of Honor gave a vague outline, Barrayar fills in the sketch to create a much more vibrant picture of an actual civilization. 

Is it annoying that one of the important parts of society is that all of the elites have Vor- as the start of their last name? It certainly does not make it easy to remember who is plotting with whom. 

Pacing is a bit odd. The first half is slow, deliberate, if that's what we want to call it. It is the more mundane and peaceful part of the book, as alliances are made and machinations occur mostly behind the scenes. This is also where the vast majority of the world building occurs. Once things get moving, things really hit the fan, but the development of Barrayar as a planet and society is basically left to rest. In this sense it is a curious split - a whole bunch of world building, followed by a frenetic second half. Frenetic in a good way - it has hands down one of the coolest climaxes of anything I've encountered.

I had intended to say that this is one of my favorite books in the series, and that may well be true. But looking back at my notes, most of the first half is... fine. The second is great - and if the whole book were like that, other than suffering from whiplash, I'd love it.

All in all, it's good, it's fun, it's a very quick read. 

If you'd like to explore Barrayar, consider using the link below! I'll get a few cents at no extra cost to you.

The Long of It
Spoilers Ahead!

Well, the actual purpose of this book is to give a backstory on how and why Miles Vorkosigan - Aral and Cordelia's son, and protagonist of a number of the following books - is so scrawny and sickly. It does double duty by showing the ways in which Barrayarans reject technology and infirmity - putting some work in for the later part of the series, to explain how people treat Miles. 

The weakest part of this story is a romance subplot. It is here to once again show the difference between Barrayaran and Betan customs, and how different Cordelia's responses are compared to those of everyone else. But it feels a bit clunky and out of place - it's an odd tonal shift that does not quite work. 

Easy highlight is Cordelia's Grand Entrance at the very end. A civil war is on. She goes with a small team, of her own accord, to find the incubator in which Miles is developing. While there, she has the leader of the rebellion beheaded, then returns to join negotiations between the two sides.
Count Piotr's hand slapped down hard upon the table. "Good God, woman, where have you been?" he cried furiously.
A morbid lunacy overtook her. She smiled fiercely at him, and held up the bag. "Shopping."
For a second, the old man nearly believed her; conflicting expressions whiplashed over his face, astonishment, disbelief, then anger as it penetrated he was being mocked.
"Want to see what I bought?" Cordelia continued, still floating. She yanked the bag's top open, and rolled Vordarian's head out across the table. Fortunately, it had ceased leaking some hours back. It stopped faceup before him, lips grinning, drying eyes staring...
She nailed Vordarian's men by eye, as they backed from the table. "Officers. I recommend that when this conference resumes, you surrender unconditionally upon Lord Vorkosigan's mercy. He may still have some." I certainly don't, was the unspoken cap to that. "I'm tired of your stupid war. End it."

I believe the word I'm looking for is "badass."

Don't lose your head, Stranger.
And don't forget to read a book!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Don't Forget to Read a Book!

-
Image
Hello, Stranger. In July of 2017 a man named Derrick McGlashen died of Stage 4 lung cancer.  He was not famous, so you didn't miss the announcement.  Even most of us who did know him never knew his name until he passed away.  We just thought of him as the Book Guy. McGlashen was a panhandler in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and stationed himself in front of a grocery store on 7th Avenue.  He always had his cup to gather change, but instead of asking for money, he would strike up conversations with people passing by. He was a warm, gregarious fellow, with a broad smile.  His disarming charm made him a neighborhood staple, to the degree that if he was not at his usual spot, it was a topic of conversation.  He'd be gone for a few days, and when he came back, people would say, "You weren't here!" and he would laugh and say, "Just had to stretch my legs!"  He was probably in his spot 300 days a year, for as many years as I can recall.  He always addressed the kids wa
Read more

Bid Time Return (Somewhere in Time) by Richard Matheson

-
Image
Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Richard Matheson's  Bid Time Return. The Short of It Plot: A man travels back in time to meet the dead woman whose picture he fell in love with. Page Count:  288 Award:  1976 World Fantasy Award Worth a read : No Primary Driver:  (Plot, World, or  Character? ) Bechdel Test : Pass Technobabble:  Minimal. Review:  This book is just an underwhelming romance novel with a time travel twist. A blend of dull, sappy, and creepy. Enjoyed the actual traveling part of time travel - though easy, it was well executed. Protagonist pushes pathetic and clingy to new levels. No characters act even remotely believable; no chemistry to show actual love. Without that, it's just obsession and stalking. The Medium of It Spoiler Free! The name of this book was changed to Somewhere in Time after a movie based on it was released. I have not seen the movie, many people seem to have enjoyed it. I did not enjoy this book. Richard Collier finds out that he's dying
Read more

Queen of Angels by Greg Bear

-
Image
Hello, Stranger. Let's talk about Greg Bear's  Queen of Angels. The Short of It Plot: Overlapping stories show our world fundamentally transformed and stratified by a combination of nanotechnology, AI, and surveillance.  Page Count: 420 Award:  Prequel to 1993 Nebula winner Moving Mars Worth a read : No. Primary Driver:  (Plot,  World , or  Character ) Bechdel Test : Fail? Technobabble:  Astounding. Review:  A truly miserable read. Densely packed with trite innovations and a tepid future to go with them. At every turn does nothing more than recall better works by better authors. Only one of the many stories here is even remotely interesting - that of an AI gaining self-awareness - but even that drags like a dragon but with none of the flames. Character work is dreadful, pacing is abysmal, and word building is drab. Books like this change this from a reading challenge to a masochistic slog. The Whatever of It Spoiler Free! What is there to say about a book that I hated this much
Read more