I very much look forward to hearing what you think of the Star Trek connection later on, and the worldbuilding! I CAN'T SAY MORE YET.

jeanniemac says true things about the writing; Shards was written way, way earlier, and you'll see as soon as you get into Barrayar. For all that, the two are halves of the same story, for sure. I'd be interested, once you're done, to hear your thoughts about that, too, actually, how the two books relate to one another.

OVERALL I AM JUST SUPER EXCITED and I wish I could say more of how and why! IF YOU KEEP READING THEN I WILL BE ABLE TO