Miles Vorkosigan is back! Kibou-daini is a planet obsessed with cheating death. Barrayaran Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan can hardly disapprove¾hes been cheating death his whole life, on the theory that turnabout is fair play. But when a Kibou-daini cryocorp¾an immortal company whose job it is to shepherd its all-too-mortal frozen patrons into an unknown future¾attempts to expand its franchise into the Barrayaran Empire, Emperor Gregor dispatches his top troubleshooter Miles to check it out. On Kibou-daini, Miles discovers generational conflict over money and resources is heating up, even as refugees displaced in time skew the meaning of generation past repair. Here he finds a young boy with a passion for pets and a dangerous secret, a Snow White trapped in an icy coffin who burns to re-write her own tale, and a mysterious crone who is the very embodiment of the warning Dont mess with the secretary. Bribery, corruption, conspiracy, kidnapping¾something is rotten on Kibou-daini, and it isnt due to power outages in the Cryocombs. And Miles is in the middle¾of trouble! At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). _Fresh, intriguing, and, as always with Lois McMaster Bujold, superb.Ó ¾Robert Jordan _It is such a delight to read something by such a good writer, who now seems to be writing at the height of her powers. . . . I really have seldom enjoyed a book so much . . . I couldnt turn the pages fast enough.Ó ¾Diana Wynne Jones _Living breathing characters who inhabit unusual yet believable worlds.Ó ¾Jean Auel _Bujold successfully mixes quirky humor with just enough action, a dab of feminist social commentary and her usual superb character development . . . enormously satisfying.Ó ¾Publishers Weekly _One of sfs outstanding talents . . . an outstanding series.Ó ¾Booklist _Excellently done . . . Bujold has always excelled at creating forceful characters and she does it here again.Ó ¾Denver Post _. . . an intelligent, well-crafted and thoroughly satisfying blend of adventure, sociopolitical commentary, scientific experiments, and occasional perils . . . with that extra spicing of romance. . . .Ó ¾Locus