Ethan of Athos (1986)

Bujold is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, as her descriptive writing and masterful weaving of varied plotlines are adept at capturing the imagination and holding a reader's attention.

Ethan of Athos looked at the possible ramifications of religion in a new and interesting way, and allowed for the determination of the human spirit to overcome and adapt. ( )

Sweet and funny and twisted, this novel takes any number of SF tropes and turns 'em inside out. I love Ethan, full of outrage and indignation till he finds himself alone in the corridor. Have I said that I LOVE this series? I do, I so do. ( )

Ethan of Athos
This is apparently a standalone, which I didn’t realize before I read it. If you take all of my reservations about Cetaganda and multiply them, that’s how I feel about Ethan. The only person I really cared about was Elli, and considering that her previous appearance was extremely brief, she was only a tenuous connection to the heart of the other books.

The nuances of the different societies were well done, and I really admire Bujold for writing about a society like Athos’ without coming across as completely preachy and awful.

(Continuing the trend of…interesting covers: Exhibit B. Not as bad as the first one, BUT STILL.)

I’m ready to get back to Miles and Barrayar and the Dendarii Mercenaries, so hopefully the next one will give me that. [Nov. 2010] ( )

This one was funnier than most of this series, and it was kind of nice to be in the same universe but have a break from Miles Vorkosigan (not that I dislike him, but it gets a bit tiring hearing about the brittle bones and no-I'm-not-a-mutant-it's-teratogenic all the time>).
Plus the whole sort-of Gay Shaker planet society was interesting. My only problem with it was that the ending was rushed; I wanted to know more about how everything turned out when he got back. How are you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Kline Station? ( )

3.5 stars

Miles is completely absent from this Vorkosigan series installment. Elli Quinn returns, with a new face and a new mission. The story is told mostly from the point-of-view of Ethan. Again, the theme swirls around genetics and reproduction, but definitely with a twist. The flip side of the female controlled genetic finesse of Cetaganda proves to be Athos, an all male planet rapidly running out of viable ovary cultures at their Rep Centers. When the batch of new ovaries is sabatoged, Athos sends Ethos to personally select, purchase and escort the replacements.

Even though I missed Miles, Elli and Ethan managed to keep me hopping and flipping pages. Nearly all the action takes place on the Kline space station. Mystery, torture, murder, galactic genetic experiments, political intrigue bordering on genocide - just about everything you've come to expect from Bujold's imagination.

A fun, fast read and a nice addition to the Vorkosigan series. ( )