I loved the first book in this series. I hated the second. My trust in the author broken, I struggled through the early chapters of this third installment and did something I rarely do: flipped to the back to read a few paragraphs near the end to see where it was going. Once reassured that it was heading towards a satisfying conclusion, I finished the rest of the book with ease and in the end I enjoyed it very much. I will pick up the next one at some point.

This story is drawing to a close and final pieces are falling into place. Danger looms just over the horizon, and I'm extremely curious to see how many more times the characters can bone before it gets here!

Miles Vorkosigan was born on Barrayar, a planet only recently connected to the rest of the colonized galaxy via a new wormhole gate. It’s isolated status lead to the development of a fiercely militaristic and hierarchical society. Miles was born into both privilege and disadvantage; his family is one of the most politically powerful in the empire, but he himself suffers from many birth defects including brittle bones which shatter with any impact and extremely short stature. In the first chapter Miles fails the physical health entrance to the military academy and has to figure out what he will do with the rest of his life, when his only desires are to fly spaceships and finally impress his stern and imposing grandfather. The answer is wilder and more surprising than even Miles dared to dream. I've read this book three times now and every time my toes curl up in delight over its twists and turns.

Miles and his cousin Ivan are sent to the Cetaganda homeworld, heart of the empire of the historic enemies of Barrayar. Cetaganda launched a bloody but ultimately failed invasion attempt on Barrayar in their grandfather's time. But their mission now is diplomatic, not military- the Cetaganda Empress has died, and Miles carries a funeral gift from his own emperor. Their ship hasn't even finished docking on an orbital spaceport when they fall into the first of a serious of bizarre traps: a single man attempts an armed boarding of their ship leaving behind a strange weapon and even stranger artifact. What is it? Who does it belong to? Is it stolen, or was it meant to be planted on their ship? Miles is determined to find out, without letting either their enemy- or his superiors- know.

Doctor Ethan Urquhart is a reproductive specialist on a world entirely colonized by men. His normal days are filled with the careful husbanding of cell cultures, the tending of uterine replicators and overseeing the mechanic births of the beloved sons of the men of Athos. But the ovarian cell cultures brought by the original founding fathers are beginning to fail. Athos pooled its meager excess resources to purchase new cell cultures from Jackson's Whole but when they arrive the boxes are empty, or full of dead useless meat. Someone must leave the home world to purchase and personally escort home the future of Athos, and a committee has chosen Ethan for the job. He steadies his nerves, ready to do his job, but terrified of what the outside galaxy will hold. Enter Commander Elli Quinn, of the Dendarii Mercenaries, chasing the tail end of a plot that started light years away... which could end with Athos in flames.

After the wild events of Mile's first space mercenary adventure, any military posting would probably feel anti-climactic. But especially the posting Miles does receive: weather officer at "Camp Permafrost", a tiny Barrayaran island which no strategic importance whatsoever. Yet in less than three months there Miles encounters a near-fatal practical joke, an very-dead body in a drain, a warehouse of degrading toxins, a mutiny and hypothermia. And all of this takes place in the first 1/3 of the book. Never a dull moment for the empire's shortest (and possibly smartest) Ensign.