Very good Vorksagian Universe story. Although Miles is absent in this book, one of his mercenaries, Elli from Warrior's Apprentice, fully recovered from her plasma gun facial injuries, plays a central role and is delightful. As part of her Intel mission, she hooks up with Ethan, from an all male planet sent to obtain ovarian cells (required for reproduction with Uterine replicators, some nice bits of hard Sci Fi ). What follows is a pretty entertaining thriller with some "fish out of water" aspects and some high stakes, deadly genetics intrigue.