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Barrayar

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This article is about the novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. For the fictional planet, see Barrayar (fictional planet).
Barrayar
AuthorLois McMaster Bujold
Cover artistStephen Hickman
LanguageEnglish
SeriesVorkosigan Saga
GenreScience fiction
PublisherBaen Books
Publication date
1991
Publication placeUnited States
Pages386
AwardsLocus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1992)
ISBN978-0-671-72083-4
Preceded byThe Vor Game 
Followed byMirror Dance 

Barrayar is a science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. It was first published as four installments in Analog in July–October 1991,[1] and then published in book form by Baen Books in October 1991.[2] Barrayar won both the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1992.[3] It is a part of the Vorkosigan Saga, and is the seventh full-length novel of the series, in publication order. Barrayar is a direct sequel to Bujold's first novel Shards of Honor (1986), and these are paired in the 1996 omnibus Cordelia's Honor.[4]

Plot summary

Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan are expecting their first child. When the crafty old Emperor Ezar Vorbarra dies, Aral reluctantly takes over as regent for Ezar's grandson Gregor. A plot to assassinate Aral and Cordelia with poison gas fails, but the antidote, while effective, is also a powerful teratogen that poses a grave threat to the bone development of their unborn son. In a desperate attempt to save the fetus, Cordelia has it transferred to a uterine replicator — an artificial womb — to undergo experimental treatment that may partially combat the otherwise-fatal bone damage. Among Barrayarans, weakness and physical handicaps are culturally spurned; babies with birth defects are routinely euthanized. Aral's father, Count Piotr Vorkosigan, seeks to destroy the fetus rather than have the Vorkosigan name and title passed on to a "deformed mutant." A furious Cordelia keeps him at bay.

When Count Vidal Vordarian attempts a coup, five-year-old Emperor Gregor is rescued by his loyal security chief, Captain Negri, and reunited with the Vorkosigans. Cordelia, Gregor and bodyguard Bothari hide in the hills amongst the rural population, while Aral and his father organize the resistance.

After Cordelia rejoins Aral, they learn that the replicator containing their child, whom they have named Miles, has been captured. Without proper maintenance, the fetus will succumb within six days, but Aral refuses to attempt a rescue when there are far greater concerns. However, Cordelia enlists Bothari, her personal bodyguard Droushnakovi, and one of Aral's officers, Koudelka, to help her retrieve the replicator and hopefully rescue Gregor's mother, Princess Kareen. Once in the palace, Cordelia and her party are caught. They overpower their captors, but Kareen is killed by Vordarian's bodyguards. Bothari beheads Vordarian at Cordelis's request, and they escape with the replicator. Without its leader, the coup falls apart. Miles is born, fragile and deformed.

Five years later, Miles is brittle-boned but thriving, and more active and rambunctious than a normal child his age. He takes an interest in Piotr's horses, which seems to open a crack in Piotr's beliefs.

Reception

Awards

Barrayar won both the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 1992.[3]
It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1991.[5]

Reviews

In the New York Review of Science Fiction - October 1998 (Number 122), the novel Barrayar is summarized as follows:

Barrayar opens the later stage of Bujold's oeuvre, most obviously because of its quantum jump in power, complexity and originality, such as the handling of Bothari, and its excursions into women's territory previously untravelled in SF, but also because it initiates a kind of second, deeper pass over the landscape of the earlier books.

— Sylvia Kelso, Loud Achievements: Lois McMaster Bujold's Science Fiction[6]

Translations

  • 1993, Duits, Barrayar, ISBN 3-453-07227-8 translated by Michael Morgental[7]
  • 1993, Frans, Barrayar, ISBN 2-277-23454-0, translated by Michel Deutsch[7]
  • 1993, Italiaans, Barrayar, ISBN 88-429-0711-1, translated by Gianluigi Zuddas[7]
  • 1994, Spaans, Barrayar, ISBN 84-406-4019-6, translated by Margara Auerbach[7]
  • 1995, Bulgaars, Bariar, ISBN 954-585-000-6, translated by Krum Bachvarov[7]
  • 1996, Pools, Barrayar, ISBN 83-86669-77-5[7]
  • 1996, Russisch, Barrayar, translated by T Cherezova[7]
  • 1999, Nederlands, De planeet Barrayar, ISBN 90-245-3561-1, translated by Josephine Ruitenberg[7]
  • 2000, Japans, Barayaa Nairan, ISBN 4-488-69807-7, translated by Ayako Ogiso[7]
  • 2000, Hebreeuws, Barrayar, ISBN 3-12974, translated by Boaz Weis[7]
  • 2004, Kroatisch, Barrayar, ISBN 953-220-178-5, translated by Martina Anicic[7]
  • 2005, Chinees[7]

References

  1. ^ "Analog Science Fiction and Fact, October 1991". Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB). Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  2. ^ Bujold, Lois McMaster (1991). Barrayar. Riverdale, New York: Baen Books. Copyright page. ISBN 978-0-671-72083-4.
  3. ^ a b "1992 Award Winners & Nominees". WorldsWithoutEnd.com. 1992. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  4. ^ Walton, Jo (March 31, 2009). "Weeping for her enemies: Lois McMaster Bujold's Shards of Honor". Tor.com. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  5. ^ "1991 Award Winners & Nominees". WorldsWithoutEnd.com. 1991. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
  6. ^ Loud Achievements: Lois McMaster Bujold's Science Fiction
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Dendarii Library. Translations
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