Una aventura más ligera con personajes secundarios, aunque Elli Quinn me encanta, creo que la novela es algo irregular.

Veo por donde va Bujold con los temas que toca pero a la vez creo que no acaba de acertar tan bien su critica como en otros libros de la saga. Aún así, su escritura es excelente y hacen el libro igualmente entretenido. ( )

Nice read, and again competent female characters, but also again chaos. Entertaining, but not brilliant. ( )

Soft sci-fi- easy read but thought provoking ( )

2021 reread via audiobook narrated by Grover Gardner. I had forgotten the ending of this book & would love it if Bujold wrote a follow-up, perhaps set 100 years or so after these events. (added later - I see I had this thought on my previous reading too!)
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Originally, I shelved this as a short story but it is really a novella. This entry in the Vorkosigan series is really only very tangentially linked to the Vorkosigan family (through Elli Quinn, member of the Dendarii Free Mercenaries).

Athos, a very reclusive planet, is a planet of all males - reproduction is done using the uterine replicators and cloned ova brought to the planet 200 years ago when it was colonized. However, the cloning is breaking down due to the age of the material and Ethan Urquhart, a physician specializing in reproduction biology, is sent by his government to obtain new samples. Lots of adventure and some romance and humor follow but for me, what is memorable about this book is this concept of an all-male planetary society. It seems clear to me that the "Founding Fathers" were men frightened of women (because they were homosexual or overly religious [equating sex with women with Sin] or whatever reason); they surely left a strange view of women and their 'powers' to their descendants. It would be interesting to read another story about this planet set 100 or so years after the events of this book! ( )

One of the weaker earlier Vorkosigan novels. The premise of a planet that has fled all contact with women is never convincingly defended. It appears to come from very old-fashioned religious roots steeped in the notion of women and sin-- but this religion is just fine with homosexuality. Meanwhile, the other planets seem to be doggedly heterosexual and queer is a derogatory term. While Miles Vorkosigan never appears, the primary character, Ethan, is cut from the same cloth -- smart and competent as everyone else can see, but in his own head inept and always failing. Elli Quinn from the previous novels remains a cipher throughout. The plot is fine, but ties up a little too neatly.

Skippable. ( )