Reviews

Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

jesmichan's review against another edition

5.0

ms bujold is criminally underrated as an author

galexywitch's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

emilyb_chicago's review against another edition

2.0

I am assuming that this series gets better as we stop with the prequels and get closer to her original story line. This book was a rather removed romance with not a lot of passion or charisma. I found annoying and convenient what was supposed to be sweet banter.

tomasthanes's review against another edition

5.0

Even though this is "Book #7", according to the author, this is the second book in the "series proper" (refer to the Author's Note at the end of the book - gratefully, the same Author's Note is at the end of Book #1 and Book #7 - I expect this consistency across all of the Vorkosigan books).

This book picks up where the first book left off with the formation of the Miles Vorkosigan family after the marriage of Miles and Cordelia, a citizen of Barrayar and Beta Colony, respectively.

Again, I compliment the graphic artist (Ron Miller) who did the minimalist cover showing the new family (though the baby doesn't appear until the very end of the book and you're amazed that the baby made it through alive at all).

The bulk of the story focuses on Vordarian's War and I won't say any more so as to not give away any spoilers.

The author tells a very good story made even more enjoyable by her choice of words. If my TBR pile wasn't growing faster than the number of novels read this year, I'd proceed into the next book in the series, "The Warrior's Apprentice".

dankesean's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

cobrasys's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

trin's review against another edition

4.0

Finally playing catch-up with the Vorkosigan series, hitting all the ones I skipped because I couldn’t find them in Ireland. (Don’t judge me, Siria!) I already knew pretty much everything that happens in this one, since its events end up having such a great effect on the rest of the series; still, it was a great deal of fun to actually get to see Cordelia come charging in with that severed head.

readingrevival's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

mitskacir's review against another edition

3.0

Read this with my partner, who heard that this book was good and jumping into the middle of the series with this book was fine. There were certainly some references to what presumably happened in earlier books, but this was a fairly stand alone read and I was never confused. There were interesting characters, even though the plot was quite slow and surprisingly domestic for a sci-fi novel (kind of refreshing). My least favorite part was the "romance" (??) between Drou and Kou - I just wasn't convinced, and it was kind of weird. Overall, enjoyable but not enough for me to read anything else in the series.

relaxingfelon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25