By this act, I bring one death into the world.
Written: May 15 '06 (Updated Sep 21 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The second half.
Cons: The first half.
The Bottom Line: Pain seems to me an insufficient reason not to embrace life. . . . Question is, what glorious moments can you win from life in addition to the pain?
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| panguitch's Full Review: Barrayar Books |
You can say a lot in a little time, if you stick to words of one syllable.
Unlike most "great" science fiction, Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan novels don't revolve around big ideas. There is no forensic analysis of speculative themes so grandiose they require an interstellar canvas. Her books may lack some of the big words and heady notions typical of the genre's classic or experimental dissertations, but she manages to say a lot just by telling exciting stories about compelling characters.
Premise
Barrayar picks up immediately after the events of Shards of Honor. Cordelia has helped convince her husband, Aral Vorkosigan, to accept the Emperor's dying request: to serve as Regent until young Gregor can assume the throne of Barrayar. Like most totalitarian regimes, Barrayar is far less stable than one might first assume, and it doesn't take long for the assassination attempts to begin. But which of Vorkosigan's enemies are behind them?
Not surprisingly, Vorkosigan's friends are caught in the crossfire. Worse, the collateral damage spreads to Cordelia, who is now pregnant. While Aral's duty drives him toward terrible dilemmas and pinions him with political and strategic necessities, Cordelia shakes free of all reason and restraint to strike out against their enemies.
Characters
Bujold's humor again shines through Cordelia, both as she endures the perplexities of Barrayaran culture and as she recognizes her own foibles. This is most definitely Cordelia's story, and ultimately she drives all the action with the men around her serving as context. She does not, however, become like a male hero. There is not a commando-like glorification of prowess. Instead she remains a very female hero. Rather than ego, interpersonal relationships motivate her courage, and a woman's fury her killing.
Aral Vorkosigan himself seems to recede in Barrayar. So fascinating in Shards of Honor, he has grown flat. Likable, but mostly functioning as a platform for Cordelia. His father, Count Piotr, is fleshed out as an ultra-conservative retired war hero. His relationship with Cordelia and Aral moves through several ups and downs as he clashes with them over their progressive ideas.
Aral and Cordelia pick up sidekicks in Barrayar. Aral's secretary, Koudelka, is a maimed soldier who struggles to adjust to being crippled in a society where deformity and handicap are typically met with shame or extermination. Cordelia's assigned bodyguard, Droushnakovi, is a woman warrior in a highly chauvinist society. Through these two misfits Bujold criticizes the world she has created and explores the uncertainties of personal relationships. They give Cordelia the opportunity to crack some jokes and wax philosophical during a brief respite before the story's intense climax. There are a number of gems in the book's dialogue, and many are found in this scene.
Sergeant Bothari emerges as a major character, plagued by demons from his past and tortured into selective amnesia for the sake of state secrets. Bujold keys off his presence to add tension to many situations, and even when his motivations are understood he remains unpredictable. He always feels somewhat dangerous, and despite his dark, psychopathic tendencies he is a favorite of mine. As Cordelia says, tenderly, "Oh, but he's my monster."
Writing
Cordelia again serves as an excellent viewpoint character. Through her perspective as an outsider we explore the Barrayaran culture in all its bizarre harshness. Of course, it's less bizarre to us than it is to Cordelia, who hails from the futuristic world of Beta. In fact, Barrayar resembles nothing so much as a European empire from Earth's 18th or 19th Centuries, and in many ways Barrayar the book resembles a Regency novel. Class distinctions are significant, manners feature prominently, there are nobles, palaces, and balls, and all the men seem to be military officers. But underneath these social frills lies a deadly power play that could plunge the planet into civil war, and this is the core of the novel.
It's hard not to think about the abortion issue when reading Barrayar. Cordelia is, after all, fighting to save the life of her unborn son. This is a much fuller realization of what was first raised in Shards of Honor: when fetuses conceived through rape were placed in uterine replicators and dumped on Barrayar, Cordelia insisted they not be aborted. Now, when everyone around her would write off her unborn son as a meaningless loss, Cordelia risks everything to save him. There is no "message" in this per se. I think it more a heightening of Cordelia as an archetypal woman than a social commentary.
The novel's main problem is pacing. Cordelia explores her new home in the first half, and Barrayar is a fascinating world. I love its vague flavor of Tsarist Russia and the intrigues that are gradually introduced. But these chapters move slowly. The relationships between the characters are all wonderfully established, but it's clear only external forces will resolve these tensions. It feels like a waiting game. A lull before the storm, but one that lasts too long.
Suddenly, a switch is flipped. From a protracted establishing mode the book flies into action. There are chases, escapes, disguises, rescues, forays, combat, killing, and a fire. This half of the book is edge-of-your-seat exciting, cashing in on the investments made in the first half. On this strength, and propelled by the Vorkosigan saga's immense popularity, Barrayar sailed to into first place on the Hugo ballot for best novel in 1992.
Recommendation
Cordelia is a superb heroine, a character who far outclasses the cheese on the front and back covers of my copy of Barrayar. She is supported by excellent secondary characters who matter to Cordelia, to the story, and to the reader. The carefully laid foundation of her story provides for a white-knuckled second-half that makes this book a must-read.
– Panguitch
Shards of Honor and Barrayar can be seen as one novel in two parts. They're presented that way in Cordelia's Honor, which may be the best way to begin reading the Vorkosigan saga: http://www.epinions.com/content_67982495364
See my Vorkosigan Saga Concordance for an overview of the series, suggested reading orders, and reviews of the other books: http://www.epinions.com/content_4838039684
Recommended:
Yes
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panguitch
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Location: Springville, UT
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"Realism is quite incapable of describing the complexity of contemporary experience." -Ursula K. Le Guin
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