A tale of star crossed lovers may be a plot older than even "Billy Shakes" and his Romeo and Juliet, but it's a winning formula.

Cordelia and Arel are soldiers from opposing sides who must throw in together to survive and then once they do they begin to see the other side for the complex culture it really is and not the stereotyped propaganda'd.

The romance seems a little forced and the theme of honor is a little worn. However, this is a rare breed of book: a sci-fi book by a woman. Being her first book, it's bound to be a little rough. There was enough interesting investigations, such as what's done with the babies begot through rape, to keep my interest. I wasn't captured by the tale but it was solid enough that I'm going to read another. If you read this one and want to move on (like me) the next book in the series isn't clear cut: https://www.goodreads.com/series/98254-vorkosigan-internal-chronology