The novel “Shards of Honor” by Lois McMaster Bujold was published for the first time in 1986. It was also published as part of the omnibus “Cordelia’s Honor”. It’s part of the Vorkosigan saga.
Betan commander Cordelia Naismith and some members of her crew are on a planet as part of a scientific expedition that aims to assess its possibilities of being colonized. They’re attacked by a group of Barrayarans and she’s taken prisoner by Captain Aral Vorkosigan together with a fellow Betan, wounded in the attack.
Cordelia quickly realizes that the situation is more complex than she thought because there’s a power struggle on the Barrayaran spaceship and Aral was abandoned on the planet. Despite their deep cultural differences, she and Aral find themselves working together because it’s the only way for both of them to survive.
“Shards of Honor” introduces some protagonists of the Vorkosigan saga, set in a future where several planets in different systems were colonized thanks to wormholes that allow interstellar travel. “Falling Free” is considered the first novel of the cycle in the internal chronology because it’s set in an earlier period but is completely self-contained, with different characters.
The plot of two enemies in a situation where they are isolated and are forced to work together to survive was developed many times. It’s used in “Shards of Honor” to begin a more sophisticated story that expands even beyond the planets of Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan, Beta Colony and Barrayar respectively.
Despite the initial mistrust between the two protagonists, exacerbated by the contrasts existing between the societies from which they come, the forced collaboration allows them to find common ground. The two of them end up working together not only because they have no other choice but also because they respect each other and even develop a mutual attraction.
Cordelia and Aral begin to know each other for who they really are as individuals, going well beyond the prejudices existing about their respective peoples. Prejudices can be rooted even in a society such as the Betan one, which prides itself on being open and tolerant. For many Betans, Barrayarans are monsters and anyone who thinks differently must be like them or must have been brainwashed.
Actually, the negative opinion Betans have of Barrayarans isn’t entirely undeserved. Aral Vorkosigan turns out to be an honorable man but clashes with his own people when they’re total psychopaths. The story explores dark corners of humanity, which gets lost during a war every time atrocities are committed. The consequences of the dirty war are also explored in a short story that constitutes a sort of epilogue to the novel.
For Aral, the problem is not getting rid of some mentally disturbed soldiers and trying to recover the ones who can be saved with the right therapy but preventing a psychopath from ascending the throne on Barrayar. The emperor is ill and it’s not known how long he will live. An intrigue develops around the court that will decide whether Barrayaran society will be brutal and violent or ready to go beyond the traditional feudal regime with honor as a real value and not just at the center of hypocritical rhetoric.
All this is used by Lois McMaster Bujold to create a plot that is developed on different levels ranging from the personal relationship between Cordelia and Aral to the political intrigue on Barrayar to the interstellar war involving various planets. This mix offers several ethical and moral problems with solutions that would sometimes get Machiavelli’s approval.
The novel isn’t perfect and that’s not surprising considering that Lois McMaster Bujold was at the beginning of her career. The balance between certain lighthearted moments, sometimes also thanks to Cordelia’s irony, and the dramatic ones isn’t always at its best and some important moments of the story are not even told but only mentioned later.
Despite its flaws, overall, “Shards of Honor” seemed to me a good novel that starts a long saga. It has an ending that is open because Lois McMaster Bujold wrote a novel that was originally much longer and was split into two different books. If you want to take a long journey in an extraordinary fictional universe, this initial novel is a must-read. It’s available on Amazon USA, UK, and Canada.
