Reviews

• Très bon livre de sf que je conseille a tous. très bien ecrit et l'histoire se suit avec intéret. voila, voila

• Barrayar is one of the earliest books in the Vorkosigan saga written by Louis Bujold and I will warn you now that once you start this saga you won’t be able to stop until you’ve reached the last page on the last book. Bujold is one of the best writers I have had the pleasure of reading, and having originally read her novels as a teenager I have since come back to them many, many times and devoured them in much the same fashion as the first. There’s a wit, a charm and an exceptionally dry humour that keeps you engaged on top of plotlines that twist, turn, spiral, duck and dive at every possible moment. But possibly most importantly, Bujold hasn’t just created a 2D world for you to enjoy from a distance, no. Bujold creates and unholds a completely 3D universe, warts and all, at the same time as focussing in on the individuals of her own story. Barrayar is a technologically underdeveloped world, having been plunged into the Time of Isolation when the wormhole that connected them to the rest of the galaxy closed up, they haven’t yet recovered a lot of what they lost. It’s also a deeply conservative world, set up around the Vor caste as the warrior lords each owning and running their districts as they see fit. The final say lies in the hands of the Emperor, or it would if the Emperor were not a five year old child, his father having been blown up in a previous storyline and his grandfather, the previous Emperor, finally having shuffled off his mortal coil. Into the breach steps Lord Aral Vorkosigan, a man who never wanted to become Emperor and therefore the one man Ezar trusts not only to hold power for over a decade, but also to hand it back to Gregor on his majority. Cordelia however is Betan, a far more technologically advanced and fair world, although far more utilitarian in its rules and regulations. What passes as normal on Barrayar would never be stood for on Beta Colony, but Cordelia is no longer in Beta. After the last war, Cordelia skipped her country in order to marry the enemy commander she had been captured by and has been in Barrayar ever since. Barrayar is now her home, strange and brutal though it can be. There are no uterine replicators on Barrayar yet, her first child will have to be born from a body birth. But of course, nothing could ever be that simple and there are far more challenges for both Aral and Cordelia to face than a pregnancy and a Regency alone. Their lives are about to become far more complicated by far. Who said motherhood would be simple? The Vorkosigan saga is billed as science fiction but you mustn’t let that put you off, even in the later books where there is far more science fiction involved it’s never off-putting in its detail or overwhelming with technical jargon. There is certainly an element of science fiction yes, particularly in how Bujold has portrayed and reflected the differing cultures across the universe, but this novel, this set of novels is so much more than that alone. Barrayar in particular could also be counted as a deep political commentary, a war novel, a romance, a fantasy and a tragedy all in one. It’s a story of impending motherhood, of family drama and of just how far a mother will go to protect her child, even unborn. The tales of so many individuals weave into one beautifully narrated story with interlinking tragedies, comedies, farces and romances. The narrative is stunning as it winds and weaves in an ever changing flow, never quite going where you expect it to, but always managing to keep you interested and needing to know what happens next. One simple action reverberates through, creating new actions and reactions all spiralling off each other and what starts simply ends in chaos. But Bujold writes chaotic action scenes as well as she writes moving dialogue or political drama, and she writes them very, very, very well. The novel completely engrosses you and compels you through it, never wanting to lose the pace of the action, frantic to know what happens next. Her writing style is also engrossing; never too bogged down in details and yet never skipping over anything you might need or want to know. And she never patronises the reader; Bujold books are one of the few occasions that I find words I’ve never heard of and have to look them up. But what she does best is characters, and her characters are utterly human, utterly realistic, their motivations on display almost grotesquely at times. The good, the bad and the ugly. What happens when someone moves beyond rational into a desperate, insane need for vengeance? How does a fair and even-handed man take on issues of the Empire when they come down to executions done in the Emperor’s name? How does a woman, far from home and family, navigate this new world of politics as well as motherhood? How does a simple strife become civil war and what will one man or one woman do to protect their family, their friends, their homes and their lives? From old Count Piotr Vorkosigan, proud and wilful, a General outside his time to Lord Aral Vorkosigan, a fair man lumbered with an extremely unfair burden. And all the characters in between. Bujold sculpts and moulds them delicately and beautifully, creating completely 3D life like and real characters who will get into your head and steal a part of your soul. Barrayar is a beautifully complicated book which truly is a pleasure and a delight to read. It’s not the first in the series I will admit, and whilst I would usually advocate reading a series from its start this isn’t quite the case here. Shards of Honour is the first in the series, but while enjoyable isn’t as good a book and you don’t need to have read it to understand or follow this one. With that in mind I’d recommend starting with Barrayar and moving either forwards into the Miles books or then reading Shards of Honour for background information. First published in 1991 it certainly isn’t a new book but it doesn’t seem out of date or old fashioned, in fact if not told its publication date then you wouldn’t guess that it’s over two decades old. Do I Recommend? Yes, yes, yes and more yes! This really is a stunningly well-written, beautifully choreographed novel which grips you from the first chapter right the way through to the last turn of the page. You won’t regret giving this entire series a read; it’s a series that has stayed with me from the first time I read it. The different planet systems get more complex the further through the novels you go as you are introduced not only to Barrayar and Beta but also Komarr, Jackson’s Whole, Cetaganda and several others. Each has its own complex society and culture and the different worlds collide in interesting and nearly always entertaining fashions, particularly when you add one Miles Vorkosigan into the mix. “Welcome to Barrayar, son. Here you go: have a world of wealth and poverty, wrenching change and rooted history. Have a birth; have two. Have a name. Miles means "soldier," but don't let the power of suggestion overwhelm you. Have a twisted form in a society that loathes and fears the mutations that have been its deepest agony. Have a title, wealth, power, and all the hatred and envy they will draw. Have your body ripped apart and re-arranged. Inherit an array of friends and enemies you never made. Have a grandfather from hell. Endure pain, find joy, and make your own meaning, because the universe certainly isn't going to supply it. Always be a moving target. Live. Live. Live.”

