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Reviews tagging 'Confinement'
Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold, Lois McMaster Bujold
1 review
unthank's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
A tightly plotted space opera that deals with the practical fallout of an enemies-to-lovers relationship.
Good
* Very tightly paced and quick moving. Pretty much every chapter introduces a change in status quo for the main characters.
* Explores implications of technology such as artificial wombs in an interesting an nuanced way.
* I really enjoyed Cordelia, and it was a lot of fun to see a romantic lead who is an competent adult (~35 years old). I also enjoyed seeing a pregnant woman actually be depicted as competent and capable, despite some of the physical challenges she might encounter.
* I enjoyed how the book explored some of the practical considerations about falling in love with somebody from a very different (enemy) culture.
* The story never felt bogged down with worldbuilding, and while I sometimes got a little bit befuddled with the names (Vor- is an honorific prefix, so many of the character's last names start with Vor-) I never felt lost.
* I thought the minor characters were interesting.
Bad
* The writing is very utilitarian. It's clear and functional, but sometimes a little bit dry.
* Sometimes I wished that it would linger a little bit longer on certain scenes or ideas. I think the fact that Cordelia never really has the time to catch her breath is kind of the point ... but it was also a little tiring as a reader to hop from one disaster to another.
* Related to the above point, I overall enjoyed the romance between the main characters, but I think I would have preferred to have just a little bit of downtime to see how the relationship grows/builds.
YMMV
* Mind the content warnings (especially around sexual assault and ableism). I think the book mostly deals with these topics in a nuanced and interesting way, but they are very much front and center in the plot.
* There are some dated depictions of characters with mental illness: the book probably deserves a "content warning: 1990".
* The conflict in the book is largely external and the main character doesn't really undergo a lot of growth. She's competent and relatively well-adjusted at the beginning of the book, and she's competent and well-adjusted at the end of the book.
Good
* Very tightly paced and quick moving. Pretty much every chapter introduces a change in status quo for the main characters.
* Explores implications of technology such as artificial wombs in an interesting an nuanced way.
* I really enjoyed Cordelia, and it was a lot of fun to see a romantic lead who is an competent adult (~35 years old). I also enjoyed seeing a pregnant woman actually be depicted as competent and capable, despite some of the physical challenges she might encounter.
* I enjoyed how the book explored some of the practical considerations about falling in love with somebody from a very different (enemy) culture.
* The story never felt bogged down with worldbuilding, and while I sometimes got a little bit befuddled with the names (Vor- is an honorific prefix, so many of the character's last names start with Vor-) I never felt lost.
* I thought the minor characters were interesting.
Bad
* The writing is very utilitarian. It's clear and functional, but sometimes a little bit dry.
* Sometimes I wished that it would linger a little bit longer on certain scenes or ideas. I think the fact that Cordelia never really has the time to catch her breath is kind of the point ... but it was also a little tiring as a reader to hop from one disaster to another.
* Related to the above point, I overall enjoyed the romance between the main characters, but I think I would have preferred to have just a little bit of downtime to see how the relationship grows/builds.
YMMV
* Mind the content warnings (especially around sexual assault and ableism). I think the book mostly deals with these topics in a nuanced and interesting way, but they are very much front and center in the plot.
* There are some dated depictions of characters with mental illness: the book probably deserves a "content warning: 1990".
* The conflict in the book is largely external and the main character doesn't really undergo a lot of growth. She's competent and relatively well-adjusted at the beginning of the book, and she's competent and well-adjusted at the end of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail