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    Barrayar
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    Barrayar
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    Barrayar
    Audiobook11 hours

    Barrayar

    Written by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Narrated by Grover Gardner

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Political intrigue, culture clash, and romance make a stirring mix in this award-winning follow-up novel to the acclaimed Shards of Honor.In the wake of interplanetary war, former commander Cordelia Naismith has deserted her own planet to marry the leader of the defeated enemy, Aral Vorkosigan. On his home planet of Barrayar, two rival factions are eyeing the recently vacated throne, and Aral, recently appointed Regent of Barrayar by the Emperor on his deathbed, must stand between them. Lord and Lady Vorkosigan, Aral and Cordelia struggle to establish stability in a fragile government thrown into confusion by the transition of power and the threat of civil war. When a palace coup endangers the government, their lives, and her unborn son, Cordelia takes action to secure the safety of her new family and new home.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBlackstone Audio
    Release dateDec 3, 2009
    ISBN9781433231971
    Unavailable
    Barrayar
    Author

    Lois McMaster Bujold

    One of the most respected writers in the field of speculative fiction, Lois McMaster Bujold burst onto the scene in 1986 with Shards of Honor, the first of her tremendously popular Vorkosigan Saga novels. She has received numerous accolades and prizes, including two Nebula Awards for best novel (Falling Free and Paladin of Souls), four Hugo Awards for Best Novel (Paladin of Souls, The Vor Game, Barrayar, and Mirror Dance), as well as the Hugo and Nebula Awards for her novella The Mountains of Mourning. Her work has been translated into twenty-one languages. The mother of two, Bujold lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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    Reviews for Barrayar

    4/5

    898 ratings37 reviews

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    • 4/5
      9/2012 Yup. Solid 4 stars but maybe more next reading. I loved coming back to this after the whole series was under my belt. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

      6/2012 I suspect that this book is going to become a 4 star book as I re-read & inhabit this series. I think I'm reading for plot now, and after another 3 or 5 books, I'm going to have to come back and read for character.
      I like Bujold's voice, and I'm deeply interested in the society she lays out. There are a LOT of characters here, and a lot of backstory to absorb. Every time I think I've got it figured out, there's suddenly a new character with a huge and fascinating history. Onward to the Miles books!
    • 4/5
      A lot of people think that Barrayar is the superior of the two books chronicling the adventures of Aral and Cordelia Vorkosigan (the other, and first, being Shards of Honor - the two book should not be read out of order). And Barrayar is really good. But it includes a lot of plot elements that do not appeal to me personally, and regardless of the book's objective quality made it less fun for me to read.

      For example: I have a really strong, totally irrational phobia about pregnancy. I'd explain but nobody wants to hear about all the ways that fetuses remind me of parasites. Cordelia spends most of this book pregnant, defending her baby's right to live, and just generally being a mama bear. It's well done but...not my thing.

      And also: I get really grumpy when a character like Cordelia, who's introduced as this pants-wearing, career-first badass, shows up in a second book married, playing second fiddle the husband, and wearing skirts all the time. Admittedly, Cordelia's not a warrior. And in Shards of Honor she spent a fair amount of time as a prisoner of war - not exactly a position of strength, though Cordelia seems to do best when she's got her back up against the wall. But she and Aral were united by their professionalism, their dedication to the highest ideals of their careers.

      In Barrayar, she's a sort of sci-fi First Lady and she's restricted, mostly, to the activities of a Barrayaran female. She buys presents, socializes with other powerful women, and gestates. And, yes, that's called assimilation and exactly what she ought to be doing, and yes, she does have a few opportunities to break out the badass, but...I'm just not as riveted by the life of a political wife as I was by the adventures of a scientist spaceship captain.

      That being said - the book is deeper and more complex than Shards of Honor. In Barrayar Aral and Cordelia no longer have to worry about obeying orders - Aral is the highest authority. Instead, he and Cordelia falter under the weight of responsibility, and let guilt weaken them. They aren't separated by loyalty to country; they're married, and settled on Barrayar. This time around, Aral's responsibilities take up almost all his time and the hard choices he makes reduce him to a shadow of his former self, while Cordelia's fierce protectiveness of her baby puts her at odds with Aral's family and, in fact, the entire nobility of Barrayar.

      If Shards of Honor ultimately led to one horrible decision that nearly broke Aral, Barrayar is the Chinese water torture version, the slow erosion of character version, as messy as Shards was clear.