• Gemäss Empfehlungen sollte dieser Band an zweiter Stelle gelesen werden. Wir befinden uns in der Zukunft, die Menschen haben sich über das All zerstreut, es wird um die Vorherrschaft gekämpft. Die Menschen auf dem Planeten Barrayar waren 400 Jahre lang isoliert und kamen erst vor 80 Jahren wieder in Kontakt mit den Zivilisationen der anderen besiedelten Planeten. Im Kontrast zu den Anderen ist ihre Gesellschaftsstruktur auf dem Stand des 19. Jahrhunderts in Europa stehen geblieben. Nach dem Krieg zwischen ihren Planeten hat Cordelia Aral geheiratet. Cordelia hat Mühe, sich mit den engen gesellschaftlichen Regeln für Frauen auf Barrayar zurechtzufinden, doch freut sie sich auf das Baby, das sie erwartet. Aral wird zum Regenten für den 4-jährigen Thronfolger von Barrayar ernannt, nachdem dessen Grossvater, der Kaiser gestorben ist. Der Kampf um den Thron wird ausgelöst, Aral und seine Familie werden zum Ziel von Mordanschlägen, als Regent und als Mitglied der Kaiserfamilie ist er in höchster Gefahr. In diesem Buch stehen weniger die Science Fiction-Elemente im Vordergrund, als die Interaktionen auf dem Planeten selber. Um zu Überleben, kann sich Cordelia nicht auf Technik verlassen, sie muss zu einfachen Mitteln greifen. Die Geschichte ist äusserst spannend und gut geschrieben mit eindrücklichen Charakterbeschreibungen, ich konnte kaum mehr aufhören zu lesen. Moderne trifft Vergangenheit, verschiedene Gesellschaftsformen treffen aufeinander, Vorurteile und Toleranz. Eindrücklich! Insofern hat es mich etwas an Herbert's Dune erinnert. Sehr empfehlenswert!

• When they make this series of books into a tv series this should be the first season. It has the romance, drama, horror and adventure.

• The other reviewers did a good job outlining this book. I too really enjoyed it!

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