I was pretty disappointed with the book. The book is extremely slow-paced and nothing like previous Vokosigan novels. It's a romance, but nothing like A Civil Campaign. The description makes it much more exciting than it really is.

Jole was Count Vorkosigian, Miles' father Aral's lover. So the first part of the book goes into Aral being bisexual, which is something I didn't expect but I think was hinted at in previous novels. This segues into Jole getting the hots for Cordelia and Jole's desire to father a child with Aral's gametes while getting a relationship with Cordelia. I just did not find this terribly exciting.

I got a couple of hundred pages into the book and there was no Miles, no lopping off of heads, and no interstellar intrigue. Jole and Cordelia had finally made it into the canoe, a running storyline in the book, which could have happened a hundred pages earlier for my taste (call me impatient).

At this point, I gave it up and posted the book. Perhaps I missed out on some good parts. The writing is well done, if a bit over-descriptive and there were some good reviews on Amazon, so I figure someone else will really like the book.

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