Shards of Honor
Lois McMaster Bujold
313 pages
published in 1986

Sometimes you just have a day were you don't want to read anything challeging, not in the mood for something new and untested and you just want to reread some old favourite. It's with this attitude that I reread Shards of Honor.

At heart Shards of Honor is a love story, a love story about two (literally!) star crossed lovers.

Commander Cordelia Naismith of the Betan Astronomical Survey leads an expedition to a newly discovered planet, where they run afoul of the Barrayan Imperial Navy, which has set up a secret depot there to further their immenent war of conquest. Left for dead after the Barrayans killed or took prisoner her entire expedition, she wakes up to find she's not alone --as the Barrayan commander was betrayed by a conspiracy in his own troops and left behind.

Together Cordelia and the Barrayan commander, Aral Vorkosigan have to make the danerous trek to the Barrayan's base, evade the conpiracy and restore Aral to his rightful command. And that's where their trouble starts, because unknowingly and unwillingly they've fallen in love -- and now their respective countries are at war.

Part military sf, part love story, what makes this novel more then the sum of its parts is Bujold's strength in creating believable characters and her psychological insight, even this early in her career. If this is not yet of the same quality as her later Miles novels like Mirror Dance or Komarr there's at least the promise of these already present.