You have a really good point, about how unconvincing the story's treatment of infanticide and ableism were.
I was deeply disappointed in this story, but hadn't really dug into why, except that it felt cowardly in the way all of Bujold's post-Diplomatic Immunity writing has felt to me - it flinches away from characters having to make hard choices or confront any consequences. Things heat up and then just... resolve, without the protagonist actually having to struggle or grow. (And she used to be my favorite author specifically *because* she made her characters struggle and confront difficult choices in order to earn their triumphs.)
Ekaterin has basically nothing to say about disability or this culture's view of it that I found interesting or illuminating.
Yeah, that. I hoped for better, especially from returning to the territory of Mountains of Mourning. :(
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I was deeply disappointed in this story, but hadn't really dug into why, except that it felt cowardly in the way all of Bujold's post-Diplomatic Immunity writing has felt to me - it flinches away from characters having to make hard choices or confront any consequences. Things heat up and then just... resolve, without the protagonist actually having to struggle or grow. (And she used to be my favorite author specifically *because* she made her characters struggle and confront difficult choices in order to earn their triumphs.)
Ekaterin has basically nothing to say about disability or this culture's view of it that I found interesting or illuminating.
Yeah, that. I hoped for better, especially from returning to the territory of Mountains of Mourning. :(