Cetaganda

Plot summary

Miles and Ivan are sent to the Cetagandan home world to represent Barrayar at the state funeral of the dowager Empress Lisbet, mother of the current emperor, the haut Fletchir Giaja. Upon arriving at a nearly deserted docking bay, a ba—a sexless servant of the Cetagandan rulers—rushes into their spaceship. During a struggle, the ba drops a weapon and an artifact before fleeing. Miles investigates without informing his superiors and discovers the artifact is a fake copy of the priceless Great Key, which has been stolen.

The ba is later found dead. Realizing an unknown enemy is trying to frame him and Barrayar, Miles allies with the haut Rian Degtiar, the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche, who acts as empress until a new one is chosen. The Star Crèche is the center of the haut class's genetic engineering project to evolve beyond humanity. Miles unravels a plot to fragment the Cetagandan Empire into eight expansionist parts, a scheme hijacked by a haut governor for personal gain with help from a renegade haut lady and his top ghem general.

He is publicly awarded the Order of Merit by the Emperor, and picks up clues to a Cetagandan genetic experiment that becomes important in Ethan of Athos.

Reception

Cetaganda received a Locus Award nomination in 1997, alongside its series successor, Memory. SF Site described the novel's central mystery as good and delicious. Jo Walton of Tor.com found the Cetagandan political system neither plausible nor interesting, and pointed out that unlike the three preceding Vorkosigan books, it failed to earn a Hugo nomination. SFF.net called it an enjoyable read, though not Bujold's finest work.