Ethan of Athos, Lois McMaster Bujold
Boy, was this book a pleasant change: a novel set in the same universe as the Miles Vorkosigan stories that doesn't have him as a character. One thing that always frustrated me about Bujold's other novels is the fact that she's written about some interesting planets and societies, never to return to them in another book. Well, some interesting societies and settings are present in Ethan of Athos, and they really make it interesting.
Ethan Urquhart is just a ordinary average guy. Of course, he's a reproductive specialist on a planet with no women, so maybe he's not so ordinary. Something goes wrong with the shipment of uterine cultures delivered to Athos to solve a reproductive crisis, so Ethan is sent to Kline Station to investigate. This leads into several problems: he's never seen a woman before, and the first person he meets at the station is Elli Quinn, who figures prominently in Bujold's other novels. Suffice it to say, she is one of those women that makes men look twice. Ethan gets into a lot of trouble when he first gets onto the station, first with some gay-bashing downsiders and then with some Cetagandans (the all-purpose villains of most of these novels.) Elli pulls him out, and then the real problems start.
The focus on Elli was a pleasant change. It's really too bad that Bujold hasn't written any more novels focusing on peripheral characters in the Vorkosigan stories. Also, Ethan is a pretty interesting person, and the scenes given of his personal life back home are pretty heartwarming. They're one of the fewwarm family scenes in this series.
This book is good even if you're unfamiliar with the Miles Vorkosigan stories. It doesn't depend on reading any previous material. If you have read any previous material, it gives away some hints as to what may be coming in the distant future.