The book has two protagonists with two storylines that intertwine: an official of the space empire investigating damage to a government satellite who gradually uncovers a conspiracy, and a housewife suffering in a bad marriage who eventually grows into her own person. On my first read-through I was focused on the space detective (hero of the previous books) and thought the other plot line was a distraction, but on this read through (years later and with a different perspective) the woman's story grabbed me and seemed much stronger, exploring her damaged relationship and how she changed from being a passive person to a more active one.

Eventually the protagonists develop feelings for each other which I thought was a bit awkward, but was OK. The conspirators being (ostensibly) non-violent and deciding things by voting was also an interesting change from the usual type of unredeemable villains. ( )

4.5*
April 2021 reread via audiobook. Such fun! The works that make up the omnibus "Miles in Love" are my favorite part of this series.
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August 2019 reread: I reread this in the omnibus "Miles in Love" rather than listening to the audiobook edition this time. I think it was even better this time around!
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4.5 stars. What a marvelously fun and exciting entry in the Vorkosigan series! I couldn't stop listening to Grover Gardner's excellent narration but did read along a fair amount. So glad to see Miles happily launched on his new career after losing the Dendarii mercenary fleet in the previous book. And a new love interest too! I hope that this one works out for him. ( )

Ekaterin is great, although Tien feels set up too neatly as a heel -- I don't mean that he's too bad to be true, men really do treat their wives like that, it happens every day, I just mean that I can see so clearly the role he's designed to play in the book's structure, and the character never feels like more than that function.

as with Brothers in Arms the thing that really stops me from loving this is: the villains are literally anti-imperialist freedom fighters(/"terrorists"), lol, lmao. Unconditional solidarity with the people of Komarr against their Barrayaran oppressors, sorry!

I love the entire Vorkosigan series. ( )

Loved it! Miles was at the top of his form here. He's really finding his feet as a Royal Auditor. If you like sci fi and you're not reading this series, you are missing out. ( )