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*** 4.75 ***

A buddy read with Evgeny, because we love Sci-fi!

Wow!!! Just WOW!!! This is the third book in the chronological order of the series and I am already addicted to it!

It is Sci-fi, but this one was on a planet very similar to Earth, Barrayar. No space battles, no new monsters, if we don't count the Barrayar Vors, the planet's nobility, who all act like monsters most of the time. No robots and no new races of humanoids. Just the life of Vorkosigan and Cordelia four months after they got married. He is taking his position as a regent to the young Emperor Gregor, and this is cutting into their private time and putting them in a very dangerous position, being a target for everyone with political ambitious. The relationship is severely tested when an assassination attempt puts the very pregnant Cordelia and her baby in mortal danger. The possibility that the baby is most likely going to be born with severe disabilities puts the love of the mother counter to the believes of the old nobility that it would be much better for the baby to be terminated at once than to bring shame to the family with its weaknesses and deformities. Coming from the much more liberal and progressive Beta Colony, Cordelia is ready to fight whoever stands in the way to her child's survival. And the numbers of those grow exponentially when a civil war for the throne tears up the very tenuous peace between the full blooded contenders of the Emperor of these war loving militant people. On top of that, Cordelia has to remind her husband why he married her in the first place - because she is the smartest, bravest, most carrying person he had ever met!

The book started with a lot of political machinations and intrigues, goes through couple of assassination attempts, some time for Cornelia to adjust to her new home, and introduction to several new characters, including the emperor, his mom, and their female bodyguard Dru, who rapidly becomes a perfect fit within the already established group of Cordelia, Vorkosigan and the two misfits soldiers who are now in their employee. They provide some of the comedy relief, as well as a great support for the crazy schemes Cordelia tends to come up with in the most hopeless situation. I love them all as a group now and would hate for anything bad to happen to anyone!!! I am putting the author on notice from the start! Don't break my heart, LMB! Yes, I know the books have already been written, but I like to pretend they write themselves magically as I read them. Gives me that false sense of control I like to delude myself with ��!

I loved the way the book became a mad dash for survival in the second half and I could not put it down for a minute after I reached that juncture. It was intense, it was smart, and it was emotional without being melodramatic. I am in love! Now I can't wait to see if all this worry, death and blood was worth it, and I have been promised a heck of an adventure with young Miles Naismith Vorkosigan as we go deeper into the series! I can't wait ☺☺��!

I wish you all Happy Reading and many more wonderful books to come!