There are no women on the planet of Athos. The humans who first terraformed the planet considered women sinful and created a society where the very mention of women were a taboo. Reproduction happens in laboratory with ovarian cultures imported from other planets. Our hero, Ethan, is a doctor at such a reproduction facility.

Now, if that sounds like a premises of a cheap pulp sci fi, then you are right, because it is. But Bujold walks the fine line between cheap thrills and deep contemplation masterfully. Take the characters for example. There's the usual moral, accomplished male protagonist, the usual beautiful and shrewed female mercenary, the usual international (or intergalactic, in this case) goons. But the male protagonist is also gay and wants nothing more than to be a dad, the beautiful female mercenary is never reduced to James bond like femme fatale. I found the part about the economics of child bearing especially poignant.

Okay, if it's starting too sound too PC for your taste, don't worry. This was written in the eighties when being woke wasn't a thing. Lois isn't trying to get cookie points from Twitter, she's just a smart author. There's enough humour and twists and explosions in the book as well to keep the story interesting and the plot never takes backseat to the social commentary. Overall, a surprisingly pleasant read.