Ethan of Athos

This is a determinedly odd but likeable book. It gives us a male-only society encompassing the whole planet of Athos, with a religious aversion to and horror of women, and encourages readers to sympathize with at least some of the people who are part of this society. It's an odd and unexpected thing for a female writer to do, but it's very broad-minded of her, and I think it's rather sweet. I wonder whether any man would dare to write such a book.

I've seen Athos described elsewhere as a “planet-sized monastery”, and I suppose that's what it is, so it's not an entirely novel idea. Although, unlike monasteries we've known in the past, Athos has the technology to make babies and maintain its population without involving women or other outsiders.

The world of Athos doesn't attract me: I'm not religious, and I like women. As readers, I don't think we're expected to find Athos attractive; we're just asked to believe that people who grew up on Athos could live good lives there as decent human beings, feel loyal to Athos, and feel homesick on leaving it. And, yes, I can believe that. People are adaptable: they can adapt to many different forms of society, especially when they've spent their whole lives immersed in that society.

As for the religious horror of women, well, humans are vulnerable to things they've been taught all their lives, and religion seems to get a grip on people. I come from a non-religious family, so I never experienced it, but most of the world's population is still in the grip of some religion or other.

Ethan, the protagonist of this story, is not a religious zealot, just a normally religious person and a highly qualified doctor, which is what mostly concerns him. He knows almost nothing about women, and isn't sexually attracted to them even when he encounters them (in the course of the story, for the first time in his life), but he's not stupid or unpleasant; he's not exaggeratedly heroic, but he's a nice guy. His experiences in the story don't cancel his allegiance to Athos, but they somewhat modify his opinions and outlook.

This is nicely done. The book would be less convincing if he suddenly became attracted to women or abandoned his home world.

I don't understand his motivation for a decision he made near the end (secretly infecting Athos with the telepathy gene), but perhaps that's my problem; it's not necessarily a defect in the book.

Most of the story takes place on a space station (away from Athos and not part of its society), where Ethan is sent to find a solution to an urgent medical problem, and gets involved in spy/counterspy action, much to his alarm and distress. Elli Quinn is also involved: as far as I know, the only character linking this story to the rest of the Vorkosigan Saga. She mentions ‘Admiral Naismith' (Miles Vorkosigan), but he's elsewhere. The interactions between Ethan and Elli are complicated and often amusing; they have such different backgrounds and points of view.

As far as I know, Athos and its people are mentioned in this book only. It seems a shame to create a whole planet with a distinctive society and then drop it completely after one book, but I suppose Bujold never found a convenient use for it in later stories.