Yeah. It was very disappointing, in a way I feel like I have never felt about a Bujold book before, even the ones that other people didn't really like. I kind of see the bones of what she was trying to do, and there were some good bits where they flashed through, but mostly... not so much.

I wish that she had been able to really commit to writing domestic chicklit (which is what I got the sense this wanted to be but never actually became), because I would have been all over that -- Cordelia figuring out how to deal with baby sibling rivalry and a new romance and relationships with her daughters-in-law while going on girl nights out with Alys and Sergyan friends? That would have been awesome!