      It's still highly quotable - "You should have fallen in love with a happy man, if you wanted happiness. But no, you had to fall for the breathtaking beauty of pain", for example, or "Cordelia's own soul felt like an exhausted snail, shelled in a glassy numbness." And it's still about good people struggling to do the right thing in a world that smashes everything right and good about a person to a million tiny pieces. In a way, it's the Aaron Sorkin version of sci-fi, with these heroic characters who lead you through the most gruesome situations.

      Really, if you read Shards of Honor you'll know whether or not you want to continue with the series. I did, and I think I'll be moving on to read at least a little about Miles Vorkosigan, Aral and Cordelia's son.
    • 5/5
      I love this book. I love Cordelia and the way she trips through a new world with different customs. I love the way she's judged and changes things around her when she doesn't really look (or necessarily) understand the broader implications, because she sees something that needs to be done and she does it. I love that she and Aral are not perfect, gorgeous, automatic heroes. And I pretty much love all of the rest of the characters. The plot is fast and crisp, Bujold doesn't waste any time or words. This book is super fun.
    • 4/5
      In Barrayar Cordelia and Aral of Shards of Honor have married and she's settled on his world of Barrayar, and the novel deals with her struggle to come to terms with the values of his world as well as the complications and dangers of the Byzantine political intrigues which threaten their unborn child--Miles Vorkosigan--who becomes the subject of the later novels--and in my mind that's when things really become interesting and this series distinctive. Like Shards of Honor, this is an entertaining novel from beginning to end--in fact, I'd say it's a stronger book than the first. And I do love Cordelia. I imagine I'd have been wild about her had I discovered her in my teens when strong heroines in science fiction were thin on the ground. If I rate it a bit low, it's because I do think both this series and Bujold as an author grew stronger with every book. And it's in the next book that I really fell in love with this universe.
    • 5/5
      This is the book that got me into Bujold. The summary I was presented with was "A woman goes on a mission to rescue her unborn son."
    • 5/5
      An excellent back-fill of Miles' origins. I really liked how characters that play a big role later in Miles' life are introduced and developed here. Cordelia is also interesting as a character on her own - trying to make it in a world very different from her home planet.There is no confusion as to what political stance Bujold holds, but it isn't overwhelming or condescending. There's enough action and suspense to keep the story moving forward, but it has a huge character and society development component to it.
    • 5/5
      I had read (and listened to) the rest of the Vorkosigan series (starting with Warrior's Apprentice) twice when I finally got around to this book. I'm actually glad I read it in this order. I think this book would have been enjoyable if read in the proper sequence. But I thoroughly enjoyed learning where and how my favorite characters came to be. I love this series and this book certainly makes a great addition (or start)---I need to work back to Shards of Honor next.
    • 5/5
      Wow what a contrast. The first book in the series Shards of Honour was OK. SF lite fluff, enjoyable, but nothing special. Barrayar is a very marked step up in quality and totally griping. This is still soft SF, character driven and almost oblivious to technology, but none the worse for it.Again out focus and the hero is Cordelia, now Vorkosigian, and married to the retired Aral. They've managed at least a couple of months of peace and pregnancy before the dying Emporer summons Aral to become Regent to his Heir. Cordelia's foreign progressive influence on Aral is not highly regarded by the other Counts in the culturally isolated backwater that is Barrayar, especially when her suggestions overturn centuries of perfectly functional tradition. An attempted Coup is inevitable.There are only a few minor problems to be found if you look for them - the various Vors become confusing, as does the random switiching between Aral and Vorksigian. The focus is solely on Cordelia so we have to wait for much that happens elsewhere until someone can tell her about it. This also means of course many of the other characters don't gain much depth, although Bujold does a much better job here than in the previous work, or other authors in the genre. And given that I don't like multicharactered viewpoints this could be a plus. Finally the ending - this seems to be a Bujold issue with a few of her books - The dramatic finale happens some 60+pages before the end of the story. Rather than finishing on a high, we get a gradual letdown as various minor points are tidied up - which I feel would better be left to a Prologue in the next book.There is much to be lauded: the dramatic tension is cranked right up. Cordelia's concerns for Aral and her infant son run rampant through every line. And we getting the interweaving romance and psychiatric concerns of her staff. The social commentry on the evolving political dynamics between custom and technology, traditiona dn innovation is also remarkably well done. Played out in various conversation between Cordelia and some of the Counts it never comes across as heavy handed, but is still very clear in which direction Bujold leans. The pacing is captivating - apart from the very final pages - as events build up we're caught in Cordelia's world desperate tofind out how she resolves her troubles.Well worth reading even for anyone who doens't like SF, a superb example in how to tell a story.
    • 5/5
      Summary: Barrayar, the second book of the Vorkosigan saga, begins almost immediately following the events of Shards of Honor. Cordelia Vorkosigan (née Naismith) has given up almost everything of her former life on Beta Colony to be with the man she loves. She’s finding life on Barrayar somewhat hard to adjust to, however; its class and gender stratification, its emphasis on familial lineage and military might, and its lack of technological progress, all make the entire planet seem somewhat backwards, to Cordelia’s way of thinking. To make matters worse, Aral, her husband, has been unwillingly thrust into a position of vast political power: regent to the four-year-old emperor. Learning to navigate the currents of Barrayaran politics is challenging enough, but the planet is full of people who will not hesitate to use Cordelia – and her unborn son – as pawns in their plays for power. Review: I’ve yet to read anything by Bujold that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy, and Barrayar is no exception. She seems equally at home writing fantasy and sci-fi, because what she’s really writing isn’t either: