I wish Rish had been male; I don't think it would have affected the story too much. It's certainly possible to continue to read By as bi, which I can tolerate.

There was a lot of talk at the conference in August abut how all of Bujold's homosexual/bisexual characters do one of die horribly; be Eeeevil; or Turn Heterosexual for Love.

With SK, I'm somewhere in the middle of book 2; I keep picking it up & putting it down again. Altariel, my Bujold-peddler, likes the last two books, as I recall.