My problem started with the little girl... then it deepened with Chapter Eighteen. I mean where was all this going? To tell us that deep down a creep is actually a victim?... Then came the reason for chapter eighteen. So, he was a creep so he could be immolated. Don't like this at all.
And then I started applying the Bechdel test to the female interactions in the book, and didn't like the results. Granted, the whole story is about Miles and his brother, but still. The test had the secondary effect of making me notice that there weren't that many female interactions for a 500+ pages book.
And then, to top it all, there's the enlightening conversation at the end, of Lady Vorkosigan and Mark, about a certain 18 year old girl he likes, who just need some new skills and couching to see things more broadly... not for her sake, but for his. Sometimes Mrs. Bujold great writing can't make up for what she writes.