#Shards of Honor

[mytly4]

I'm currently rereading Barrayar, and flipped back to Shards to check on a bit of dialogue, and came across this little line:

"Why can't you just lose your temper with subordinates, like normal men, instead of with superiors, like a lunatic?"

This is said by Rulf Vorhalas to Aral, right after his conversation with Prince Serg in his cabin during the Escobar war. Now, there's a valid reason why Aral speaks to the Prince so disrepectfully - it's a part of the ruse to goad Serg to fight on the frontlines in the war and get annihilated. Nonethless, something tells me that this wasn't in the least bit out of character for Aral, especially as Vorhalas frames it as something that Aral has done before. Which of course, reminds me of this exchange, from The Vor Game:

Cecil flashed a grin. "Quite. Plus your rather irritating habit of treating your superior officers as your, ah . . ." Cecil paused, apparently groping again for just the right word.

"Equals?" Miles hazarded.

"Cattle," Cecil corrected judiciously. "To be driven to your will."

So looks like insubordination runs in the family. 😉 Granted, Miles would never think of "being disrespectful to superiors" as something he has in common with his father (especially as during his lifetime, his father had no superiors, except Gregor), but it's interesting to see that Miles follows in his Da's footsteps in a way that he never intended.

#vorkosigan saga #miles vorkosigan #aral vorkosigan #shards of honor #the vor game #vorkosigan #lois mcmaster bujold

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

#scifi #books #Shards of Honor #Lois McMaster Bujold #Vorkosigan Saga #poll #result: no #l: English

[sharpestasp]

My wife spoiled me for our anniversary.

#lois mcmaster bujold #vorkosigan saga #shards of honor #barrayar #diplomatic immunity #brothers in arms

[sanguinarysanguinity]

"What guarantee do I have?" Desperation made her daring. "Vorkosigan's word. You tell him I pledged it to you." "Who are you to pledge his word?" "Lady Vorkosigan, if we both live."

- Lois McMaster Bujold, Shards of Honor

Three pages later she's worrying how to leave a message behind for Vorkosigan that she's saying yes to his proposal, but I think that this exchange, when Tafas passes it on to him, will be plenty clear enough.

#vorkosiverse #shards of honor #lois mcmaster bujold #cordelia naismith

[thirdwifeofriversong]

my partner has a vorkosigan saga conspiracy theory about beta colony that i’ve been given permission to share

she basically conjectures that “steady freddy” is an ai, and all the elections are rigged for him to win, but despite people not voting for him, he’s been programmed with the best interests of the betans at heart, so people aren’t super upset at their preferred candidate not winning (*cries in american) because freddy is still doing a pretty good job (because he was programmed with the intent, knowledge, and drive to protect the well-being of his people).

(will reblog with page number references after i have my copy of cordelia’s honor back)

#vorkosigan saga #beta colony #betans #shards of honor #cordelia's honor #cordelia naismith vorkosigan

[toddchavezwatchescartoons]

I just need to be dumped on an uninhabited planet with the most emotionally intelligent woman in the universe who is also the first butch I've ever seen. It would fix me.

#vorkosigan saga #aral vorkosigan #shards of honor

[havendance]

The thing about the Escobar invasion is that it is complete and utter destruction. It is razing to the ground and salting the earth. It is a nuclear level solution to the problem that Ezar faces. It is a plot to arrange the death of an unwanted heir and future for Barrayar that results in the death of thousands of others and the question is, is it justified? Ezar thinks so and he is the emperor. His word is law. How many will die because of a doomed invasion? How many will die under the rain of a mad emperor? How many will die in a Barrayaran civil war? There is a price of blood that paid with any path, and it's only a matter of picking one. Is there a way that it could have been avoided? Who knows, but this is Barrayar.

And then there is Vorkosigan's role in it. He is loyal and he is honorable and Ezar uses up every bit of that. He pushes him to the breaking point. If he were going to live longer, perhaps he would've considered going about it a different way, but Ezar is going to die and he will have no more use for him. He will not hoard his resources, he will use them, even if it means that they break.

And Cordelia who sees the truth but cannot speak it because to speak it would be to ruin everything. Lives rest on her silence. Many have already died to prevent the deaths of many more and will she ruin that?

#vorkosigan saga #shards of honor #i am just obsessed with the whole thing #carthago delenda est

[thelastofthebookworms]

Enjoy :)

#polls #sf polls #science fiction #h2g2 #the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy #douglas adams #ender's game #orson scott card #a wrinkle in time #madeleine l'engle #frankenstein #mary shelley #animal farm #george orwell #watership down #richard adams #shards of honor #lois mcmaster bujold #the martian chronicles #ray bradbury #the long way to a small angry planet #becky chambers

[catastrofries]

When he’s cut, I bleed.

#shards of honor #vorkosigan saga #ok?? This book is making me feral I s2g???