she’s just writing wonderful, character-driven stories, dressed up in the trappings of the genre. Barrayar is actually less science-fiction-y than most, in large part due to the setting. Barrayaran society is roughly modeled on feudal Russia, and there are just as many horses and swords as there are aircars and nerve disruptor pistols. So, while the genre label might say sci-fi, it’s actually really a family saga and political drama… it’s just set on another planet.But the worldbuilding, as good as it is, is not why I love Bujold’s writing, and not why I loved this book. What I really love are Bujold’s characters, and most of all Cordelia. She is smart, practical, has a wicked sense of humor, and is made of stronger stuff than three of your typical literary heroines put together, but still shows enough emotion and has enough flaws to make her feel real. (I am not ashamed to admit that I now have a raging girl-crush on Cordelia; I want to be her when I grow up, or, failing that, I at least want her to come over so we can sit on the back porch and drink a beer and talk about science and boys.) Aral is equally wonderful, and most of the supporting cast are quite deftly drawn as well. I had less trouble keeping secondary characters straight in this book than I did in Shards of Honor, although there were still a lot of similar-sounding “Vor______” names to keep track of.The audiobook itself was very well done, although I still find it strange that they selected Grover Gardner to narrate a book that is told almost exclusively from a woman’s point of view. All in all, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and cannot wait for Blackstone to release the rest of the series. 5 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: I’d certainly recommend Barrayar to just about anybody who appreciates a good character-driven story, whether or not they typically read science fiction. Actually, I’d recommend the whole series to just about anybody – Barrayar follows closely on the heels of Shards of Honor, and not a lot of summary or explanation is provided, so they really should be read in order. But they’re both such wonderful books that I don’t think anybody should miss out on either one.
    • 4/5
      Sequel to Shrads of Honor, this book's better and has more level than the previous one. More political conflict, less shooting... Unfortunately the series wasn't successful in Hungary, so I have to order the sequels in english. And yes, the cover is crap....
    • 4/5
      Possibly the classic Bujold novel, a complicated political and military tale. In some ways, this reminds me of Star Wars novels, in terms of feel of a future world. It also reminds me of some of the Kurtz Deryni novels, in a sense, where the actions of just one key person can prevent needless deaths and wars.
    • 3/5
      A discussion by Bujold says that there were six to seven years, and a couple books, between the writing of Shards of Honor and this book. Those years were well-spent—Barrayar corrects many of the faults of the first book.The characters are much more three-dimensional; in particular, Cordelia and Sergeant Bothari come across with more depth and emotion. Aral Vorkosigan doesn't change as much, but he's really a fairly minor character in the book...it's about Cordelia. Assuming you're reading in chronological order, this book is where you start to get a real sense of the Barrayaran culture, particularly with the presence of Count Piotr Vorkosigan, who only had a cameo in the first book.The plot is nothing original...a fairly straightforward power struggle leading to escape, survival and recovering the throne...it's fairly easy to predict who will live/die, win/lose and end up hitched. However, this story type is none the worse for having been used before and it moves along at a good pace giving the reader exactly what is expected. Probably the easiest analogy is to think of Rudolf Rassendyll transplanted from Zenda to another planet, with lightflyers instead of horses, disrupters instead of blades (though a sword does figure prominently in the story).As I said when reviewing Shards of Honor, I think this book is the best place for someone new to the series to start. It's got a better plot. It's got better characterizations—you can get a feel here for the characters you'll see in the succeeding books, and you see them just as they are stepping into their roles. You get a much better sense of the world.
    • 5/5
      This is the story of Cordelia Vorkosigan's marriage: and that's what it is, above all: how two middle-aged people managed to make a marriage stronge enough to hold them up despite an entire planet trying to destroy them.Oh, and there's a political coup and a bunch of murders and Cordelia goes shopping and stuff. Which is also all good. Note : my cover is *horrible* I really with I had the other paperback cover, the one with the two hands clasped around the cane. Which is not only at least vaguely accurate, it's the most compelling image in the whole book.
    • 4/5
      Set around Miles' time in utero, in a replicator and fleetingly his early years this would be all to easy to dismiss as a prequel. In some ways it is, but it doesn't read like one. Although you know who's going to live, die, marry etc. it reads at a high enough pace and with interesting enough characters to work very well and the inevitable marriages and such are handled as side events painted with more care to the characters than the events themselves.
    • 3/5
      Things start to really pick up here in book two of the saga.My favorite segment of the book was their time in hiding out in the countryside, moving along on horseback, staying in little cabins.Just like the first book, this one become very gory before the end—unnecessarily so.The characters are enjoyable, if stereotypical. It sounds like Miles will break the mold to some degree.
    • 4/5
      Barrayar tells the story of Cordelia, a transplant from a far-future liberal society into the strongly traditionalist world of Barrayar. As the wife of the planet's regent, she at the same time wields a lot of political power while being viewed as an eccentric outsider. Given the unstable reality of regencies, the narrative winds through a couple assassination attempts against her husband, and culminates in a large-scale coup. In large part, the book is a political and military drama, which is the sort of thing I enjoy. Dropping in a likable outsider whose point of view is closer to that of the reader helps make this an enjoyable read.
    • 5/5
      I'm reading in chronological order, by the way. For most series that's the kind that makes the most sense to me, regardless of what authors or others have to say about it. It also follows immediately upon Shards of Honor, and as (according to an afterword in the combined edition) the author initially wrote them together, then divided them into two books once they became unmarketably long, it makes sense especially for these two to be read as one.

