Reviewish thingie: Shards of Honor
So, I read Shards of Honor! Or to put it another way, LOOK MOMMY I AM FINALLY A REAL GIRL!!!!!1
I think just about every single friend I have has read Bujold. I have periodically heard semi-comprehensible rhapsodizing and/or worship of Bujold from most of them, and it got to the point where I think I subconsciously felt both inadequate for having no clue what they were talking about since clearly Everyone But Me Knew and reluctant because What If I Tried And I Didn't Get It.
I'm not saying I ever spent a large amount of time wandering around having these thoughts or anything. Just that I believe that a vague apprehension about No, seriously, you have to read Bujold to be a Real Girl but maybe it won't work for me was hanging out in the back of my mind somewhere when other people talked about it. This sounds like something I would subconsciously think. Consciously, of course, whenever I read fantasy or sci-fi in general I go into it with a vague apprehension that I will not get it. So although Persephone lent it to me probably over a year ago now, it took me until right after we broke up in July to actually read it. But I did.
And I GOT IT. (<--I think)
First of all, I had received warning from rushthatspeaks and several others of you that it was a first book and later books would be richer. Generally this is something I identify and cope with easily in other genres, but the advance notice was probably helpful in this case so that I could sort out my impressions sensibly. (I know what a first mystery looks like, or a first novel in general, and what to expect from later works accordingly--but since my concept of what a "fantasy novel" even is remains in flux, I may not know what a first fantasy looks like and I definitely have no idea what to expect accordingly.) I spent a lot of time, especially in the first half, kind of feeling like I was skating on the surface of something more complicated. And because of the first-novel warning I was eventually able to identify this as the Some Of The World-Building Is Missing syndrome that many first novels have. Basically, the reader was supposed to have some opinions and impressions of Beta Colony and Barrayar that colored the interactions, except there was not actually enough information available about Beta Colony to achieve this, and most of it was only available in the second half. But once I told myself to just roll with this and trust that all would be made apparent later in the universe should I choose to continue, I settled. (<--Also, Wikipedia says that this was originally truncated from a longer manuscript that included most of the events of Barrayar, so it makes sense that this would happen.)
After settling, my impressions were:
1. Persephone, I know the exact page on which you fell in love with this book. :P
2. If I were Aral, I might have ultimately done the same exact things, but I would also have spent much more time fantasizing about seizing the Emperor by the shoulders and violently shaking him. I admire his forbearance.
3. Numbers 1 and 2 are not important because BENEVOLENT DESTRUCTION! Cordelia is secretly a goddess of benevolent destruction and I can TOTALLY UNDERSTAND AND GET BEHIND THIS CONCEPT. No problem. I am so on board. Also, go strong female character. Thumbs up.
4. I found that after the first few pages it was all pretty easy for me as a fantasy-challenged reader. I realize that in all genres we tend to have the same range of universal themes, just occasionally in different settings. So Shards of Honor has people improving each other by introducing chaos into each other's lives, and stupid people getting everybody into trouble, and women having to fix everything questions about how we can extricate ourselves from violent political situations with minimal damage to both human life and our own souls. Totally get it. This seems like a silly thing to latch onto because duh that’s why we call the themes “universal,” but sometimes in fantasy novels themes are expressed through tropes I have no experience with so I don’t even know if the trope is being played straight or inverted or what. Or the concepts that are taken as part of the readers’ common ground are not actually part of my common ground so I’m peacefully accepting things without explanation that get pages of explanation anyway, but being thrown off by things that get no explanation because apparently others just roll with it. These problems were negligible verging on nonexistent in Shards of Honor and overall the experience felt different than my usual reading experience but perfectly comfortable. I think a fantasy aficionado and I could easily have a conversation about it with no stumbling blocks; it could go something like “Cordelia is sort of like Vicky Bliss but more organized and in space, and also there are more politics” and then “So you’re saying Vicky Bliss is sort of like Cordelia except less organized and also an art historian so the politics are within academia and are therefore silly and pointless?”
