This book reminds me very strongly of the Horatio Hornblower novels by C.S. Forester. Here we have a young man who is smart and capable and way too successful at what he does for any realistic stretch of the imagination. But that's okay, because it's fun. The themes I loved in Shards of Honor are also here- honor and familial love and duty, but they're not as strong or compelling as they were in that book. Maybe I just liked getting Cordelia's perspective more. The return to the perspective of a teenage guy wasn't so exciting for me after the comparative novelty of hearing an older woman's voice. 
 I loved that Miles has some serious physical limitations, and the representation of people outside the gender binary, but the language used for both felt harsh and outdated to my ears. Even for a book written in the 80s, I'd hope that nobody would be referred to as 'it' like the character of Bel Thorne is. 
 I have "The Vor Game" on my library wait list, so I'll be returning to Miles Vorkosigan again sometime soon. That one won a Hugo, so I have slightly higher hopes for Miles getting into some trouble that he doesn't swim out of with ease.