      It's pretty-near perfect. It's well-written (I'm not groaning at word choices, grammar, or sentence construction, either because the author is trying too hard or not enough), the plot packs a punch, the characters are well-differentiated (I'm always stunned at the number of published novels where the characters are differentiated by having different names, and that's about as far as their personalities go), even minor ones, and it's touching. I also just plain like the idea of a space opera that's not too violent for me (there are moments, but I'm about as squeamish as you can get and still delighted in this book) and goes on for almost ever (if only Bujold were 15 years younger than me, rather than 15 years older, I might have the pleasure of continuing to read her until I die).

      --of course, I'm assuming the quality stays up there. Certainly this 7th book (it was substantially revised when she returned to it) shows no slacking in quality, if anything it's deeper and richer than the first of the two.

      It looks like it took longer to read than it really did--I was saving it for pizza lunch reading--but recently I couldn't stand the wait, and I read every day 'til it was done.

      (Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, I'm a bit more ruthless.
    • 4/5
      Adventure book, with few science fiction elements, focused on a militaristic society and the struggles of a power hand over. The main character - Cordelia - is a woman, born in a completely different environment than the militaristic society of Barrayar. She is married to an important figure of the Barrayar ruler class - Aral Vorkosigan and needs to understand, adapt and survive this strange world for her. The story is entertaining, with some twists here and there and the characters are consistent and believable. Towards the end it feels a bit too optimistic as for the main characters everything ends very well. Some side characters are sacrificed to keep the tension up, but as this does not result in a big climax seems a bit useless.
    • 4/5
      The sequel to Shards of Honor. It picks up right where Shards of Honor leaves off focusing more on politics this time. Cordeila and Vorkosigan are a little more fleshed out then the previous book. There is slightly more worldbuilding as you get to know the Barrayar society. Overall I enjoyed this book.
    • 4/5
      I liked this one tons as well. I was intrigued by the one-sided view of Barrayar that we got in this book and wondered through the whole thing if we would see things differently in the next book, when we got Miles’ point of view. [Oct. 2010]
    • 5/5
      I read the whole Vorkosigan series a few years ago, and now I am re-reading the whole thing. Barrayar is so, so good. It really is one of my favorite novels of all time. The characters, the action, the themes all come together so wonderfully. Once I get 3/4 of the way done I truly can't put it down until the story is over.
    • 5/5
      Cordelia Vorkosigan, now married to the Regent of Barrayar, is thrust into the politics of a culture and country that is still foreign to her. In the midst of this, Cordelia discovers she is pregnant. Bujold created in Cordelia, a complex character, fierce but fair, mother and solider, intelligent and kind, uncompromising but gentle, logical but not cold. Watching her navigate the unfolding events in the story made me wish she was real! The story itself was face-paced – within a few pages, Bad Things happen and challenges arise that threaten the stability of her new home and her family – and endanger the life of her child. The plot was plausible, action-packed, with just the right amount of suspense, and a healthy dose of humor. And the ending (which I won’t spoil) – Gah! I cheered out loud! Cordelia was so freaking bad-ass! Read this – particular if you enjoy stories with well-rounded female characters.
    • 4/5
      Science Fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold (1991) and part of of the Vokosigan Saga. Format was audio narrated by Grover Garder who does a great job. Barrayar won both the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1992.As in Ethan of Athos, this book explores pregnancy, women's choice, use of artificial means to develop the fetus and the ethics of deformity in the fetus and the use of euthanasia in such cases as mutation. There is plenty of action in this story thus the category of space opera and military science fiction. I liked this one quite a bit and it is the best Bujold thus far. It is fairly unique in science fiction as it looks at the role of motherhood. The characters, especially Cordelia's father in law is developed and characters added and new information provided. There is a lot of technology and how it changes things and society, and economics. Very readable science fiction.
    • 4/5
      The chronological sequel to 'Shards of Honor' follows Cordelia Naismith as she defects from Beta, in order to make her way to Barrayar and find her former captor Aral Vorkosigan - a man she has come to love and respect.

      It's not incomprehensible that her Betan psychologists assume that she must be suffering from something like Stockholm syndrome, or some more insidious mental conditioning. The suspicion cast on her means that even though the war between Beta and Barrayar is technically over, Cordelia must leave the familiar comforts of home behind and give herself fully to her new life on primitive, violent, militaristic Barrayar. Nearly immediately she finds herself plunged into the dizzying complexity of the upper levels of Barrayaran politics, as Aral discovers that the peaceful retirement he'd been planning is not in the cards for him. And that's not the only sudden change: Cordelia is pregnant.

