| Author: | Lois McMaster Bujold |
| Copyright: | 1986 |
| Date Reviewed: | 8/12/01 |
| Rating: | 7.0 |
Synopsis: The planet Athos was colonized over 200 years ago by a party of homosexual men who sought to eliminate all female influence from their society. On this world, there are no women. The subject is strictly controlled so most men don't even know what women look like. In order to continue the population, donor ovaries donated by women before the migration are used to create babies. All babies are grown in uterine replications. However, the ovary cultures are dying. They can not live for more than a few hundred years.
As the story begins, ovary cultures from Jackson Hole, the low bidder, arrive but they have been tampered with. Most are dead. There are even a few cow ovaries included in the shipment. Ethan, a Chief of Reproduction Biology at one of the nine Reproduction Centers, is assigned to go off-world and personally purchase new cultures and ensure they make it back to Athos. He is one of the few to leave Athos for the fear of the evil of women influence. Just before he leaves, Janos, his lover and Designated Alternative (for raising children) gets drunk, wrecks Ethan's new deluxe flyer and looses his job.
Ethan arrives at Kline Station, a junction point to the worlds where he might find new ovaries, and meets Elli - a woman. He leaves quickly for fear of what she could do to him, though so far there doesn't seem to be anything magical about her. Later Elli saves him from injury when he tries to recruit men in a bar to his home planet. Ethan is captured and interrogated by two Cetaganda Intelligence officers who talk about destroying Athos because of the biological shipment it received. He is ordered killed but once again is saved by Elli, also an intelligence operative. Elli was assigned to determine Cetaganda's secret with respect to the biological shipment. She works for Admiral Neismith (Miles) who commands the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. When we last met Elli, she had been critically injured by a direct blast to the face. Since then, her face was rebuilt and she is quite beautiful.
Ethan and Elli roam the station trying to dump the body of the man who was about to kill Ethan. They share information but then argue when Ethan feels he is only her prisoner. Ethan leaves to make a separate deal with Colonel Milisor of Cetaganda Intelligence who had previously captured and tortured him. He is immediately attacked but evades. Desperate for help, he goes to station security but they are too busy to talk to him. Ethan meets Terrance Cee and learns how he came to be created as a telepath by Cetaganda Intelligence. Terrance Cee and his lover tried to escape Cetaganda but only he survived. Now Milisor wants him back for retribution.
Elli tracks down Ethan and Terrance and tries to recruit the telepath for the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. To prove Elli is being honest with her offer, Terrance asks for a drug that will enable him to read their minds. The first attempt to obtain the drug fails and Elli's nephew, Teki, who is involved, is captured and tortured by Milisor. Terrance learns the secrets he needs and begins to trust Ethan and Elli. When the Ecopolice raid Milisor's room to rescue Teki, Ethan realizes that Helda was responsible for destroying the ovaries destined for Athos. She confesses that she wanted to cause havoc on Athos so her son, who had emigrated, would return.
Ethan learns that Terrance had added telepath genes to the entire ovary shipment destined for Athos to create a whole race of telepaths where he could eventually hide. Milisor and his accomplice Rau escape from security and capture Elli, Ethan and Terrance but are killed by House Bharaputran forces. The intelligence officers had stolen materials from House Bharaputran. In the end we learn that Admiral Naismith had sent Elli on the mission on behalf of House Bharaputran.
Ethan discovers that the original shipment was not destroyed by Helda, only put in Cold Storage. With all secrets uncovered, the three take their leave of each other: Elli with a sample of Terrance Cee's DNA, Ethan with one of Elli's ovaries for the gene pool on Athos, and Terrance with a promise of sanctuary on Athos. Ethan and Terrance settle down back on Athos.
Review: "Ethan of Athos" is an enjoyable book but not up to the standards previously set by the other books in the series. This is partly because Ethan is not a very bold character, we don't expect to see him again in a sequel and the story doesn't do anything to push forward the Vorkosigan universe. It might have been more interesting if some of the action took place on some worlds instead of just his home planet of Athos and Kline Station. I enjoyed the book more towards the end, especially as the secrets of telepathy began to unfold. There were two events that were happening as I read the book to which I could find relevance. First, I was watching a repeat of Babylon Five and the current story line involved a community of telepaths who were being persecuted and trying to acquire a home world of their own. Even more interesting, the president announced his decision on stem cell research and cloning, both aspects of genetic engineering that was so important to the novel.