Ian's Reviews > Barrayar

3.4⭐
I came late (by 38 years) to the Vorkostigan saga, but I think I can see why it's so popular. It's a shrewd mash up of military (or as Bujold aptly puts it " militaresque") space opera and romance novel.
I have noticed the similarities between these two genres before: both have formulas and tropes they tend to follow; strong heros tend to hook up with strong heroines, or visa versa- even if the strengths are sometimes hidden or underdeveloped; the more interesting of both types venture into social or moral issues. I found all of those characteristics in this book.
First off, though, Bujold is a highly competent writer of adventure stories with excellent pacing and good plots (so far). True, her settings and characters all seem kind of familiar but she does interesting things with them (and to be fair, she was in the game early- before the market was saturated with series like this one).
I liked this book a little better than " Shards Of Honor", which preceeded it. I found Bujold's dry humor a bit sharper, this outing. Can't get into details due to potential spoilers but she does do a number on patriarchies and militaristic societies throughout her book. She doesn't take herself too seriously though, her series ( so far) is clearly light entertainment.
An example of her space opera/romance aggregate I liked was that, after a daring and desperate secret rescue mission ( the dramatic climax), she follows it up with a (semi) royal wedding, with descriptions of the dresses, ceremony, food etc. Classic stuff, and she pulls it off well. I will continue to follow this series, which is some 20 plus novels and shorter works, as far as I can. -30-