[poisindonottouch]

Queer books: The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold

As we wrap up the sci-fi portion of this list of recs, (did you notice these were all sci-fi recs? Next up, queer fantasy books) I bring you my very favorite author.

The main character of most of the Vorkosigan Saga is Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, who is straight. Poor kid. But he is the son of my favorite chaotic bisexual in fiction, Aral Vorkosigan. Not only is Aral the epitome of masculinity on a planet very concerned with gender roles and social roles and class roles, he’s also canonically bisexual from the first time we meet him in Shards of Honor. I like how the occasional character brings it up to his wife, Cordelia, like she’ll be scandalized by his bisexuality, but she knows about it and doesn’t care. Later in the series (like, way later. The last book.) We learn some interesting things about Aral’s life after he dies. Is it spoilers if the book came out in 2015?

Anyway, Aral Vorkosigan, the most manly chaotic bisexual known to scifi.

#sandi reads #happy pride 🌈 #vorkosigan saga #aral vorkosigan #shards of honor #cordelia's honor #barrayar #gentleman jole and the red queen #Lois McMaster Bujold

[mizeliza]

has anyone written a shards of honor au where the rene magritte goes home to beta colony as ordered, and cordelia is taken as a paroled prisoner to barrayar, and what happens next

#the vorkosigan saga #vorkosigan saga #lois mcmaster bujold #shards of honor

[sharpestasp]

Shards of Honor, June 1986, Lois McMaster Bujold

Chapter Thirteen

Interrogation. That's what this is.

Complete with drugging the victim it looks like.

I hate Mehta. I mean, in the long run, I can see why a democracy would be that paranoid and insist, hi I live in one I believe would rug its citizens to compliance if they thought they could do it undiscovered.

Fuck this bitch.

I am having a harder time getting through this than the scene with the sadist.

Mind programming. They said it out loud.

And her CO is no help.

FUCK THIS WHOLE SITUATION.

AHH, ages. 34 and 44.

And Cordelia takes freedom in her own hands.

OH. Okay, Tailor gets a reprieve from me. He really was following orders and security as much as the next soldier, even if he did believe her.

Cordelia, making moves on the fly, doing so well at it!

OH I LOVE HER SO MUCH!

#lois mcmaster bujold #vorkosigan saga #shards of honor #cordelia naismith vorkosigan

[qwanderer]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Aral Vorkosigan/Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan Characters: Aral Vorkosigan, Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan Additional Tags: Pillow Talk, Book: Shards of Honor Summary:

Lord Aral Vorkosigan woke up naked, tangled skin-to-skin with his new wife, and experienced the same kind of terrified awe he had when he’d determined that she wasn’t a drunken hallucination. The heavens had opened up and delivered to him everything he needed most in one delightful Cordelia-shaped package, and now he just had to figure out how to keep her.

#vorkosigan saga #cordelia naismith vorkosigan #aral vorkosigan #shards of honor #the vorkosigan saga #fic #originally intended it to be smut but it became something else

[thirdwifeofriversong]

if someone told me, last summer when i was reading shards of honor, that a VORRUTYER would be one of my favorite characters, i would’ve laughed in their face… but that was before i met dono

#count dono vorrutyer #shoutout to byerly as well i guess #they’re great #lord dono vorrutyer #dono vorrutyer #byerly vorrutyer #vorkosigan saga #a civil campaign #shards of honor #vorkosigan #lois mcmaster bujold

[sanguinarysanguinity]

Later, lying warm in the darkness in Vorkosigan's room in the Count's town house, Cordelia remembered a curiosity. "What did you say to the Emperor, about me?" [...] "He wanted to know what I saw in you. I told him..." he paused again, and continued almost shyly, "That you poured out honor like a fountain, all around you." "That's weird. I don't feel full of honor, or anything else, except maybe confusion." "Naturally not. Fountains keep nothing for themselves."

-- Lois McMaster Bujold, Shards of Honor

#you sure know how to romance a woman Aral #and I mean that sincerely #vorkosiverse #aral vorkosigan #cordelia naismith #shards of honor #I should NOT have spent the weekend re-reading this #but I did lord help me #and it's just as lovely as the first time #except better because now I catch more of the little details #the almost-throwaways that are anything but

[eggy-tea]

I think I was 15 when I first read the line

when he’s cut, I bleed

and honestly, how can you expect me to ever be normal about romance after that?

#give me pairings who love each other intrinsically or give me no romance at all #this applies to queerplatonic relationships too #that doesn’t mean the relationship can’t still be hard work sometimes #but if i don’t believe they’d die for each other without hesitation #(and also be pissed off that the other would throw away their life so cheaply — i wanted you to live and be happy dammit!) #then i just can’t bring myself to care #to be clear: it’s not that i actually *want* them to die for each other #it’s that i want them to believe - completely and without reservation - that the other person is worth it #vorkosigan saga #shards of honor #god. that book is just full of intense quotes #(also. no wonder i feel so hard into tlt)