Minor achievement...

[seawasp]

... during my conference in San Diego, I finally managed to read my first Bujold novel (the two-in-one "Cordelia's Honor"). So now I at least will have some idea of what people are talking about when they mention "Barrayar" and all that stuff, even though at this point I've only just met the usually-central character Miles.

Overall, excellent reads. Lois has a fine hand with turns of phrase that make it easy to tell who's doing the speaking without needing to have it pointed out. The only problems I had -- which may stem from simply not understanding the universe enough -- is that there were places in the story where I wondered, basically, "Well, okay, you'd like some Betan gadgetry or tech. You live with a well-situated noble of Barrayar. WHY NOT ORDER OUT?" It wasn't as though much of the material involved would be the equivalent of "restricted" or classified gadgetry. I know if I found myself choosing to live in some remote corner of the world that I'd certainly have all the reasonable additional comforts and living aids shipped to me from home, even if there was a high premium on them and I'd have to wait a while.

But those are really minor gripes, and in some areas probably necessary plot twists hang on them. This was as I said my first Bujold novel, but it has assured that it will not be my last.

Comments

[howardtayler.livejournal.com]

In both of the books contained within "Cordelia's Honor," Barrayar and Beta Colony are on opposite sides of Barrayar's expansionist war. I expect that even if trade has opened back up after the war (second book) it would be politically expedient for House Vorkosigan to NOT be ordering Betan goods through parcel post where just any well-placed Vor could get wind of what they're doing.

But it's been five years or more since I read those.

OT time!!

[msboku.livejournal.com]

DBZ and so much more..This is for Ryk and Kathleen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX3KNsuP3HI&NR

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

(Disclaimer; I am a raving fan of the Barrayar series. Reader discretion advised.)

This is a purely personal deduction, and it does hold at least a whiff of retcon, but I'd thought that Barrayar was under an embargo of sorts after their invasions. At the very least, the conquest of Komarr and the excesses during the revolts there were certainly Viewed With Alarm by their neighbours, and their attack on Escobar would certainly put Barrayar on the Betan blacklist. There's some evidence of this in the later books (The Vor Game, for instance, goes somewhat into interstellar politics in Miles' time and none of the neighbouring polities wanted to touch those brutal thugs with a 10-ly pole) but nothing really concrete... so take it for what it's worth.

Then again, Escobar did send that high-tech medical equipment along with their, er, we'll call them "returnees" to spoil no spoilers... so maybe that doesn't close the loophole you point out. And, also in <>tVG, it's mentioned that "[t]wenty-five percent of [Barrayaran] commercial traffic passes through" a neutral system... so there is some sort of trade going on anyway. *shrug*

-- Steve's really thinking that it's probably a result of LMB's stated policy, "The author reserves the right to have a better idea."

PS: I am in awe of her grasp of character and POV. Thanks to the biases of her viewpoint characters we're quite happy to overlook precisely how nasty a place Barrayar would be to live if you weren't lucky enough to owe fealty (or at least political alliance) and have direct access to the Vorkosigans.

[julesjones]

My reading was along similar lines to howardtayler and anton_p_nym -- even if there isn't an official trade barrier, it's going to be politically awkward on both sides.

[shana.livejournal.com]

My introduction to Bujold was Barrayar -- when serialized in Analog. I then went out and searched for her other books. I read them in the order I found them, which is not the publication order, and Shards of Honor was the last one I found.

I think part of the tech question is that Cordelia is feeling her way in her first few months on Barrayar.

She's learning just how backward Barrayar is, and since she's used to being an ordinary person the 'I can just order it from Beta' realization will take a while.

[kengr]

Unless you've got more will power than a Lensman, be warned that when you get to "A Civil Campaign" it's best to plan on not starting it until you can finish it without important interruptions.

[jerith.livejournal.com]

I've been having trouble finding some of the books in South Africa (I only got my hands on The Warrior's Apprentice a month ago) but her writing definitely gets better toward the laster books. (This is not to say her early books aren't good, just that the later ones are *really* good.)

I currently only have one Vorkosigan book in my collection. I really should buy some more so I can reread them...

[shana.livejournal.com]

If you can read electronic versions, most of them are available at the Baen website -- and I believe all of them at Fictionwise.