Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold

Shards of Honour by Lois McMaster Bujold

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
First book in the Vorkosigan series. Cordelia Naismith, high-tech surveyer, meets and becomes romantically and politically entangled with a controversial military officer from the backward planet of Barrayar.



Hmm. First time through I found this book divertingly readable but ultimately clumsy. Second verse, same as the first. The romance interested me more this time, I think because I was in a better frame of mind to accept the way it happens in that sudden, regency romance way. I still winced when the epilogue dropped on my head like an anvil. I mean, it has its politics in the right place, but Bujold could deliver that same sermon later in her career as part of the . . . mechanism of the book, instead of doing a dropkick at the end. And I still think the last quarter of the book doesn't really hold together as a thematic movement.



But, you know, first novel. And it's a good story anyway.




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The Truth by Terry Pratchett

The Truth: A Discworld Novel by Terry Pratchett

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Exactly the sort of Discworld book I like. I like most Discworld, you understand, but particularly the books about Ankh-Morpork development. It's the press here, and it's totally awesome. I think part of what Pratchett does so well is reuse stock fantasy hero tropes, but keep them fresh. Here it's the disillusioned outcast aristocrat with secret but profoundly held ideals. This book does what Discworld is best for – funny but heartfelt.


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