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.


From AudioFile
The Reader's Chair plunges us into the world of Ethan Urquhart, a doctor specializing in child "birth" from a world without women. Ethan travels to Kline Station to discover why a shipment of genetic cultures never arrived on Athos. After initial confusion, he tangles with killers, telepathy, and a mercenary named Elli Quinn. The story takes many diverse twists, and not until the climax are we finally satisfied with the ending. Michael Hanson's warm, rich voice brings sympathy to Ethan, and Carol Cowan speaks with the perfect mix of worldliness and dry humor for the jaded Quinn. Excepting the lack of "end of side" markers, this production is great. A.Z.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Download Description
[An independent novel in the Vorkosigan universe.] Dr. Ethan Urquhart is Chief of Biology at a District Reproduction Center. He delivers babies from uterine replicators. You see, on Athos there are no women. In fact, the planet is forbidden to them. Isolated from the galactic community by distance and a lack of exploitable resources, the Athosians have peacefully lived their peculiar social experiment for 200 years. But now the ovarian cultures dating back to the original settlement of the planet are giving out. With the future of Athos at stake, Ethan is chosen for a unique mission: to travel abroad and buy ovarian cultures to replenish Athos' dwindling stocks.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Dr. Ethan Urquhart, an obstetrician on a planet forbidden to women, is Chief of Biology at the Severin District Reproduction Center and one of the busiest men on the planet Athos. Then a mysterious genetic crisis threatens Athos with extinction. Drafted to brave the wider universe for his cloistered fellows in quest of new ovarian tissue cultures, Ethan braces himself for his first encounter with those most alien of aliens--females of his own species.

FROM THE CRITICS

AudioFile

The Reader's Chair plunges us into the world of Ethan Urquhart, a doctor specializing in child "birth" from a world without women. Ethan travels to Kline Station to discover why a shipment of genetic cultures never arrived on Athos. After initial confusion, he tangles with killers, telepathy, and a mercenary named Elli Quinn. The story takes many diverse twists, and not until the climax are we finally satisfied with the ending. Michael Hanson's warm, rich voice brings sympathy to Ethan, and Carol Cowan speaks with the perfect mix of worldliness and dry humor for the jaded Quinn. Excepting the lack of "end of side" markers, this production is great. A.Z.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

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