      If you've read later books in this series, a great deal of this book is a lot of tension waiting for certain events that you've already read about, to happen. It's intentional on the author's part - this book involves her backtracking and filling in details about events that have already been referred to in other books. I think it would be an equally enjoyable, although different, experience to read it without already having been introduced to Miles and knowing the difficulties and circumstances surrounding his birth.
    • 4/5
      This is a follow-up to Shards of Honor, and a good one at that. Intrigue and political in-fights turn into rebellion and an attempt to usurp the crown from a child-emperor. I delighted in how the characters were developed, and would like to read more stories about Cordelia and Aral.
    • 4/5
      This novel follows Shards of Honor which I read last year and is a continuation of the romantic adventure that began there. This is very much a woman's science fiction novel told pretty much the entire way from inside the head and from the eyes of Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan. We get a lot of history and backstory for characters who make later appearances in the series of novels. The two stories together are a great pair of planetary romances with quite a few interesting characters and plot twists and adventures. I thought the story was a little slow to start but once it took off, it really took off, and then it REALLY took off. I like that this book is in the library of the International Space Station!
    • 5/5
      Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan are now married and expecting a child -- and so they intend to settle down to a quiet life at the Vorkosigan country estate. All of that changes, however, when Aral is appointed as regent to the five-year-old emperor. Cordelia finds herself caught up in a whirl of court politics -- and then, worse, civil war. An uprising from an unexpected source threatens the emperor, the country, and Cordelia and Aral's unborn child. What's an expectant mother to do? Well, Cordelia has some very interesting ideas . . .This is a fantastic book, and I liked it even better than Shards. The characters, the action, the humor . . . I could go on and on. Bujold engages in some thinly veiled social commentary (Cordelia's appalled reaction to certain barbaric elements of Barrayaran society), but always with a light hand and in a way that enhances the story rather than detracting from it. And, though Miles is only an embryonic presence for most of the book, I'm certainly looking forward to getting to know him better in the rest of the series.
    • 5/5
      Barrayar This continues the story of Cordelia, now married to Vorkosigan and living on Barrayar, how the couple are unwillingly caught up in the politics of Barrayar and the tumultous events surrounding the birth of their son Miles, who is the protagonist of the continuing books in the Vorkosigan saga.Shards of Honour ended with Cordelia on Barryar and Aral retired (not really 'spoiler'; with a whole series ahead, you must have seen that coming).That retirement is about to end as he takes up the Regency on behalf of 5 year old Emperor Gregor, and Cordelia finds herself not just having to get used to the life of a Vor lady on Barrayar (a far cry from proletarian Beta Colony), but to that of the wife of the Regent. And not just as the wife of a Regent, but the wife of an honourable Regent besieged on all sides by threats both physical and political, by causes both frivolous and lethally serious.As a battle-seasoned Vor lord, Aral handles the empire while Cordelia deals with her pregnancy the old-fashioned Barrayaran way, which involves natural gestation and natural childbirth; barbaric, to her Betan mind, when it can all be done s-fely in vitro.The two situations collide terrifyingly when the backlash from an attack on Aral affects Cordelia and Miles too and results in many of Miles's future physical liabilities - which form the starting point to other stories in the series.And while the couple are still dealing with the aftermath and the effects on their baby, the Barrayaran political infighting erupts, with the planets of the