Ethan of Athos (Mass Market Paperback)

by Lois McMaster Bujold (Author) "The birth was progressing normally..." (more)
Key Phrases: airseal doors, float pallet, room service console, Kline Station, Commander Quinn, Terrence Cee (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Our hero is a quiet, upstanding citizen of Athos, an obstetrician in a world in which reproduction is carried out entirely via uterine replicator, without the aid of living women. Problem: the 200-year-old cultures are not providing eggs the way they used to, and attempts to order replacements by mail have failed catastrophically. But when Ethan is sent to find out what happened and acquire more eggs, he finds himself in a morass of Cetagandan covert ops and Jackson Whole politics--and the only person who's around to rescue him is the inimitable--and, disturbingly, female--Elli Quinn, Dendarii rent-a-spy.

From Library Journal
Fortunately for sf aficionados, Reader!s Chair is wending its audio way through the canon of esteemed Hugo and Nebula Award?winning author Bujold. Hard upon the well-received release of Cetaganda comes this rendition of one of her earliest works. Ethan Urquhart is an obstetrician and chief of biology at the Severin District Reproduction Center on Athos, a planet forbidden to women. When the centuries-old cultures used to provide eggs for the uterine replicators start going south and a replacement shipment is inexplicably flawed with bogus surrogates, the Athosian Council dispatches Urquhart on a galactic quest to retrieve new ovarian tissue cultures for the survival of Athos. Along the way, he encounters twisted interplanetary political machinations, Cetagandan covert operatives, and, perhaps most disturbing, Elli Quinn, a Dendarii mercenary?and woman. The in-house reading tandem of Michael Hanson and Carol Cowan collaborate on another professional effort. The mellifluous Hanson is dead-on as Urquhart, but Cowan comes off a little too matronly as Quinn, especially given the cybervixen graphic on the cover. The plot-driven story moves swiftly and will engage sf fans of all subgenres. Recommended for all collections.?Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Baen (December 15, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067165604X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671656041
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #135,602 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #27 in

  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( B ) > Bujold, Lois McMaster

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book If You're Willing to Look Past Miles, August 20, 2000

By	Ivy (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

Okay, let's get the worst out of the way first - this book doesn't feature Miles Vorkosigan, although there are a few references to him. It doesn't feature Aral or Cordelia, either. But the main characters are still wonderful Bujold creations, the plot is tight and gripping, and the mechanics are first-rate.

The protagonists in this novel are Elli Quinn (later featured rather extensively in Miles books) and the eponymous Ethan (Urquhart). They're fun, they're smart, they're what you'd expect from a Bujold character - even though they aren't Vorkosigans.

The story is fast-moving and fascinating, and it falls into that elusive subgenre, mystery science fiction - so hard to write and write well that there's hardly any out there. But Ethan of Athos follows all the rules of the subgenre, and so reveals a lot about the Vorkosigan universe its inner workings.

If you've enjoyed Bujold's other novels, and you can cope with the concept of a Miles-less book, this one is for you. (And, look - she doesn't write fast enough to occupy even the slowest reader full-time. So think of this as a welcome interlude between Miles books.) And if you enjoy good characters in good SF, or especially mystery SF, this one is definitely for you.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A side-bar to the saga of Miles Vorkosigan, November 3, 1997

By	Don Lowry ([e-mail]) (California) - See all my reviews

After re-reading this book recently (I'm working my way through the entire Miles Vorkosigan works in chronological order) I appreciate it much more now than I did after the first reading. I still find the first part, about Ethan before he leaves his home planet of Athos, uninteresting if not repulsive (a world with no women is my idea of Hell), but once he gets out into the wider galaxy, and especially after he runs into Elli Quinn (yes, Vorkosigan fans, THAT Quinn) it gets a lot better and turns into a highly interesting mystery/space opera in the classic Bujold style. The first time I read it I didn't know who Quinn was; now I do. Since knowing seemed to add a great deal of enjoyment to the second read, I recommend you not read this until you have read at least some of the Miles Vorkosigan novels. (No, Miles is not in this book, except for an occasional mention of the absent Admiral Naismith, Miles' alter-ego.) Chronologically, it fits between The Vor Game and "Labyrinth," the second story in Borders of Infinity, but I would recommend waiting until you've read all three stories in Borders before taking this book en passant, as it were. If you're determined to plow through the Miles V. series as fast as possible, you could side-step this book completely, but if you like Bujold (how could you not?) read it sometime. Read it twice. It's worth it.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hidden Depths Make for a Rare Treat, January 24, 2004

By	Justin A. Bacon (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

One of the things I like best about Bujold is her uncanny ability to create and evoke alien cultures. (The fact that those cultures don't actually involve aliens is inconsequential.) The real trick of it, I've decided, is that Bujold doesn't make a big deal out of it. With most authors, every single difference is emphasized and analyzed and justified. The result feels inherently unnatural - partly because the author is making an elaborate production out of it, partly because the author is showing their hand at work, and often because the characters end up being far too self-aware. (Neither I, nor anyone I know, pauses to give elaborate, pseudo-science lectures on why 21st century Americans behave the way they do.)

Bujold, by contrast, simply allows her characters to live in the cultures she creates. Perhaps even more importantly, she lets us see the universe of her story through the unfiltered eyes of her characters, without apology or explanation.

On this level, ETHAN OF ATHOS delivers in a big way. The colony of Athos was founded by patriarchs who believed, primarily, that women were a corrupting influence. Using uterine replicators, they successfully created an all-male society way out in the boondocks of civilized space. Now, however, problems have begun to appear: Their original ovarian cultures are dying out, and problems of limited diversity were rearing their head even before the most recent genetic crisis came to a head. Somebody needs to be sent out into the wider galactic community to purchase new genetic material for the colony, and that's where Ethan comes in: He leaves on the annual galactic census ship on a secret, if somewhat unexciting, mission to save his world.

At which point he promptly falls into the middle of an espionage mission involving Elli Quinn (a delightful character familiar to those who have read Bujold's other Vorkosigan books).

Coincidentally, this discussion of culture-building brings up something which consistently puzzles me: A lot of people seem to have the belief that Bujold's work is light on the science fiction. Or, in other words, that her work only has a thin layer of science fiction thrown in to make them genre works. The only explanation I have for this belief is that Bujold is simply too subtle a writer for these people.

At first glance, ETHAN OF ATHOS is a simple adventure story starring a protagonist from an unusual culture. But take a closer look: That unusual culture is, in fact, a very sophisticated extrapolation of how technology will affect human society. And Bujold works in a complete analysis of the consequences and mindset of that culture, even while you're busy turning the pages for the exciting payoffs of the adventure story - she just refuses to Emphasize It With Capital Letters and Long Speeches Explaining the Point.

And against all of this, Bujold weaves yet another theme: A softly-played, emotionally-packed character drama.

Which brings me to another thing that I like about Bujold: Her humor. It's believable and real and rib-achingly funny. It's the humor of actual people living in an actual world, and it demonstrates the vividness with which Bujold evokes her stories. And, like most living humor, its all about context. (You'll see what I mean when you understand the line: "Apparently they had committees on Kline Station, too...")

So, we've got great prose, keen foresights, a fully-realized world, compelling characters, and an exciting plot.

And this is one of Bujold's weaker novels? There's little doubt in my mind that she's the best science fiction author writing today.