This is my least favorite Bujold so far. I usually love her romances—but that‘s because the character interactions largely serve the plot, whereas in this book it‘s the other way round. I was fascinated by the worldbuilding and the magic of the knives, but the second half of the book dragged with all the focus being on the couple. The ending is abrupt, but it was originally conceived as a single book—I may read the second to get more of the world!