So yeah. Feeling glad that I read it. Would buy again from seller.
I think just about every single friend I have has read Bujold. I have periodically heard semi-comprehensible rhapsodizing and/or worship of Bujold from most of them, and it got to the point where I think I subconsciously felt both inadequate for having no clue what they were talking about since clearly Everyone But Me Knew and reluctant because What If I Tried And I Didn't Get It.
I'm not saying I ever spent a large amount of time wandering around having these thoughts or anything. Just that I believe that a vague apprehension about No, seriously, you have to read Bujold to be a Real Girl but maybe it won't work for me was hanging out in the back of my mind somewhere when other people talked about it. This sounds like something I would subconsciously think. Consciously, of course, whenever I read fantasy or sci-fi in general I go into it with a vague apprehension that I will not get it. So although Persephone lent it to me probably over a year ago now, it took me until right after we broke up in July to actually read it. But I did.
And I GOT IT. (<--I think)
First of all, I had received warning from rushthatspeaks and several others of you that it was a first book and later books would be richer. Generally this is something I identify and cope with easily in other genres, but the advance notice was probably helpful in this case so that I could sort out my impressions sensibly. (I know what a first mystery looks like, or a first novel in general, and what to expect from later works accordingly--but since my concept of what a "fantasy novel" even is remains in flux, I may not know what a first fantasy looks like and I definitely have no idea what to expect accordingly.) I spent a lot of time, especially in the first half, kind of feeling like I was skating on the surface of something more complicated. And because of the first-novel warning I was eventually able to identify this as the Some Of The World-Building Is Missing syndrome that many first novels have. Basically, the reader was supposed to have some opinions and impressions of Beta Colony and Barrayar that colored the interactions, except there was not actually enough information available about Beta Colony to achieve this, and most of it was only available in the second half. But once I told myself to just roll with this and trust that all would be made apparent later in the universe should I choose to continue, I settled. (<--Also, Wikipedia says that this was originally truncated from a longer manuscript that included most of the events of Barrayar, so it makes sense that this would happen.)
After settling, my impressions were:
1. Persephone, I know the exact page on which you fell in love with this book. :P
2. If I were Aral, I might have ultimately done the same exact things, but I would also have spent much more time fantasizing about seizing the Emperor by the shoulders and violently shaking him. I admire his forbearance.
3. Numbers 1 and 2 are not important because BENEVOLENT DESTRUCTION! Cordelia is secretly a goddess of benevolent destruction and I can TOTALLY UNDERSTAND AND GET BEHIND THIS CONCEPT. No problem. I am so on board. Also, go strong female character. Thumbs up.
4. I found that after the first few pages it was all pretty easy for me as a fantasy-challenged reader. I realize that in all genres we tend to have the same range of universal themes, just occasionally in different settings. So Shards of Honor has people improving each other by introducing chaos into each other's lives, and stupid people getting everybody into trouble, and women having to fix everything questions about how we can extricate ourselves from violent political situations with minimal damage to both human life and our own souls. Totally get it. This seems like a silly thing to latch onto because duh that’s why we call the themes “universal,” but sometimes in fantasy novels themes are expressed through tropes I have no experience with so I don’t even know if the trope is being played straight or inverted or what. Or the concepts that are taken as part of the readers’ common ground are not actually part of my common ground so I’m peacefully accepting things without explanation that get pages of explanation anyway, but being thrown off by things that get no explanation because apparently others just roll with it. These problems were negligible verging on nonexistent in Shards of Honor and overall the experience felt different than my usual reading experience but perfectly comfortable. I think a fantasy aficionado and I could easily have a conversation about it with no stumbling blocks; it could go something like “Cordelia is sort of like Vicky Bliss but more organized and in space, and also there are more politics” and then “So you’re saying Vicky Bliss is sort of like Cordelia except less organized and also an art historian so the politics are within academia and are therefore silly and pointless?”
So yeah. Feeling glad that I read it. Would buy again from seller.