The space opera / action / adventure / espionage saga turns into a romantic comedy here, and I don't care. I enjoy it just the same. We have hit that sweet spot where we have a great writer and great characters and it just can't go wrong.

Miles fell in love in the previous book and we get the courting here. Miles being Miles, he approaches it like a military or intelligence campaign, and it goes wrong. He will have to bare his soul if he wants to succeed here. Add a funny side plot with Mark's new business enterprise and some political maneuvering, with the preparations for Emperor Gregor's wedding in the background and you have a recipe that Bujold successfully develops. I cheered for Miles here as much as during his craziest space adventures. ( )

I have been away from Miles for a long time. I am glad I picked this book up and returned to the world. As I remembered the books are funny and intricately plotted. I think I stopped reading them way back when because I had read a bunch in a row and the last few had been a little serious. It was great to jump back into the quick witted world of Miles Vorkosigan. With all the science fiction and fantasy shows getting turned into series this one certainly deserves a shot. ( )

Reason read: TIOLI # and SFFkit read a series or trilogy book.

This was published in 1999 and is more romance that SF. Miles is in love but things aren't going well. There is also a bit of politics and there is scientific and economic topics.
A lot of sexual, reproductive and gender topics in the book with clones, gender reassignment surgery, babies "designed" and carried in artificial wombs, etc, etc. There is also a generous amount of swearing in this book.

The romantic farce and other parts made it very funny at times. It's just not my favorite book though I find it not at all dated considering that it is 24 years old. ( )

April 2021 reread:
No change to my previous opinion :)
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August 2019 reread:
I just love this book. I reread this in the omnibus "Miles in Love" rather than listening to the audiobook edition this time. It is the one book in the series that most clearly shows the influence of Georgette Heyer on Bujold's writing (and yes, Bujold is a Heyer fan!).

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More romance and a bit less adventure in this entry of the Vorkosigan series made for a thoroughly satisfying book. Gover Gardner's narration was the icing on the cake & brought this up to a full 5 stars.

Proverbially, the path of true love doesn't run smooth and certainly Miles, his clone brother Mark, and his cousin Ivan all show the truth of that! I was glad to see Mark appear in a more separate storyline; he and Miles were more fraternal. Ivan also had a more independent role this time instead of being Miles' sidekick. ( )

This is a book I find myself re-reading every few years. Even if I don't re-read others in the series, I will pick up this one. It has the distinction of being the first Vorkosigan book I've ever read, despite it being 12th in the series. It says something about Lois's ability to hook a reader that despite the obviousness that there was stuff that happened before, I was fully invested in the characters now.

Re-reading this, I fell in love with it again. This was Bujold at her finest. There is political machinations, romantic intrigue (of a sort), Miles being Miles, and Ivan shines and proves he is not nearly as incompetent as his much more competent relatives see him as.

As an aside, poor Ivan. He's always seen as the slow one, but that's slow relatively to those around him: Miles, Aral, Cordelia, his mother for heavens sake! I'm sure Ivan is actually quite brilliant by ordinary standards but he doesn't often has a chance to shine given his much brighter relations. This book allows the reader to see him coming into his own.

Also, butter bugs. Gotta love the butter bugs. And Roic. ( )