Barrayar is a good novel but not a great one. Bujold shows enticing hints of her full talents, including an amazing ability to write tense, claustrophobic action scenes. Also noteworthy is her refusal to shy away from giving her characters--even her heroes and heroines--traits that the reader might find repellent, or at least odd. But Bujold weakens the book by insistently adding romance, often hurting the effects of both her characters and her plot. For instance, during the romance subplots, Koudelka, whom we are led to believe is a consummate Barrayaran military man, becomes a simpering fool for no good reason. And, during a tense rescue mission that occupies the last quarter of the book, Bujold interrupts her narrative with a jarringly lighthearted romantic interlude between two of the rescuers, at a time when romance should have been the last thing on everybody's mind. If the romance weren't bad enough, Bujold also transforms Cordelia into an unappealing character, at least for me. (***Minor spoilers follow***) In trying to rescue Miles, Cordelia shows blatant disregard for the lives of her friends and the goals of her husband, favoring instead the survival of her son. And, in the climax of that rescue, she clearly uses Kareen to further her own goals, despite some chagrin that comes a moment (and one life) too late. (***Spoilers end***)

If you want romance, read To Say Nothing of the Dog. If you want action, try a book by Iain M. Banks. Unfortunately, although this book has some high points, it hardly reaches the pinnacles achieved by other authors.

Copyright © 2002 Steven Wu