BAEN 2012. Hardback with dust jacket, 422 pp
A Vorkosigan Saga Novel
Captain Ivan Vorpatril sometimes thinks that if not for his family, he
might have no troubles at all. But he has the dubious fortune of the
hyperactive Miles Vorkosigan as a cousin, which has too-often led to his
getting dragged into one of Miles' schemes, with risk to life and
limb--and military career--that Ivan doesn't consider entirely fair.
Although much practice has made Ivan more adept at fending off his
mother's less-than-subtle reminders that he should be getting married
and continuing the Vorpatril lineage. Fortunately, his current duty is
on the planet Komarr as staff officer to Admiral Desplains, far from
both his cousin and his mother back on their homeworld of Barrayar. It's
an easy assignment and nobody is shooting at him. What could go wrong?
Plenty, it turns out, when Byerly Vorrutyer, an undercover agent for
Imperial Security, shows up on his doorstep and asks him to make the
acquaintance of a young woman, recently arrived on Komarr, who seems to
be in danger. That Byerly is characteristically vague about the nature
of the danger, not to mention the lady's name, should have been Ivan's
first clue, but Ivan is no more able to turn aside from aiding a damsel
in distress than he could resist trying to rescue a kitten from a tree.
It is but a short step down the road of good intentions to the tangle of
Ivan's life, in trouble with the Komarran authorities, with his
superiors, and with the lethal figures hunting the mysterious but lovely
Tej and her exotic blue companion Rish--a tangle to test the lengths to
which Ivan will go as an inspired protector. But though his predicament
is complicated, at least Ivan doesn't have to worry about hassle from
family. Or so he believes . . .