Shards of Honor

     Shards of Honor was an interesting read.  In all honesty, I didn't get too far into it (about 60 to 70 pages if I remember correctly).  When I say it was interesting I mean two things.  The first being that it has the good sci-fi hook, I was interested in exploring these planets and unknown worlds, and found things like weapons that render people psychologically stunted pretty engaging as well.  The second point of mine is more of a negative point of view.  The political intrigue into a society I didn't feel connected to just came off way too strong.  Parts that I was fond of (like burying the crew member by the light of glow-sticks while fighting off alien creatures) were good to me, but the whole Betan versus Barrayar felt like a big "so-what" to me.  Perhaps I just didn't give it enough time.  Not that it all wasn't done well, though.
     I'm sure this science fiction universe is well established and as in-depth as good world building should be.  I'm simply a bit picky for this sort of thing.  This could be why I've never been a big fan of Star Wars.  Space Opera is a bit too big of a scope for my taste.  Not that it has to be simple, quite the opposite.  I'm a fan of Warhammer 40k (a bit different from Star Wars, I know, but not any smaller of a universe by any means), but maybe that's because I can relate to something that originates from Earth.  That little bit of familiarity can do a lot for a story when I trying to decide whether or not I'm interested in it.