Imperium as the prize ...I love the way this book is written; partly the interaction of the characters, partly the action - when Cordelia gets to utilise her training and skills again - partly the trademark humour woven through the narrative. I like the way so many secondary characters (Droushnakovi for instance) are allowed to develop. Not to mention Bothari's assignation as Miles's bodyguard from the moment of his 'birth', which is significant to Miles's future - but that's another story.And, oh! Sergeant Bothari. I'm pretty sure that if I came across such a character in real life I would be, at the very least, cautious around them. But Bujold, through Cordelia and even Aral, lets us see that even such a spiritually and mentally scarred creature has his own honour. He seems to be a favourite character of readers of the series; he's certainly one of mine. Well, if she wanted to look dainty, all she had to do was stand next to Sergeant Bothari. He loomed mournfully beside her, all two metres of him. Cordelia considered herself a tall woman, but the top of her head was only level with his shoulder. He had a gargoyle's face, closed, wary, beak-nosed, its lumpiness exaggerated to criminality by his military-burr haircut. Even Count Vorkosigan's elegant livery, dark brown with the symbols of the house embroidered in silver, failed to save Bothari from his astonishing ugliness.The book is full of action, adventure and planetary politics. It also highlights the way families, children and unborn babies can be hostages to fate as they get caught up in a political coup. Although there are tragedies, McMaster Bujold's writing also displays the humour that makes the Miles books more lighthearted.Beautifully crafted and well paced. A lot of action. A lot of tension. A lot of fun. This is my favourite book of one of my favourite series.A very well written book - recommended. Read it!
    • 5/5
      This is the second space opera for grown-ups featuring intelligent, capable, determined Cordelia Naismith, now Lady Vorkosigan since her marriage to aging warrior Aral Vorkosigan, and after all the multi-planet craziness of Shards of Honor it looks like Cordelia and Aral have finally been able to extricate themselves from government and military responsibilities enough to relax, semi-retire, and start a family. But of course that nice, quiet state of affairs doesn’t last. Not long after Cordelia discovers she’s pregnant the emperor dies, Aral is made Regent for the too-young-to-rule heir, a power struggle war divides the planet’s battling aristocracy, and Cordelia is on the run, scrabbling across the countryside desperate to protect her unborn child. Complicating matters, Cordelia with her civilized Beta Colony background is far from comfortable with the Barrayaran planet’s warlike anti-feminist culture or primitive (meaning like our own) health care options for, among other things, pregnancy. Plus there is the young emperor to hide and protect, battle-damaged comrades to nurture and deploy, and a highly hostile father-in-law with deadly plans to thwart.Lois McMaster Bujold hasn’t scrimped on anything in this story--character evolution, world building, sci fi coolness, or high action plot--and I found it all totally captivating.
    • 4/5
      This is the second book (chronologically) in the Vorkosigan Saga, the first being Shards of Honour, the book I started my year long Vorkosigan Saga read this.I have elaborated enough on Cordelia's character in my previous review, in this (short) one, I will talk more about the book.Cordelia takes off from the first book, doing all the things which endeared her to me and I am sure many other readers. She, then dons her Rambo outfit, and even in that she excels. I was however disappointed that in her effort to flaunt Cordelia, Bujold made Aral too much of a side character - we don't see the non-Cordelia portions of the war at all! And I do mean, at all! The title of the book could well have been Cordelia in Barrayar. There was enough space for the two to co-exist, Cordelia's adventures set in the background of Aral's manoeuvring of the war effort, with the contrast in their (supplementary) abilities would probably have made for much better reading in my opinion.