This was such a fun and easy read. I picked it because I wanted to try out Bujold's writing and get a feel for the Vorkosigan Saga and this one seemed stand-alone within it. Also the idea of a planet with no women was intriguing and the story that unfolded of one man being sent out into the terror of a planetary system populated by *gasp* women to try and find the ovary cultures to keep his planet going was really well played out.
I thought Bujold found a really neat balance. Ethan encounters women and is terrified and suspicious thanks to the 200 year history of "religious instruction" on his home planet emphasing how women control men and lead them to sin. His experience of women once off his own planet though is rich and contradictory, as is his experience of men from other planets.
I really enjoyed everybody's secret agendas that got slowly exposed as they went along.
Definitely looking forward to reading more of the main saga now.