A lot of people hate this book for perfectly sensible reasons, but I couldn't help but be charmed by it. Yes, there is an extremely young ingenue... who is magically pretty great at everything she tries... and yes, she falls for a fellow old enough to be her father... but I enjoy the world Bujold creates in this story, and the interactions between the Lakewalkers and the farmer folk; plus (view spoiler)[ I have been turned off of consent as sexy in fiction by zines with lines like "ze asked hir 'is it ok if I touch your butt?'" (if that's to your taste that fine.. but to me, no thanks)... but the first sex scene in this book involves a blatant insistence on consent, and manages to still be pretty sexy in my opinion. (hide spoiler)] I'll admit the Sharing Knife series isn't as good as the Vorkosigan saga or the Chalion books, but I found it well worth the read.